Overview
- An upcoming biography by Hugo Vickers says Prince Philip slipped past his nurses and drank a beer in Windsor Castle’s Oak Room the night before he died at age 99 on April 9, 2021.
- The book reports the Queen was not with him when he died and that she was “absolutely furious” he left without saying goodbye, echoing a habit staff had observed for years.
- After retiring from public duties in 2017, Philip spent most of his time at Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate, where Vickers writes Penny Romsey often stayed with him.
- Vickers describes the couple as effectively living apart in those later years, then reuniting at Windsor during the COVID-19 lockdown period with a small household staff.
- Media summaries of the book diverge on a long-term illness, with one outlet citing pancreatic cancer from 2013 and another citing prostate cancer over nearly eight years.