Prince Philip Covered His Face With Newspaper After Learning That King George Died

Prince Philip made a heartbreaking gesture and uttered a gut-wrenching statement after learning that his father, King George VI, had already passed away.

While speaking on "The India Hicks Podcast," the Duke of Edinburgh’s cousin, Lady Pamela Hicks, shared details from the day of the late royal’s demise. Prince Philip’s equerry, Mike Parker, was the one who told the dad of four the devastating news. “ Philip just takes the newspaper and covers his face with it, hides behind it and says ‘This will be such a shock,’” Hicks said.

Shortly after, Prince Philip convinced Queen Elizabeth II to go on a walk with him in the garden, and that’s where he told her the sad news.

“As she comes into the room. I think 'Oh, poor girl, her father died.’ So I go over to her, give her a hug and think ‘Oh my god, it’s the Queen’ so I go into a deep curtsy… And she says ‘I’m so sorry. It means we've all got to go back’... She was only thinking of all of us,” Hicks said.

Prince Philip and Her Majesty were in Kenya when King George VI passed away. Since no one expected that the King would pass on, the Queen didn’t have a mourning dress with her. But her staff made sure that a dress would be ready by the time the monarch arrived in London.

And immediately after the late King passed away, the Queen assumed her dad’s role as the head of the monarchy. According to Hicks, Her Majesty kicked off her royal tour in Kenya as a princess, but she went back to London as the Queen.

However, it wasn’t until one year later that she was officially crowned as the head of the monarchy. Until today, at the age of 93, the Queen is still the reigning monarch. And she also made history for being the longest-reigning British monarch.