Prince Philip Was Reportedly More Affected By King George VI’s Death Than Queen

Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II had very different reactions to King George’s VI’s death. A royal expert recently revealed that the Duke of Edinburgh seemed more devastated with the news of his passing.

In the book “Behind the Throne: A Domestic History of the Royal Household,” royal author Andrew Tinniswood said that even though Prince Philip has a reputation of being an alpha male, he actually has a soft heart.

According to the royal author, it was the Queen’s former private secretary, Martin Charteris who first heard the news about the former King’s passing from a journalist at a hotel.

“He immediately phoned the Duke’s equerry, Lieutenant-Commander Michael Parker, who was with the Duke and the Queen; and Parker told the Duke. ‘He looked as if you’d dropped half of the world on him,’” he said.

According to the author, it was Prince Philip who broke the news to the Queen. When Charteris arrived at the Sagana Royal Lodge where the royal couple was staying, he found Her Majesty looking very composed. He said that the monarch was the absolute master of her fate.

King George VI was suffering from an illness for quite some time but his passing still came as a surprise to everyone. After all, Princess Marie Louise previously said that the King has made a full recovery and even his physicians were surprised.

Meanwhile, Prince Philip and King George VI were believed to have had a good relationship with each other. But before they tied the knot, the latter had reservations about the former marrying his eldest daughter.

On the online forum site Quora, royal fans claimed that King George VI was concerned over the fact that the Queen was still very young when Prince Philip first caught her attention. But Her Majesty was already 18 years old when she and the Duke of Edinburgh started dating officially.

Three years after they started dating, the royal couple decided to tie the knot.