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Inside Prince Philip's Complicated Relationships with Prince Andrew and Prince Harry

Photo credit: Julian Parker - Getty Images
Photo credit: Julian Parker - Getty Images

From Town & Country

Since Prince Philip’s retirement, both his second son the Duke of York and his grandson, the Duke of Sussex have caused him a great deal of concern. To see his son’s demise through his own stupidity, arrogance, and sense of self- entitlement reminded Philip why he used to lose his temper with Andrew in the first place and tell him what a fool he was. As Fergie had defended her husband from Philip’s vitriol, she later defended him from the global vitriol surrounding his association with Jeffrey Epstein. The Queen did what she could to dissuade Philip from upsetting himself and getting involved, but it would be difficult for any father to sit back while the press on both sides of the Atlantic hounded his son.

Back in 1990s, when the disasters that had befallen the younger royals had bought the royal family into disrepute—with Diana’s separation from Charles and Andrew’s impending divorce from Sarah Ferguson—Prince Philip was privately asked what he thought of it all and said at the time, "Everything I have worked for 40 years has been in vain."

Photo credit: Mike Marsland - Getty Images
Photo credit: Mike Marsland - Getty Images

As the longest serving consort in British history and the oldest serving partner of a reigning monarch, he has a will of iron as well as an iron constitution. He set a goal after his hip replacement operation as attending Prince Harry’s wedding to Meghan Markle on 19th May 2018 but didn’t confirm he would be there. Philip duly appeared at the Queen’s side on the day of the wedding walking with a straight back and without even a stick to assist him.

Although he hates long sermons, he sat through the 14-minute sermon by Evangelical Bishop Michael Carey without wincing, and after the service took his place in the official photographs in the castle’s green drawing room. He did not however attend the lunchtime reception given by the Queen for the newly ennobled Duke and Duchess of Sussex and 600 guests in St. George’s Hall, with Sir Elton John providing an exclusive surprise cabaret. Sir Elton sat himself at the Steinway grand piano and sang half a dozen of his own numbers using high tech backing that made it sound as if he had an orchestra at his disposal. Luckily, Prince Philip couldn’t hear it as John’s music is not among his favorites and he has been extremely rude to him over the years, albeit it in a joking way.

Prince Philip has always got along well with his grandson Prince Harry, whose sporting abilities both with a gun and a polo pony he admired. Although he harbored doubts about his choice of bride, and later likened her to the Duchess of Windsor, he sincerely hoped their union would work.

Photo credit: ADRIAN DENNIS - Getty Images
Photo credit: ADRIAN DENNIS - Getty Images

He knew Prince Harry had loved all things military since he was a child and was delighted when Harry was appointed Captain General of the Royal Marines in his place on 19 December 2017. Prince Harry had a good relationship with the Royal Marines, having fought alongside them in Afghanistan in 2006 and served there twice—first as a forward air controller and then as an Apache pilot. Top brass viewed the appointment as a "brilliant move" that would attract young men and women to join the marines. Since taking up the post, Harry has visited the Commando Training Centre, joined them in action during war games in Norway and spent a day with Special Boat Service (SBS) special forces in their base at Poole, Dorset. The marines were also part of the forces deployment that proudly lined the streets of Windsor for his May 2018 wedding.

Just before Christmas the following year, on 20 December 2019, Prince Philip was helicoptered from Sandringham to the King Edward VII hospital in London, where he spent four nights for what was described as "observation and treatment for a pre-existing condition." His grandson Harry was on a six-week break in Canada with his wife and child, Archie Mountbatten Windsor, but most of the rest of his family were waiting for him at Sandringham to celebrate Christmas together. Prince Philip returned by helicopter from London to Norfolk, having been released from hospital just in time for the Christmas Eve celebrations.

It was just as well he was feeling stronger as only two weeks later, on 8th January, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan made a surprise announcement on their new website that they intended to "step back as senior members of the royal family" and balance their time between the United Kingdom and North America. The Queen and Prince Philip knew they were not happy in their royal life but thought they had agreed to wait for ongoing discussions about their future before making any kind of announcement. The Queen was informed 10 minutes before the announcement went live on the website Sussex Royal. She was not amused.

As Philip was in residence, he was also aware of the announcement and its implications. It transpired what the Duke and Duchess of Sussex wanted was to remain as part of the family but to relocate to North America, where they thought they would be able to escape from the intrusive European media and become financially independent through their own celebrity. In simple terms, they wanted to remain half in and half out of the royal family, which is impossible as Prince Philip was so fond of reminding the Queen when Fergie and Diana wanted the same 30 years beforehand.

The Queen refused to allow their shenanigans to get to her husband and upset him. So, when she called an emergency summit at Sandringham on 13th January attended by her son the Prince of Wales and grandsons Prince William and Prince Harry, as well as their senior advisors, she asked one of her house guests, Countess Mountbatten, to drive Philip away from the house at least for the duration of the meeting. While they sat in the long library on the ground floor and thrashed out a solution that would allow Harry and Meghan their freedom without bringing the royal family and the Crown into disrepute, Philip remained out of the way. Buckingham Palace later released and unusually personal statement from the Queen saying that the family were entirely supportive of Harry and Meghan’s desire to create a new life as a young family.

"Although we would have preferred them to remain full-time working members of the royal family, we respect their wish to live a more independent life as a family while remaining a valued part of my family." The underlying message being that the Queen wanted them to stay and do their duty as part of the firm, but she would not hold them to it against their wishes.

Photo credit: Anwar Hussein - Getty Images
Photo credit: Anwar Hussein - Getty Images

Ten days later, on 18th January, a further personal statement was issued confirming arrangements for their new life without public funding or official royal duties on behalf of the Queen to come into effect in the spring of 2020. It was decided that Harry, who holds the rank of major in the army, would lose his position as Captain General of the Royal Marines, but the title would remain in obeyance with no one else being appointed in his place until April 2021, when there is an agreed review of the situation. It must have come as a heavy blow for Prince Philip to know that his grandson would be more or less giving up his homeland and everything he cared about for a life of self-centered celebrity in North America.

Philip knew leaving was not a decision that Harry made lightly and could not grasp exactly what it was about the family firm that made his grandson’s life so unbearable. As far as Philip was concerned, Harry and Meghan had everything going for them: a beautiful home at Frogmore, their healthy son, Archie Mountbatten Windsor—his eighth great-grandchild—and a unique opportunity to make a global impact with their charity work. For Philip whose entire existence has been based on a devotion to doing his duty, it appeared that his grandson had abdicated his for the sake of his marriage to an American divorcee in much the same way as Edward VIII gave up his crown to marry Wallace Simpson in 1936.

Whatever discomfort Prince Philip’s ailments may be causing him as he enters his centennial year, they pale into insignificance compared with the disappointment and dismay his grandson Harry’s dereliction of duty and his son Andrew’s antics with Epstein are causing him. He was also saddened by the breakdown of the marriage of his eldest grandchild, Peter Phillips, to the Canadian Autumn Kelly, but it didn’t have the same shock affect as Harry and Andrew’s imprudent behavior.

Excerpted from Prince Philip Revealed published by Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Copyright © 2020 by Ingrid Seward.

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