A royal expert has claimed that Prince Philip was privately battling pancreatic cancer for almost a decade before he died in 2021, and he even still showed up for royal duties for four years after being diagnosed
Prince Philip was reportedly battling pancreatic cancer for eight years before his death, according to a royal author.
Royal historian Hugo Vickers has revealed in his new book that the late Duke of Edinburgh was diagnosed with the disease in June 2013, when he was 91 years old. After his diagnosis, there were allegedly growing concerns that Philip would not be able to carry out royal duties.
Despite this, the late prince continued to show up for official engagements for another four years, before stepping back from his royal role in 2017. Four years later, Prince Philip died just two months before his 100th birthday.
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In Vickers’ new book titled Queen Elizabeth II, which has been serialised by the Daily Mail ahead of its release, he details the final years of Philip’s life. The historian explains that Philip had an initial stay in hospital when he was diagnosed, before being discharged to recover at home.
“Doctors had detected a shadow on his pancreas, and had cut him right across his stomach,” the author wrote. “The verdict was inoperable pancreatic cancer.”
The royal author explained that after being diagnosed with the disease “there was a view that [Philip] might not be seen in public again”. However, Vickers went on to include that “the duke outwitted the pessimists” surviving with pancreatic cancer for much longer than initially expected.
Prince Philip saw out his final days at Windsor Castle, where Vickers said he enjoyed “elements of tranquillity”. He wrote: “On the last night of his life, he gave his nurses the slip, shuffled along the corridor on his Zimmer frame, helped himself to a beer and drank it in the Oak Room.”
The royal historian claims that at this point, the late Duke had been living with pancreatic cancer for eight years – far longer than the usual survival time after diagnosis. Vickers wrote of the morning of his passing: “He got up, had a bath, said he did not feel well, and quietly slipped away.”
The late Queen, who was understood to have not been there when Phillip died, was “absolutely furious that, as so often in life, he left without saying goodbye”, Vickers wrote. Prince Philip died on April 9 2021, with his official cause of death being listed as ‘old age’.
Only a limited number of people were allowed to attend Philip’s funeral, which was held during the height of the Covid pandemic. The late Queen was pictured sitting alone, wearing a mask, as she attended the service at St George’s Chapel in Windsor.
The couple were married for more than 73 years with Prince Phillip becoming the longest-serving Consort in British history, as the Queen once described her husband as her “strength and stay”.
According to Cancer Research UK, it is unusual for people to live long with pancreatic cancer, with only five per cent of people surviving the disease for five years or more.
The disease has the lowest survival rate of all common cancers with most people not diagnosed until the disease has spread, meaning surgery is not a viable option to combat the cancer. In the UK, there are around 10,200 deaths caused by pancreatic cancer each year.
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