Prince Philip made his final public appearance as a working royal in August 2017, having chosen to retire at the age of 96. Since then, he has lived full-time at Sandringham, the Norfolk country estate where Queen Elizabeth spends her holidays. But when she decided to self-isolate in Windsor Castle during the last week of March, he flew by helicopter to join her. Since then has made an unexpected return to public activities. In April he released a statement honoring essential workers. He appeared in a June photograph to mark his 99th birthday and another celebrating Princess Beatrice’s wedding last week.
On Wednesday morning, he appeared solo on the steps of Windsor Castle for a ceremony where he passed his role as the Colonel-in-Chief of the Rifles, a military regiment, to Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. He was eventually greeted by four buglers and the regiment’s assistant commandant. Camilla held her own ceremony featuring a bugle call at Highgate House, the Cornwall country estate she shares with Prince Charles, about 85 miles away. The Rifles is a relatively new branch of the British Armed Forces composed of eight infantry battalions, each of which has their own royal patron in addition to the Colonel-in-Chief. Philip has been its ceremonial head since it was formed in 2007, but he has been associated with the regiments that preceded it since 1953.
While Philip has held occasional official meetings in private since his retirement, nearly all of his public appearances since 2017 have taken place with the queen. He was expected to attend a ceremony passing his role as Colonel of the Grenadier Guard to Prince Andrew in March 2018, but did not appear due to illness.
So while the pandemic seemingly sparked a new period of productivity for Philip, it’s also been great for his relationship with his wife of 73 years. On Wednesday morning, the palace announced that the pair will travel to Balmoral, their summer home in Scotland, while continuing to follow all social distancing guidelines.
“One of the nicest things for the queen is that she is getting to spend more time with her husband than she usually would,” a friend told Vanity Fair in May. “They have dinner together in the evenings and I imagine the Queen is of the generation where she dresses for dinner. She is riding out every day and is making the most of this time.”
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