Prince Philip was battling cancer for many years before his 2021 death, according to a new book.
Historian Hugo Vickers‘ new biography Queen Elizabeth II: A Personal History tells the story of the late Duke of Edinburgh’s private health struggles. Per the book, via DailyMail.com on Saturday, Philip was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer back in 2013:
“Doctors had detected a shadow on his pancreas, and had cut him right across his stomach. The verdict was inoperable pancreatic cancer.”
Being 91 years old back in 2013, some feared “that he might not be seen in public again,” but:
“As ever, the Duke outwitted the pessimists.”
After a brief hospital stay and a stint out of the public eye, he ended up returning to his royal duties that same year, ultimately retiring in 2017. As you know, he ended up living eight more years and died at age 99 in April 2021. And despite the secret cancer diagnosis, his reason of death was ruled as simply “old age.”
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This is just what the Duke wanted, too. Vickers said in his book that Philip “did not want to reach his 100th birthday” because he really “disliked the fuss attendant at such events.”
Even up until the day he died, he lived his life as usual. During his final hours, the author described:
“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 following morning, he got up, had a bath, said he did not feel well, and quietly slipped away. By this point, he had lived with pancreatic cancer for nearly eight years — far longer than the usual survival time from diagnosis.”
The sad part? His wife, Queen Elizabeth II, wasn’t there when he passed. Vickers recounted:
“The Queen was not there when he died. There had often been times in earlier days when she had asked the staff to let her know when Philip was leaving, only to be told, ‘His Royal Highness left 20 minutes ago.'”
The book says the Queen was “absolutely furious that, as so often in life, [he] left without saying goodbye.” Aww… So sad.
It’s clear Philip defied all the odds when it came to his cancer battle. Reactions, Perezcious readers?
[Image via WENN]
