The late Queen Elizabeth’s final years with her husband, Prince Philip will be brought to light in a new biography about the British monarch.
Royal biographer Hugo Vickers will release another novel titled Queen Elizabeth II on April 9, 2026.
Using observation, research, personal recollection and “never-before-seen sources,” Hugo deep-dives into the late monarch’s 96 years.
“On her twenty-first birthday in 1947, she made a promise to serve and kept it for a remarkable 75 years. She was steadfast and conciliatory and presided calmly over decades of change, political upheaval and family tragedy,” the biography description read.
Hugo has made significant claims about the late Queen Elizabeth, many involving Prince Phillip, who sadly passed on April 9, 2021, aged 99. Below, The Weekly discusses some of these claims.
Prince Philip’s secret diagnosis
Upon Prince Philip’s passing in 2021, the British royal family did not disclose the finer details.
However, the new biography has claimed Prince Philip privately battled pancreatic cancer for eight years before his passing. The Duke of Edinburgh underwent abdominal surgery in June 2013, during which doctors discovered the cancer, according to the book.
Hugo wrote that following the diagnosis, “There was a view that [Philip] might not be seen in public again” but the “Duke outwitted the pessimists.”
Prince Philip continued to partake in royal engagements until 2017.
Queen Elizabeth wasn’t with Prince Philip
After retiring from royal duties, Prince Philip spent the majority of his time living at Wood Farm. While he relocated there alone, he was frequently joined by longtime friend Penny Mountbatten.
“From time to time, the Queen went up by train to Norfolk to stay the weekend. Once again, she gave him a loose rein. In a sense, they had separated,” Hugo wrote.
In early 2021, Prince Philip was in and out of the hospital. He died only a few months away from his 100th birthday – a milestone he supposedly didn’t want to achieve because he disliked “the fuss.”
Of his final moments, Hugo wrote that Philip, “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.”
The Queen did not say a final goodbye to her husband of 73 years.
“[Queen Elizabeth] took the line, I was told, that she was ‘absolutely furious that, as so often in life, he left without saying goodbye’,” Hugo wrote.
