Britain's Prince Philip dies at 99

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Andrew simmons takes a look back at his

life 

he was by her side throughout the 

longest reign of a monarch in british 

history 

for prince philip duke of edinburgh it wasn't only a marriage but a life of 

service to his wife queen elizabeth ii 

born into greek and danish royalty 

philip had a lonely childhood he was taken under the wing of the 

british aristocracy 

when he married the then princess 

elizabeth in 1947 he was a promising 

young naval officer 

it was a fairytale wedding for a country emerging from war and hardship 

it all changed for the young couple when 

elizabeth's father king george vi 

died at only 56 years of age she became 

queen 

and philip in the words of his private 

secretary looked as if the world had 

fallen down on him 

his naval career ended along with his independence 

prince philip was sort of forced into 

making huge sacrifices 

he was very much a man's man not someone who was 

going to naturally fall into the 

position of playing second fiddle and 

walking two paces behind his wife and calling her ma'am in public and so on and so began life in the queen's shadow 

hundreds of engagements a year 

he did however manage to find time for 

his own charities 

helping young people and conserving 

wildlife very energetic 

um a problem solve a sort of scientific 

cast of mind.

so those were sort of you know on the 

positive side the 

the attributes that people admired 

sometimes though 

you know his his detractors would would say that you know some of his forthrightness could come across as 

rudeness philip did have a reputation 

for embarrassing and politically incorrect remarks whether he was being rude about the 

chinese or indians 

or swearing at photographers often a 

sideshow to formal occasions 

yet even though an air of racism hung over him 

a staunchly royalist uk media generally forgave him he was certainly given a much easier 

ride than politicians politicians who tend to make a racist or an offensive remark in this day and age tend to have to apologize a 

couple of days later because there's so 

much pressure on them 

but i've never known prince philip to apologize for a remark and 

i remember once uh he wandered over 

after he'd uh said to an aboriginal 

leader do you still throw spears at each 

other 

and i saw him do this in australia in 

2002 and 

the next day he came over it made front 

pages all over the world and he just wandered over and said the 

trouble with you is you've got no sense of humor the complete absence of humor so he wasn't going to apologize his 

retirement from public duties came in 2017 with a send-off from the royal 

marines whatever the faults his 60 years of public service was admired by many people while their marriage was said to have had its ups and downs in the couple's younger years 

prince philip remained dedicated and 

supportive to the queen she'll receive immense sympathy from a british public known to 

view her 

with respect and affection.