Earlier today a mysterious emergency meeting was called at Buckingham Palace which caused the rumour mill to go into overdrive. Predictably, the first thing everyone wondered was whether the Queen or Prince Philip had died or been taken ill.
But no, they’re both still alive and kicking and the announcement was less momentous. Prince Philip, who will be 96 this month, is retiring from his royal duties this autumn, Buckingham Palace said.
He will attend the engagements already in the diary between now and August but won’t be accepting any new invitations, the BBC reported.
The Queen’s schedule will remain as busy as ever though, and she "will continue to carry out a full programme of official engagements", the palace said.
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Prince Philip was the fifth busiest member of the royal family in 2016, having partaken in 110 days of engagements, according to Court Circular listings. He is also linked to more than 780 organisations, either as a patron, president or member, but will no longer regularly attend their events.
Before the announcement was made, The Sun newspaper jumped to its own conclusions, mistakenly publishing a story suggesting the prince had died, reported The Independent.
“Prince Philip dead at 95, how did the Duke of Edinburgh die, etc etc.,” read the headline of the online article.
The piece continued: "Prince Philip, otherwise known as the Duke of Edinburgh, was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II."
"He was married to Queen Elizabeth II. The pair had four children together - Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward."
The article was deleted just minutes after it was published but continued to show up on Google search. The Sun wasn't the only publication to get a little carried away, however, as some French media also published similarly incorrect stories about the prince.
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