Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, was the longest-serving consort to a British monarch ever since Queen Elizabeth was crowned in 1953. His presence beside the queen was apparently the inspiration for the prince in Disney's animated version of the fairy tale, Sleeping Beauty, which was released in 1959.
According to reports, the animators of Sleeping Beauty chose to name her prince charming as Prince Philip after the Duke of Edinburgh because he was a familiar prince to the public. Sarah Dunnigan, a professor at the University of Edinburgh, said that the popularity of the British royal family in America was surging in the 1950s, which perhaps explained why the Disney animators chose the name.
Both the cartoon character and the real prince were also a few years older than their partners, whom they met as children. Then Princess Elizabeth was only 13 years old when she met her future husband and consort, who was about 18 years old.
The real Duke of Edinburgh served Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, for nearly 65 years as the consort. Prince Philip was never called King Philip because he was not the monarch of the British royal family. He retired in 2017 and then spent most of his time in his Sandringham country estate.
In March 2020, Philip had to be moved into a protective bubble with the queen at Windsor Castle due to COVID-19. It would be their final year together, spent in isolation, as Philip died on April 9, 2021.
Reports stated that the Duke of Edinburgh no longer wanted to go back to the hospital for treatments as he wanted to die in the comforts of his bed at Windsor Castle. According to reports, this was the duke's wish from many years agoas he meticulously planned how his funeral would play out.
Royal biographer Robert Jobson wrote in the book, Prince Philip's Century: The Extraordinary Life of the Duke of Edinburgh, that the queen's husband was always pragmatic and practical and that included his last wishes. Jobson said that Philip made alterations to his funeral plans in 2020 because he was concerned that he would die while COVID-19 restrictions were still in place. The biographer said that the Duke of Edinburgh "never liked loose ends" so he always planned and prepared ahead of time.
Prince Philip will be laid to rest at a vault in St. George's Chapel. However, this will only be a temporary setup as his remains will be moved to the same crypt as Queen Elizabeth, upon her death.
