I usually check Twitter soon after I wake up, just to see what people are talking about in the wee hours of morning on the East Coast. Sometimes there’s something British or European trending, which is what happened this morning. “Queen Elizabeth” and #RoyalFamily and #BuckinghamPalace were all trending and I got so freaked out. Apparently, the Queen summoned her entire staff to Buckingham Palace this morning for what was described as an “emergency meeting.” Sources told media outlets that there was no cause for alarm and that the Queen and Prince Philip were actually fine (fine for a 91 year old and a 95 year old). As it turns out, the meeting was sort of a retirement announcement for Philip.
Prince Philip is retiring from public life. The 95-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth is to step down from his duties as her public consort after 70 years of service.
A short statement issued Thursday morning by Buckingham Palace read, “His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh has decided that he will no longer carry out public engagements from the autumn of this year. In taking this decision, The Duke has the full support of The Queen.
“Prince Philip will attend previously scheduled engagements between now and August, both individually and accompanying The Queen. Thereafter, The Duke will not be accepting new invitations for visits and engagements, although he may still choose to attend certain public events from time to time. The Duke of Edinburgh is Patron, President or a member of over 780 organisations, with which he will continue to be associated, although he will no longer play an active role by attending engagements.
“Her Majesty will continue to carry out a full programme of official engagements with the support of members of the Royal Family.”
It really does feel like a lot of stuff is coming to a head this year in particular for the royal family. I tend to think the Queen’s “heavy cold” over the holidays was a wake-up call for a lot of people in and around the Windsors, and my feeling has always been that the Queen and Prince Philip prop each other up psychologically, and that when one of them goes, the other one will likely pass within a few months. What happens when the Queen’s partner and husband and confidante of 70 years is just chilling out at home all day, watching the telly? In any case… Philip is turning 96 next month. I’m totally fine with him retiring. While Philip got a lot of sh-t over the years for his rude and racist utterances, you also can’t deny the fact that he fundamentally changed the monarchy and brought the institution into a modern age. Let him enjoy his last years in peace.
Also: 780 patronages, damn. William and Kate better step up and take on a higher workload, starting now.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
91 and 95 and putting the young ‘uns to shame.
(well, except Harry)
Harry is just as lazy as the Cambridges. All three of them need to step up.
They should step DOWN. It’s clear they don’t have what it takes for this JOB.
From what I remember reading over 50% of the work Harry does is actually not count in end of year tallies due to the way is scheduled or counted so his numbers are much higher than reported officially. However the three of them really need to cop on and realise how privileged they are.
This. He does a much better job than William & Kate (though so would a plank of wood) when he does decide to work, but he still does embarrassingly little, and he’s abandoned all pretense of having a proper job so there’s no excuse.
There’s no reason he couldn’t be doing 400-500 engagements a year right now, yet last year he only managed 86. And it’s not because ‘some of his don’t count’. All the active royals have things that ‘don’t count’. Prince Philip always did a ton that ‘didn’t count’ and still managed far more official engagements than Harry. At 95.
@Jeesie
The young royals are a bunch of nothing doers.
Yes, agree!
Last year he had around 180 engagements. The Telegraph guy who always does the “semi-official” tally however said he only did 150 not counting ANY Invictus stuff.
Harry is not a workhorse in any way. What, does he do an event or two? And a few weeks of charity work on his own. Oh, POOR HARRY!!! He must be utterly exhausted!!
The young ones are all lazy and entitled. Eugenie and Beatrice actually say they want to work, but they have been thrown out.
dang, he’s 95. I feel like a lazy $h!t at 33.
yea, life of luxury and relative ease for him. but almost zero privacy is something I would have massive issues with.
ETA i know he doesn’t have to work hard just mix and mingle with people but for me just going to my kid’s basketball game or spring concert is exhausting and gives me a migraine.
While I don’t think he ever went hungry/didn’t have a roof over his head, I don’t think Philip had a very easy or secure childhood. Actually pretty sad at some points. His mom was in a psychiatric institution for a while when he was a child and his father basically bailed on the family. Philip was with a sister and her family, his mother’s brothers (one was Lord Mountbatten) or sent away to school. I think for most of his childhood he was “of no fixed address”.
The DM was so over dramatic, one could have thought that he has died.
That’s the DM for you.
I can’t believe anyone buys into their regular “Tales By The Moonlight” royal weekend stories.
I mean, Buckingham Palace kind overdid it by rushing staff back in the dead of night and causing a stir…was that necessary? Unless there’s more to this story.
I thought the same.
yes I think there is something more here. I wonder if maybe he is terminally ill?
It wasn’t just the DM. Around midnight there was a rumor that he was dead. All the forums and Twitter were abundant with it. Luckily I have a habit of listening to the BBC at night so I knew it was bogus.
Our 6 AM local newscast (US/NBC affiliate) led with ‘breaking news’ about PP. I assumed he’d died.
While glad he’s stepping down at last, I found his retirement announcement not really ‘breaking news’ worthy.
Not sure why I am defending DM – racist scumbags. But, this wasn’t on them. We all woke up to the news that staff had been called to the Palace. It was breaking news all over, the only outlet not reporting was BBC i.e. the one that would know. It wasn’t really dramatic to wonder if he or she had passed. They are in their 90s.
Actually it is on the Fail – they ran the story early yesterday evening that started the whole Twitter panic. Am sure she did call a last min staff meeting yesterday (for today) but there is no evidence that says that she called staff into the office at 3am to arrange this.
At around 8am this morning the British press confirmed that there was a staff meeting being held at 10am when a public announcement was being made.
Good for him, he deserves to put his feet up and enjoy the rest of his life doing what he wants. We’ll still see him as am sure he’ll be at her side for the big state occasions. He’s had a lot of health problems over the past several years so not really surprised about this, I give it a few years before TQ follows suits and steps further back from public life.
Pressure is being piled on Twit and Twat, wonder how they will react to this renewed call for them to step up and act like senior RF members. Will they step up or choke? Me thinks the latter, they will carry on as they are (dragging their heels) for as long as they can. When one or both of his grandparents part this world it’ll be a catalyst for him, one that might make him evaluate his life. I have never believed the Cambridge marriage will last.
I guess you’re right about the Dolittles. They will have to work more when Charles is king.
Wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall at the Lamebridge’s house when this was announced? Willnot will be ranting and Cannot will just look terrified, play with Big Blue and call her Mummy for back-up. Those two are the perfect Twit and Twat, two 35-year-old overgrown toddlers.
Yeah, William was probably not that happy.
Kate was probably so shocked that she needed her coloring book to calm down.
Haha haaaa YES
Cannot starts to cry, her Botox barely allowing her to do so.
George and Charlotte roll their eyes. Mummy is having one of her Moments. This means another pair of new shoes, and a pea coat.
I call them the “shamebridges”
I was just thinking – oh, so THIS is why the sudden flurry of activity over Heads Together. Twit and Twat are crapping their pants that they’ll need to take on half of Phil’s stuff. So they’re busy with their defence: sorry, no can do – Heads Together is taking up all our time.
I don’t think anybody is under the illusion that these two will take on even a fraction of his workload. THINK OF THE CHILDREN! But any increase in engagements is probably too much for these devoted parents so I absolutely buy that they’re panicking.
I also think it would be wise for Charles and QEII to encourage Harry to marry his girlfriend soon. Because those two will step up and whether one likes them (or the monarchy) or not, I think we can all agree that the institution will need all the help it can get with these two vacationing duds being their usual useless selves. They could ALL work more considering the unimaginable privilege they’re living in but T&T need to get their image under control as well.
A lame excuse, considering Philip is the patron of almost 800 organizations!!!!
It’s going to be amusing to watch the next round of excuses in light of Phil’s retirement though, ain’t it?
The man is almost 96 years old and handles more than 700 events a year. That’s impressive for any age but at 96, the man is truly an inspiration in that regard. That this is lost on those two layabouts is sad. We can learn so much from advanced elders who remain engaged and active but those two learn nothing. Sad. And for the taxpayers, I’m sure it is infuriating. And sorry but having two kids is no excuse. The man is 95 years old! If they aren’t going to step up and do the job, they should step aside immediately – and by stepping aside, I mean giving up all the entitlements too. They have to work to earn those.
Yes. Staunch republican that I am, and racist and obnoxious as Phil has been, I’m in agreement with you and Kaiser. The royals enjoy their ludicrously privileged private lives by dint of a public service work ethic. Which Phil has shown, right into his 90s.
It does make you wonder about how long this has been discussed after WK’s announcement that they were going to be in London come autumn. And now Philip’s retiring.
bluhare, I think this may be how the family finally starts cracking down on W&K. Prince Philip wanted to retire 6 years ago. Maybe HM had finally had enough of the laziness when she saw the toll it was taking on her beloved husband.
@bluhare – I wonder too, but for different reasons. This doesn’t feel planned out. Calling people back to Buckingham Palace in the middle of the night? Something is not sitting right.
Is this how HM finally put her foot down about their laziness?
I was just thinking about W&K’s reactions. Do you think it’s possible that this retirement has been in the works for awhile? They announced awhile back that london would be their homebase in the fall. And now we learn that the Duke is retiring in the fall.
Surely W&K can’t be surprised. The man is 96. Did they think he was going to go on forever? I have a lot of admiration for Phillip, he has worked bloody hard for 70 years. Those 2 layabouts should be ashamed of themselves.
I think the Queen should step way back herself, now. Let her spend her time with her husband, while she still has him. They both deserve to retire and relax.
OT: When Philip retires does the Navy promote a new admiral? Does being Admiral of the RB Navy allow him to make any military decisions?
it felt strange that they called an emergency meeting in the middle of the night to announce something so basic and in advance.
I feel that there is more to the story. Maybe a bad diagnosis or something similar…..
It wasn’t held in the middle of the night – it was at 10AM UK time.
yes, but the staff was summoned late at night for a sudden meeting…so it seemed all more dramatic than it needed to be.
No they weren’t. people are getting confused over time zones. The story got steam at 8am UK time (when the press were ‘unofficially’ briefed), 3am north american time (there is a 5 hour time difference). This was planned in advance, esp when you consider that news outlets were ready to go at 10.01am with their stories of Phillips life etc.. Staff would have been told the day before to give them time to make travel arrangements.
The only time that they would be notified/summoned in the middle of the night is for a death.
UPDATE: As LAK says below the Fail did a story on this last night which caused the overnight Twitter meltdown.
Digital Unicorn, all of the stories about the meeting starting catching on around 3AM in LONDON time, not North American time. It was announced that all of the Queen’s staff had been called to an emergency meeting, but no one knew why. Because it was reported in the middle of the night (again, around 3AM in the UK), Twitter was buzzing that someone had died. Some French sources started announcing Philip’s death. The palace had to start quietly putting down the rumours until they made the official announcement hours later.
There were people outside BP in the darkness, gathering. The news crews were stacking up. The news about the meeting did hit in the middle of the night UK time.
Nota. The news crews would have been setting up regardless of the social media panic as the palace clearly planned to announce it this morning anyway. My timings refer to when the mainstream media started reporting on it, after confirmation/briefing from the palace. Mainstream press or key media partners would have been told in advance of an announcement with it being embargoed until a certain date and time.
The only middle of the night activity from the palace would have been from the poor press team having to deal with all the press calls.
I think it is has given them a taste, a very important one, of what happens in the age of social media. When they have something more important to announce, let’s hope they’ve learned their lessons.
@Digital, there is an 8 hour difference between the west coast and England. When I comment on this site, the time stamp is always 3 hours ahead of the time I actually post.
Why was it an emergency meeting? Phillip must have been planning this for a while. And it’s not an emergency if it is not happening until the fall. Did BP use term “emergency”?
@NOTA: I hope so but the hysteria is all Social Media’s fault as they worked themselves up over the issue. Its not the first time its gotten hysterical over nothing. Look at Christmas when the Queen didn’t show up for the Boxing Day church visit as she will still poorly from her cold – Social Media got worked up and had her and the Duke dead. I think the palace had to issue a statement to the contrary.
@LadyD – I guess it depends where you are. When i’ve worked with US/Canadian teams they’ve usually been about 5 hours behind the UK, although one of my friends is in Vancouver and she’s 7 hours behind.
@Maria – I think ’emergency’ was the Fail’s term. I imagine it was last min due to the nature of the announcement and them not wanting it to leak. He’s been thinking of retiring for the past 6 years and I guess his illness at Christmas probably made his decision for him.
Digital Unicorn — the story actually started to break in the US around 10:30 last night. So there was activity at the Palace at weird hours. The drama for all this seems totally unwarranted….if it’s just a retirement.
No they could not email it. By calling the senior staff together is a way in which they afford respect to their staff, they are like a family. Prince Philip was announcing his retirement ager 70 years service, quite a big change for the management of the RF.
In this era, why do servants have to travel to London to hear this news? Couldn’t they just email it?
Ladies – I am aware that the Fail ran a story last night about an emergency meeting but the palace did NOT send out requests to attend at 3am (which is what the OP and others are saying). The story wasn’t reported on until around 8am (maybe earlier) this morning by the rest of the media when the palace confirmed that yes there was going to be a meeting – which was done to end social media speculation. Up until that point it was pure speculation started by the Fail which as we all know is not know for its factual journalism.
The rest of the media only started reporting on it after the palace confirmed it was taking place. Again the palace would have planned this in advance.
Is this shady? Why call an emergency meeting at 3am to announce his retirement? Surely that would be something planned way in advance. Royal aids literally had to jump out of bed and make their way immediately for the meeting.
I think Phillip had a solo public appearance yesterday, I’m wondering did he do/say something controversial and thus is damage control for when it comes out.
Erm no, the meeting was held at 10AM UK time.
Yes, it was. But the announcement was sent to all royal aids at 3am this morning that they needed to be there for 10am.
It seems like very short notice for something that had surely would be decided a long time in advance.
Not at all. He could have had a health scare recently (a minor stroke for example) and made the decision to call it
The meeting was presumably planned yesterday as the culmination of factors leading up to the final decision. The blast was sent out so that newspaper and TV reporters would a) be in place by the time of the announcement at 10am, and b) have all their pre-written life-of-Phil articles and video segments ready to edit for the specifics of the announcement.
How else did the BBC have a 10 minute life-of-Phil segment ready to go at 10.01am? Cos they were getting their various pre-worked segments ready to go for whichever of the likely announcements were made.
The 3am thing is US time zones when the story started trending – it was 8am in the UK when the press started reporting on the meeting (when they were ‘unofficially’ briefed) – there is a 5 hour time difference. If staff were asked to come down to London from Windsor and Sandringham they would have been told the day before.
The royal press pack are calling out the 3am ‘notice’ wondering where people got that notion. Certain news outlets would have been briefed in advance so that they can prepare their news.
The meeting wasn’t sent at 3am. It was sent yesterday afternoon with plenty of turnaround for them to get to London in the morning.
The DM online wrote a piece about it in the early evening yesterday which prompted an overnight twitter panic about contents of meeting.
The rest of UK media started writing about it this morning which was then picked up by rest of the world’s media.
Sorry, yes, that’s what I meant. Advance notice given (but not 3am cos we’re, like, in our own time zone, not an American one, go figure) so that all would be ready to go at 10.01am.
I was reading stories about the meeting at 10 pm eastern time, which is 3 am UK time and the Daily Mail story was definitely out. Their article definitely suggested it was an emergency meeting at first. Then information came out that any announcement would be made 8 am UK time to the BBC, which matches protocol of any overnight death UK time. Then Twitter went crazy and “French media” reported his death. By midnight eastern time though, there was a NZ article saying the queen and Phillip were fine and a CTV producer in Canada had contacted a BP press office member and confirmed the same information.
Daily Mail had a laugh on a lot of people I guess.
If anyone deserves to retire, it’s him!!!
Even retired, he’s still going to do more engagements than Lazy and Waity, isn’t he?
Yup! Pathetic, isn’t it?
Yes. He does more work than all of his 3 grandchildren put together…
I was SO underwhelmed by that announcement. The way it was handled had me expecting something way bigger.
It kinda felt liked they were playing with the press.
IDK, I think HM’s husband retiring from public life is a big deal. He is the second most senior royal.
IIRC, the Queen Mum’s patronages were split up among family members. I wonder if they will do the same with Philip’s.
I agree it’s a big deal. Also since the Queen had repeatedly said she would never retire, but continue on till death for duty to country, and her consort is announcing a retirement surly marks something substantial in the House of Windsor.
He talked about wanting to retire 6 years ago in his 90th birthday interview. He’s waited 6 years for W&K to step up and start working. Maybe HM and PP decided to put their collective feet down and force the issue.
Great point Notasugarhere, he has been talking about it for a few years now. That was also why supposedly Charles was ‘taking on more duties’. I think you are right, The Firm, was waiting for W&K to roll up their sleeves and get busy.
This is the British Royal Family, more specifically the Old Guard who, whatever else they may be, have always been dedicated public servants. I’d be incredibly surprised if no new health-related issue prompted this decision. Its just completely out of character for both Prince Phillip and the Queen and the manner it was organized is rather telling too. I’d say they learned yesterday he will soon no longer be physically able to complete his duties or he may have even been told he doesn’t have more than a year or so left.
But the BRF aren’t just going to come out and say that unless its truly imminent. Instead they’ve set his retirement date for August, but be prepared for that to be moved up if his health deteriorates quickly. This move allows the world to get used to the idea of not seeing him regularly and if his health is truly bad no one will be utterly shocked by news of his passing now. This is how they begin the process of letting their subjects knows its happening.
Yep.
And you know that wheatever is going on with Philip is serious because the QM’s eventual retirement wasn’t handled like this and she was still attending upto appointments until her final 3yrs when she caught a chill and was forced to stay at home for those final 3yrs.
That’s sad to read. He’s got his issues, that’s for sure, but one thing he does have is a sense of duty.
That is depressing in its logic.
Yes, well written Va Va, and explains everything. ITA, their sense of duty has always been present, always.
ITA – something has forced the issue as he almost never gives up anything willingly. His age and health were the reasons why he had to give up carriage racing, something that he did well into ‘old’ age.
I dunno. He looked fine and chipper at the Order of Merit ceremony he attended today, just after the announcement. Should it be any surprise that he’d want to retire at 96? He’s tired.
I think the input from his kids had some sway in this. Anne was present at the announcement today, she’s close to her parents and protective of them. I can see her urging him to slow down and conserve his health.
It’s not like he’s disappearing either, he’ll be at large public events just not doing active charity work anymore. Henri of Denmark ‘retired’ much the same way a few years ago and he still makes appearances.
The online speculation re this was so much more entertaining and interesting than this pathetic, damp squib of an announcement.
My faves included Liz and Phil getting a divorce and/or Phil coming out as gay.
What a dull old family they are.
LOL My favourite was Megan is pregnant and they already eloped!
I put my money on Kate getting preg again so there is another excuse.
Maybe Harry will do (even) more once/if/when married?
Everyone, inc press, have pretty much called this one saying she’ll be pregnant again by the end of the year.
Harry doesn’t actually do much now. Very slightly more than William and a fair bit more than Kate, but significantly less than anyone else.
It’s really sad this is what the public/media has come to expect from Kate.
Well this is certainly better than the headlines I went to bed with last night that were “Prince Phillip has died” then…”ooops-no he hasn’t”!! With 700+ patronages (feeling like a layabout now) I guess Will & Kate are going to be doing some real work.
Good for him! He can join William and Kaye in their retirement. 😉
Ha ha!
Lol 😃
Good for him. Dudes nearly 96 and we;ll still see him now and again at family events- Trooping, Christmas etc.
Time for the younger three to step up, but not expecting to. Third baby announcement before the end of the year. And they’re not even moving to London full-time so really not expecting anything to change there, sadly. Hopefully Harry will though.
Just as well we now have Boris Johnson to fulfil the role of being offensive about Johnny Foreigner.
Good for Philip, he deserves retirement!!
The Cambridges must be panicking though, I bet Waity is throwing away her birth control pills as we speak. Anything to avoid working!
Bang on Lena! As soon as Pippa’s wedding is over, they both will try to get pregnant, I think.
Kate, to avoid doing work, and Pippa because she wants kids. And why not? She doesn’t have to worry about how much they cost, or school fees. And despite her claims to the contrary she has plenty of help, and she doesn’t have to worry about juggling home and work, because she doesn’t work at either.
Katie Keen and Normal Bill waking up this morning, “Say, wut? We’ll have to work more now. Tut, tut! But Diana! My part-time co-helicoptering! Get Granny on the phone, post haste!”
And “our poor children! Won’t anyone think of the poor children???”
I hope he gets to relax for a few more years.
Typical Philip.
One of the attendees at today’s event said to him, “Sorry to hear you’re standing down, sir.”
Prince Philip replied, “Well I can’t stand up much longer!”
His smart mouth and quick mind is really something else.
Sometimes not nice, though.
Still to have that much of a quick mind and that fast a reaction is admirable.
Hope i age that well.
The dude is 95 years old. I think he’s earned it.
I agree.
I look forward to seeing how lazy William and Kate are now.
I’m sure the Doliitles will be spending this evening poring over their Big Book of Excuses, trying to find reasons for avoiding more royal duties.
Harry is not much better but at least does a bit more than Whiny and Waity.
The void left by Philip is likely to be filled by Charles, his siblings and Camilla. The younger royals will continue as they have always done.
I think it is a fairly safe bet that Baby 3 will be announced soon.
I really do not know why people thought that a death was to be announced. The RF do not announce death’s in this way. I feel that this announcement heralds a big shift in the organisation and profile of the RF. It also paves the way for the addition of a new member of the RF, namely Meghan Markle. Harry cannot take on any really substantial duties as a single man, he needs a companion. Counting the number of engagements is a rather silly way of assessing Royal duties, Much better to weigh them in terms of amount of hours spent, distance from base, and whether the duties involve delivery of important speeches or short haul or long haul overseas trips. This of course does not even count the amount of behind the scenes prep necessary to carry out the duties, and also the amount of networking behind the scenes to raise funds for the charities. I really can’t wait to see the type of charities Meghan gets involved in. I am hoping that she will get some thespian related charities, some with young girls, and even maybe become a patron of a charity supporting yoga for well bring.
It’s pretty obvious that Charles is going to have to rip that scepter out of his mother’s cold, dead hands. Those two aren’t going anywhere!
Don’t know if this is true but I heard the staff meeting was completely unrelated to Prince Philip/the announcement and just an unfortunate coincidence that got blown out of proportion. The staff meeting (which happens regularly) was to do with the repairs to BP.