Queen Elizabeth II would go ‘weeks’ without seeing her husband, Prince Philip, according to a new book, ‘Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait’.
The sparse meetings began when the Duke of Edinburgh retired in 2017, according to an excerpt from the upcoming biography obtained by the Daily Mail on Friday.
However, author Gyles Brandreth also reportedly noted that the married couple stayed in touch during this time by talking “regularly” on the phone.
According to the book, Her Majesty understood that the arrangement between her and her husband might seem strange to some, but would have known that Philip didn’t want “to be bothered” and wanted to “see his days his way”.
Five years after retiring, the Queen’s longtime wife died in April 2021.
Brandreth’s book would also reveal that Queen Elizabeth II had been determined to be by Philip’s side when he passed away, as they had found a new appreciation for each other during the pandemic lockdown in 2020.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the couple – who have been married for 73 years – are said to have spent more time together in Scotland and at Windsor Castle.
After Philip’s death, the Queen had ‘intense personal grief’, according to the excerpt, but she felt it was her ‘Christian duty’ to carry on as best she could – despite her own ailing health .
Brandreth notes in the book that watching TV helped soothe the royal’s spirits, especially dramas like the British crime series ‘Line of Duty’.
The Queen reportedly refused to slow down until last autumn when she suddenly suffered from low energy and doctors asked her to calm down, the broadcaster adds.
“My husband would certainly not have approved,” Her Majesty would say, according to Brandreth.
The Queen’s last public appearance was during the finale of her Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June.
She joined her son King Charles III and his wife, Camilla Parker Bowles, as well as her grandson Prince William, his wife, Kate Middleton, and their three children: Prince George, 9, Princess Charlotte, 7 years old, and Prince Louis, 4 years old.
Her Royal Highness died in September aged 96 after a 70-year reign.
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