Prince Phillip ‘struggled with inoperable pancreatic cancer eight years before his death’

Prince Philip was first diagnosed with pancreatic cancer nearly eight years before he died, a new book about the Queen and the then-Duke of Edinburgh’s life has revealed.

In Queen Elizabeth II, a new book by the royal biographer Hugo Vickers, the final years of the two royals’ lives have been cast in fresh detail – including Philip’s long-running illness.

While he died at Windsor Castle

The book claims the condition was kept from the public for years and that his doctors struggled to believe he had survived for so long.

Philip’s official death certificate lists ‘old age’ as the eventual cause of death.

The Duke was the longest-reigning consort in British history and was treated at King Edward VII Hospital and St Bartholomew’s Hospital in the weeks before his death.

At the time, it was reported that he initially received care for an infection, but also underwent heart surgery for a pre-existing condition.

He returned to Windsor Castle on March 16 to be reunited with the Queen after spending a month in the hospitals.

There, the Duke, known for his frequent gaffes and remarkable longevity, continued living life to the full even on his final night, claims the new book, which has been serialised in the Daily Mail.

Prince Philip gave nurses the slip and headed down on his zimmer frame to the Oak Room, a sitting room in the castle, and poured himself a beer, Vickers wrote.

‘The following morning, he got up, had a bath, said he did not feel well and quietly slipped away,’ the book said.

‘By this point, he had lived with pancreatic cancer for nearly eight years – far longer than the usual survival time from diagnosis.’

The Queen, meanwhile, was not present when her husband of 73 years passed away, and is said to have been left frustrated by his characteristically unannounced departure.

According to Vickers, she described herself as ‘absolutely furious that, as so often in life, he left without saying goodbye’.

The statement was an apparent reference to Philip’s lifelong habit of slipping away without warning, including from the Queen herself, who had frequently asked staff to alert her when he was leaving, only to be told he had already gone.

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