London: Britain’s Prince Philip marked a quiet 99th birthday in lockdown with his wife, Queen Elizabeth II, at Windsor Castle in south-east England.
Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, and the 94-year-old monarch, who have been married for 72 years, have been isolating together since March when the UK went into lockdown in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic in the country.
Buckingham Palace released a new photograph of the royal couple, which was taken June 1 in the quadrangle at the castle, to mark the birthday Wednesday.
No visits were planned due to the lockdown restrictions for the elderly but the royal family has been connecting with each other through Zoom and other online mediums and are likely to have done so for the birthday as well.
Various divisions of the UK’s Armed Forces took to social media to wish the prince, who has an active history with the forces, a happy birthday.
The Royal Marines official Twitter page read: “Happy 99th Birthday to the #DukeofEdinburgh #PrincePhilip from the Royal Marines.
“In honour of this day, we wanted to share some images from the Duke of Edinburgh’s time as the Captain General of the Royal Marines.”
It included photos of the Duke of Edinburgh involved in several military ceremonies in the past.
The Intelligence Corps projected a birthday message for the prince onto one of their officers’ buildings and said: “His Royal Highness has been Colonel-in-Chief of the Intelligence Corps since 1977. We wish him many happy returns and send him this birthday message projected onto the Priory Officers’ Mess at Chicksands.”
Prince Philip has not been seen in public since he spent four nights in hospital in December last year for what royal officials said was a planned “precautionary measure” for a pre-existing condition.
Born in Corfu, Greece, in 1921, the royal is the longest-serving monarch’s consort in British history. He retired and stepped down from frontline royal duties in May 2017.
The Queen also celebrated her 94th birthday in April quietly, cancelling the traditional gun salute because of the pandemic.
PTI