Sophie, Countess of Wessex, shared over the weekend about her father-in-law Prince Philip’s “peaceful” final moments. The Duke of Edinburgh died Friday at age 99 at Windsor Castle.
Sophie, who is married to Queen Elizabeth and Philip’s youngest son, Prince Edward, said the prince’s death “was right for him” and “was so gentle.”
“It was just like someone took him by the hand and off he went,” the countess said in a video captured by ITV on Sunday. “It was very, very peaceful and that’s all you want for somebody, isn’t it?”
“I think it is so much easier for the person that goes than the people who are left behind. We are all sitting here looking at each other going ‘this is awful,’” the countess added, according to the ITV report. “But equally, look at all the tributes. It’s just amazing.”
Edward also spoke about his father’s death, describing it as “a bit of a shock.”
“However much one tries to prepare oneself for something like this it’s still a dreadful shock,” Edward said, adding that it’s “very, very sad.”
Of the tributes pouring in for the duke from around the world, the Earl of Wessex said that while Philip, “might have been our father, grandfather, father-in-law” he also “meant so much to so many other people.”
Princess Anne and Princes Charles and Andrew also spoke about their father’s death in separate appearances and tributes.
It was the first time the public heard from Andrew since he stepped back from public duties after a disastrous BBC “Newsnight” interview in November 2019, over his ties with Jeffrey Epstein.
“I feel very sorry and supportive of my mother, who’s feeling it, I think, probably more than everybody else,” the Duke of York said over the weekend. “The queen ― as you would expect ― is an incredibly stoic person. She described his passing as a miracle.”
“She described it as having left a huge void in her life. But we, the family, the ones that are close to her, are rallying around to make sure that we’re there to support her,” Andrew added. “And I know that there is a huge amount of support not just for her, but for everybody, as we go through this enormous change.”
Prince William and Prince Harry later released separate statements of their own on Monday. The Duke of Cambridge called his grandfather “an extraordinary man” in his touching tribute, while the Duke of Sussex referred to the Duke of Edinburgh as “master of the barbecue, legend of banter, and cheeky right ’til the end.”
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