LONDON – Prince Philip, the 99-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain who officially retired from public life in 2017, briefly returned to his life of royal duty on Wednesday for a military ceremony at Windsor Castle, where he delivered a role that he has played for nearly seven decades.
Philip handed over the keys to the Colonel-in-Chief of The Rifles, a merger of four infantry regiments that formed in 2007 and is now the largest infantry regiment in the British Army, to Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, amid the sound of bugles.
But like so many other things during the coronavirus era, the ceremony was reinvented to allow for social distancing, with Prince Philip officially handing over the post at Windsor Castle, some 85 miles from where the Duchess assumed duty at a ceremony in Highgrove House.
Prince Philip, officially known as the Duke of Edinburgh, was greeted and thanked for his 67 years of service to The Rifles and his regiments in training by Major General Tom Copinger-Symes, the assistant commanding colonel. The prince was appointed first colonel-in-chief of the Wiltshire regiment, one of the groups that now form the rifles, in 1953.
Shortly thereafter, Commander-in-Chief of the Rifles, General Sir Patrick Sanders, welcomed Camilla to his new role at Highgrove House in Gloucestershire.
Prince Felipe has been out of public view since 2017, when he announced his retirement. For years he has been dealing with health issues: He was rushed to London Hospital in December to treat a pre-existing condition, and underwent hip surgery in 2018.
It also made the headlines when at 97 he had a car accident while driving near his home country, fueling the debate over whether he should be behind the wheel.
He has been married to the Queen since 1947, and the couple have been isolating themselves at Windsor Castle since the coronavirus blockade began.
Since then, they have rarely been seen, although they were photographed together there last week during the surprise wedding of their granddaughter, Princess Beatriz. The queen also celebrated her first public engagement since the pandemic began when she knighted Sir Tom Moore, better known as Captain Tom, at the castle on Friday.
