Tragic story of Prince Philip's childhood, siblings and sister dying in horror plane crash
The death of Prince Philip's sister affected him for the rest of his lifeThe late Duke of Edinburgh faced tragedy in his life while growing up, before becoming Britain’s longest-serving prince consort and watching his family expand into what it is today. Before he became Prince Philip he endured sadness of his own, with the death of his sister.
The Prince Consort, who went on to live a long and happy life with Queen Elizabeth II, passed away in 2021. He stood by the former monarch’s side from the day she officially took the throne in 1952 until his last breath.
His passing occurred during heightened restrictions during the Covid pandemic. This means the photos and livestream of his funeral was watched by millions around the world, including the heartbreaking reality of the Queen mourning on a pew by herself in the church. The picture really did tell a story of 1000 words that fateful day.
Prince Philip lived with the death of his sister from a young age. She died after the plane carrying herself and her family onboard crashed. It affected him for the rest of his life.
Prince Philip’s sister Cecilie died after tragic plane crash
Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark, died while she was eight months pregnant, in a heartbreaking accident that also took the lives of six others on board.
Known as ‘Cecile’, it was a tragedy that left ripples within the royal family. The incident was also captured in Netflix’s The Crown in season 2.
Philip’s sister Cecilie, born in 1911, was the third-eldest out of five siblings, born to Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg. Prince Philip’s siblings included older sisters Margarita, Cecilie, Theodora and Sophie.
In 1931, Cecile wed Georg Donatus, and they welcomed three children, Ludwig, Alexander and Johanna. Six years later, while she was eight months pregnant with their fourth child. They were traveling to the UK when the accident took place.
However, tragedy stuck, when their plane crashed after hitting a factory chimney fog near Ostend. Prince Philip’s sister died, as well as her mother-in-law, her husband, their sons – who were just six and four years old at the time – the best man and a lady-in-waiting.
It’s believed she had gone into labour ahead of the accident, as rescue teams sadly found the remains of an infant next to her in the crash.
He was called into the headmaster’s office to be told the sad news
It’s believed the death of his sister Cecilie rocked Prince Philip when he was told.
At the time he was 16 years old, attending Gordonstoun, a prestigious boarding school in Great Britain.
He was called into the headmaster’s study to be told the grave news.
He later wrote on how it affected him: “I have the very clearest recollection of the profound shock with which I heard the news of the crash and the death of my sister and her family”.
Cecilie’s surviving daughter, Johanna, was adopted by Princess Margaret and Prince Ludwig. However, she tragically passed away from meningitis two years later.
The incident was also featured on The Crown, for the second series of the hit Netflix show. It used the then Prince Charles‘ time at the boarding school to feature flashbacks to tell his father’s story while he was studying at the same institution.
Duke of Edinburgh’s family were exiled
Prince Philip had a tough upbringing during his early years, being the youngest out of the five siblings.
He was the only son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Princess Alice of Batternberg. However, Greece became politically unstable during the 1920s. The King of Greece (his uncle) was forced to abdicate the throne. Initially court-martialled and imprisoned over an allegation of treason, Prince Andrew was pardoned on the condition he and his family left the country.
It was King George V (Queen Elizabeth II’s grandfather) who ordered a Royal Navy ship to evacuate the family. Philip, just 18 months old, was carried to safety in a cot made from an orange box in 1922.
His mother was committed to a mental health institution and diagnosed with schizophrenia.
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Prince Philip’s siblings
Three of his older sisters married German aristocrats who became members of the Nazi party. The youngest of Prince Philip’s siblings, Sophie, and her husband Prince Christoph were said to be close friends with the dictator, naming their child after him.
Prince Philip fought for Britain during World War II, and his sisters were not invited to his royal wedding to Queen Elizabeth II.
The Duke only commented on their link to the Nazi party in 2006 – almost 60 years after he wed the late Queen. He said his sisters found the idea of Germany’s power being ‘attractive’ but stressed he was never “conscious of anybody in the family actually expressing anti-Seimitic views”.
The oldest out of the five children, Margarita, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg married Gottfried in 1931. Initially joining the Nazi Party, he fought for Germany but became badly wounded on the Russian front. He later turned against Hitler and joined other officers who plotted to assassinate him on July 20, 1944. Their plan fell through and he was dismissed. Margarita died in 1981.
Read more: Why Prince Philip’s will was sealed for 90 years after his death
Theodora, Prince Philip’s second-eldest sister, married her second cousin Berthold, and they had three children together. She passed away in 1969 in Germany, five weeks before Prince Philip’s mother died.
His sister Cecile, who died in a plane crash, was buried with her husband and three sons in Darmstadt at the Rosenhohe. Prince Philip attended his sister’s funeral as a teenager.
Princess Sophie, Philip’s fourth sibling, was the closest in age to the royal. She was the first to get married. She tied the knot to her second cousin-once-removed Prince Christoph of Hesse at age 16. He also was linked to the Nazi party, becoming director in the Third Reich Air Ministry, and said to be friends with Hitler.
In her memoirs, she spoke of the couple being friend with Hermann Goering and Hitler before the war broke out. Her husband died in 1943 in a place crash over Italy. She went on to marry Prince George William of Hanover and they had three children. Sophie passed away in 2001 in Munich.
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