A month after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle maligned the Royal Family with charges of racism, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex honored Prince Philip on Friday following his death at the age of 99.
On the couple’s Archwell website, the front page features only a tribute to Harry’s deceased grandfather with no access to the other pages.
“In Loving Memory of His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, 1921-2021,” the dedication says. “Thank you for your service…you will be greatly missed.”
According to PEOPLE, Prince Harry will “likely return to the U.K. for the first time in over a year to attend his grandfather’s funeral,” though it is unclear if Meghan will join him given that she is currently pregnant with their second child.
“Prince Harry has always been very close with his grandfather, who would have turned 100 in June,” noted PEOPLE. “They were often seen smiling and joking around while on royal outings together. Philip also played a crucial role in Prince William and Prince Harry’s lives after the death of their mother, Princess Diana, in 1997.”
“In ‘The Diana Chronicles,’ author Tina Brown wrote, ‘A member of the Balmoral staff noted that Prince Philip, who had effectively lost his own mother at the age of ten when she was committed for three years to an asylum in Switzerland, was brilliantly effective with his grandsons, offering them gruff tenderness and outdoor activities like stalking and hiking to tire them out,'” the report added.
During the Oprah interview that aired in early March, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle alleged that racism within Royal Family contributed to their split from the family. Though they did not specify exactly who was the culprit, the couple did clarify that neither Prince Philip nor Queen Elizabeth II opined about their son Archie’s skin color.
As The Daily Wire’s Ian Haworth noted, Prince Philip led an exemplary life full of service and duty to his beloved country. Among his many life achievements, he will most notably be remembered for his service during World War II:
He was appointed as a midshipman in January 1940 in the Royal Navy, spending four months on the battleship HMS Ramillies protecting Australian convoys in the Indian Ocean. He was also posted to HMS Kent, HMS Shropshire and in Ceylon. After Italy invaded Greece in October 1940, he was transferred to the battleship HMS Valiant in the Mediterranean Fleet.
He was involved in the battle of Crete, as well as the battle of Cape Matapan, and was later awarded the Greek War Cross. In 1942, he was appointed to the destroyer and flotilla leader HMS Wallace, which was involved in the Allied invasion of Sicily and the escort of convoys on the east coast of Britain.
In 1942, as second in command of HMS Wallace, he saved the ship from a night bomber attack. In 1944, he moved to the destroyer HMS Whelp, where he saw service with the British Pacific Fleet in the 27th Destroyer Flotilla, and was present in Tokyo Bay when the instrument of Japanese surrender was signed.