Prince Philip was laid low with his ‘favourite’ sister’s tragic loss of life.
Nov. 22 2024, Revealed 7:00 p.m. ET
Prince Philip was haunted for years by the tragic aircraft crash loss of life of his beloved sister.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the late Duke of Edinburgh’s heartbreaking phrases about his sister, Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark, lengthy after the November 1937 accident that left him “profoundly shocked”.
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Prince Philip mentioned he had the ‘clearest recollection of the profound shock’ he felt when studying of Princess Cecilie’s loss of life.
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Roughly 90 years in the past, Cecilie – who was eight months pregnant on the time – was killed in a aircraft crash together with six others.
Cecilie, Philip’s “favourite sister”, was the third of Princess Alice of Battenberg and Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark’s 5 youngsters.
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Philip was solely 16 years previous when his sister died in a aircraft crash on the age of 26.
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She married Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse – her first cousin as soon as eliminated – and joined the Nazi Occasion with him in Might 1937.
They welcomed three youngsters: Prince Ludwig, Prince Alexander, and Princess Johanna.
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In November 1937, Cecilie and her household traveled to the UK to attend the marriage of her brother-in-law, Louis, Prince of Hesse, and Margaret Campbell Geddes.
Tragically, the plane they have been touring in crashed after placing a manufacturing facility chimney in dense fog close to Ostend.
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Others killed included her mother-in-law, her husband, their two younger sons, a lady-in-waiting, and one of the best man.
Cecilie was solely 26 years previous on the time.
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Firemen on the scene discovered the stays of an toddler close to Cecilie’s physique, who seemed to be prematurely delivered when the aircraft crashed.
At simply 16, Prince Philip was profoundly affected by Cecilie’s loss of life. He later described the second when his headmaster at Gordonstoun summoned him to ship the information as one of the painful experiences of his life.
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Philip’s story was depicted in Season 2 of ‘The Crown’, which he was not proud of.
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He wrote years later: “I’ve the very clearest recollection of the profound shock with which I heard the information of the crash and the loss of life of my sister and her household.”
Cecilie was buried alongside her husband and three youngsters (together with her stillborn son) on the Rosenhöhe in Darmstadt. Funeral images confirmed Philip standing amongst mourning family, all wearing Nazi uniforms.
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Cecilie and Georg’s surviving daughter, Johanna, was adopted by Prince Ludwig and Princess Margaret following the lack of her dad and mom and siblings.
Sadly, her life was minimize quick when she succumbed to meningitis simply two years later.
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The aircraft crash was depicted in Season 2 of the hit collection The Crown, which confirmed Prince Charles’ college days at Gordonstoun and included flashbacks of his father’s time there.
The collection advised Philip was set to spend half-term along with his sister Cecilie in November 1937 to keep away from her flying to London for a marriage.
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The late Duke of Edinburgh shared 4 youngsters with Queen Elizabeth II: Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward.
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Nonetheless, after Philip punched a scholar and was punished by being stored in school, Cecilie was pressured to go to London along with her household. Philip referred to as her, hoping for sympathy, however she agreed with the headmaster’s choice and mentioned she should fly to the marriage.
The scene ended along with her boarding the aircraft.
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Nonetheless, Philip was reportedly “very upset” at how the tragedy was portrayed within the collection.
In line with the Sunday Occasions, he reached out to royal legal professionals Farrer & Co concerning the scenes however selected to not take additional motion.