The Queen spent Prince Philip’s birthday ‘privately quietly reflecting and remembering her husband’

The Queen ‘quietly reflected and privately remembered’ Prince Philip on what would have been her husband’s 100th birthday, a royal expert has claimed. 

The monarch, 95, earlier this week paid a touching tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh by planting a special rose in the garden of her home of Windsor Castle.

Palaces sources have now revealed how the Queen, who is set to have a busy weekend meeting with President Joe Biden and hosting him and Jill Biden for tea at Windsor Castle, didn’t have any engagements yesterday and instead spent the day privately.

Royal insiders told Vanity Fair‘s Katie Nicholl Her Majesty was visited by Prince Andrew and the Wessexes on the poignant occasion.  

Prince Philip died of ‘old age’, his death certificate revealed. The Duke of Edinburgh died ‘peacefully’ aged 99 on April 9, Buckingham Palace announced at the time.   

In an interview which aired yesterday, Prince Edward said his mother the Queen is doing ‘remarkably well’ despite the death of her husband after 73 years of marriage in April, saying she is enjoying getting back to royal duties after a ‘difficult’ lockdown. 

Edward and his wife Sophie, Countess of Wessex, are among the senior royals taking a more active role in supporting the Queen, who has also returned to her duties and is ‘actually doing remarkably well’ despite her loss.

He told CNN: ‘I think that it was a fantastic partnership, but over the last couple of weeks, life has got considerably busier. Things are beginning to open up more, there are more activities so weirdly that sort of fills any particular void’.

And last night, the Princess Royal, 70, paid tribute to her father’s can-do attitude and inquisitive nature as she remembered his life.

Speaking with ITV News from her home of Gatcombe Park in Gloucestershire in her first interview since Prince Philip‘s death in April, Princess Anne, 70, said the family ‘all have to move on’, adding: ‘But it’s important to remember.’

She explained: ‘There were not many people who understood just how broad his interests were and how supportive he was to an astonishingly wide range of organisations.’

Recalling his can-do attitude, she said: ‘If anything broke, there was always a thought of ,”Have a look at this and see if you can mend it”. 

She said Prince Philip’s practicality had helped to shape her childhood, saying: ‘Your life experience makes a huge impact…He’d seen a lot of it and across a really wide area of both work and industry and in academia.

‘He probably asked more questions than he gave opinions. He was always good at that.’  

Yesterday members of the royal family took to social media to pay tribute to Prince Philip. 

The Prince of Wales, 72, paid his respects to his father by posting an adorable black and white throwback photograph which showed a young Prince Charles welcoming the Duke home from a trip to Malta in 1951. 

Elsewhere, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge took to the Kensington Royal Twitter and shared two snaps of the Queen planting a beautiful ‘Duke of Edinburgh’ rose in the East Terrace Garden in Prince Philip’s honour on Wednesday. 

Meanwhile the Queen received a rose plant named ‘the Duke of Edinburgh‘, which was planted in the East Terrace Garden in a memorial at Windsor Castle earlier this week.  

The monarch received the shrub last week from the aptly-named Keith Weed, President of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS).  

The deep pink commemorative perennial plant was officially named in memory of the Duke who died aged 99 on April 9.  

Royalties from the flowers’ sale will go towards the Duke of Edinburgh Award’s Living Legacy Fund, which helps young people take part in the scheme. 

The poignant day comes as Prince Harry threatened the BBC with legal action after it reported that he and Meghan Markle did not ask the Queen for permission to name their daughter Lilibet – as an extraordinary three-way briefing war broke out between the Sussexes, the Palace and the corporation.

Senior Buckingham Palace sources told BBC royal correspondent Jonny Dymond this morning that the Queen was ‘never asked’ her opinion on the couple’s decision to name their new baby after her childhood nickname.

However, Harry hit back within 90 minutes of the BBC’s report being published through a statement from his and Meghan’s close friend Omid Scobie that insisted the Queen was the first person the Duke called after the birth of his daughter.

Mr Scobie, who wrote the bombshell Finding Freedom biography of the couple, also claimed the Sussexes would not have used the name Lilibet unless the Queen had supported the move.

Harry, who together with wife Meghan announced they were expecting a girl during their interview with Oprah in March, took things a step further mere hours after his rebuttal of the report, threatening the BBC with legal action through law firm Schillings.

Notice of the legal action was followed by a carefully-worded statement that raised more questions than answers over whether the Queen did give permission or if the couple simply informed her of their intentions in a fait accompli.

The statement insisted that the BBC report was wholly wrong and read: ‘The Duke spoke with his family in advance of the announcement, in fact his grandmother was the first family member he called.

‘During that conversation, he shared their hope of naming their daughter Lilibet in her honour. Had she not been supportive, they would not have used the name.’

The BBC then amended its report though the article still says that the Queen was not asked about the name of the baby. Mr Dymond’s tweets citing a Buckingham Palace source also still remain up.

The BBC report on the Palace’s position and Harry’s fiery reaction implies both parties believe they are telling the truth on the issue. It suggests that Harry and Meghan could have informed the Queen of Lilibet’s name before taking Her Majesty’s non-denial as consent.

On the other hand, the Palace briefings appear to hint that the Queen felt she was presented with the couple’s decision and asked to rubber stamp it, rather than give permission.