What was planned for Prince Philip’s 100th birthday celebrations?

Prince Philip passed away on the 9th of April this year at the ripe old age of 99.

The Prince, known for his controversial gaffs and long, dutiful marriage to The Queen, was actually due to turn 100 on 10 June – just two months after his death.

The Prince would have been the first male British royal to ever reach 100 years old and it would have been a huge milestone for the modern monarchy.

This being said, he was actually very reluctant to turn 100. He even said that he ‘couldn’t imagine anything worse’ in an interview with The Telegraph in 2000.

What were Prince Philips birthday plans?

If he’d have been alive to celebrate – his centenary bash would have looked quite different from that of The Queen Mother’s – who turned 100 back in 2000.

Her celebrations involved an 8,000 person parade, followed by a fly from the red arrows, which was then topped off with the release of 100 white doves. 40,000 members of the public gathered along Pall Mall to enjoy the spectacle.

Given covid restrictions and lockdown measures, Prince Philip’s party would have been considerably more pared back.

No official dates were marked for the Prince’s birthday and the palace had not confirmed any special public celebrations for the big day.

We don’t have any details as to what Prince Philips would-be-birthday would look like, and the palace have not confirmed whether it will be marked in any way, however we do know that The Queen is planning some celebratory activities for her official birthday on 12 June.

Although The Queen was actually born on 12 April, she always celebrates her birthday twice.

This is a tradition within the monarchy that stems back to King George in 1748, who wanted to celebrate his birthday in the sun, so rescheduled it for the warmer months.

This summer The Queen will be turning 95 and there will be several gun salutes across London to mark the occasion.

The traditional Trooping of the Colour, will be scaled back to a ‘mini trooping’ so as to comply with covid restrictions.

It’s expected that The Queen will enjoy a much smaller celebration at Windsor Castle this year, as she spend it without Prince Philip for the first time in 73 years.