Prince Philip Battled Pancreatic Cancer for 8 Years

Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh, secretly battled inoperable pancreatic cancer for nearly eight years before his death in 2021, according to details revealed by royal biographer Hugo Vickers. The diagnosis came in June 2013 during a hospital stay at the London Clinic in Marylebone, where tests revealed a shadow on his pancreas that proved untreatable. Philip, then 91, outlived medical expectations for the disease, which typically allows for limited survival after diagnosis.

Philip passed away peacefully on April 9, 2021, at Windsor Castle, just two months shy of his 100th birthday. His death certificate listed old age as the cause, with no public mention of the cancer. He had returned to the castle on March 16 after a monthlong hospitalization at King Edward VII's Hospital and St Bartholomew's Hospital, where he received treatment for an infection and a preexisting heart condition. That stay marked his last public appearance, as he left the facility waving to onlookers.

Vickers described Philip's final hours as marked by characteristic independence and tranquility. On the last night of his life, the duke evaded his nurses, shuffled down the castle corridors using a...