Prince Philip died of 'old age', official death certificate reveals 

Prince Philip’s death certificate has revealed he died of old age.

Buckingham Palace said at the time of his death aged 99 last month that he passed away ‘peacefully’. The official certificate stated cause of death as simply ‘old age’.

It was certified by Sir Huw Thomas, head of the Royal Medical Household.

The description ‘old age’ is accepted if the deceased is over 80 and a doctor has personally cared for the patient for a long period, observing a gradual decline.

It suggests there was no other disease or injury that contributed to the death. This would include the heart condition that forced Philip to undergo an operation weeks before he died, according to the Daily Telegraph, which obtained the certificate.

The prince’s death on April 9 at Windsor Castle was registered by his private secretary, Brigadier Archie Miller-Bakewell, on April 13.

The certificate gives a nod to Philip’s foreign roots, saying he was previously ‘Prince Philippos of Greece and Denmark formerly known as Philip Mountbatten’.

It lists the Duke’s full name as: ‘His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh formerly known as Prince Philippos of Greece and Denmark formerly known as Philip Mountbatten.’

The certificate lists his occupation as ‘Naval Officer’, a successful career of which he was enormously proud, and ‘Prince of the United Kingdom’.

His second occupation is listed as ‘husband of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, The Sovereign’.

As the informant, Mr Miller-Bakewell’s qualification was listed as ‘causing the body to be buried’.

Mr Miller-Bakewell headed a small team of loyal staff who walked behind the Duke’s coffin as it made its way to St George’s Chapel from Windsor Castle for his funeral on April 17.

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the council has requested all deaths to be registered by telephone.

While it is normally a relative who registers a death, anyone who was present at the death, an occupant of the house where the death occurred or the person making the arrangements with the funeral directors is permitted to do so.

There is a legal requirement to register the death within five days.