BU experts weigh in on the longest serving royal consort in British history April 9, 2021 Twitter Facebook When she married Prince Philip in 1947, Britain’s Princess Elizabeth (she became queen in 1952) told her father that her intended was the only man she could ever love. The durability of their union—Philip was Britain’s longest serving consort until his death April 9 at 99—was stronger than his official role as a “second-fiddle figurehead” to a ceremonial queen, in the words of the New York Times. What influence Philip had was wielded on behalf of preserving a monarchy that some Britons dismiss as a relic. Publicly, he advocated for wildlife conservation and building youth playing fields. Privately, his image mixed the common touch (he was the first royal to answer the palace phone personally, and he cooked eggs for family breakfasts) with offputting coldness: his oldest son, Prince Charles, revealed childhood belittling by his father that permanently scarred him. Philip at times seemed to have been made an antique by changing mores (“And what exotic part of the world do you come from?” he once asked a Black