As you would likely be well acquainted with by now, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and consort of Queen Elizabeth for 73 years, died on Friday morning local time. A cause of death has not been announced, but the 99yo recently spent a month in hospital after an infection led to heart surgery. Returning to Windsor Castle on 16 March “in good spirits”, reports say the Queen spent as much time with him as she could before his death. Overnight, Prince Andrew said his mother “described it as having left a huge void in her life”.

WHEN’S HIS FUNERAL?
Geez, you’re right down to business… Philip’s funeral will start at 3pm local time on Saturday, 17 April (aka midnight Sunday AEST), and it will be televised. Each member of the Royal family has a funeral plan named after a bridge – for Philip, it’s named after the Forth Bridge in Edinburgh, the city of his dukedom. In line with his wishes, it will not be a state funeral – he didn’t want the fuss. Instead, there will be a ceremonial royal funeral at St George’s Chapel, in Windsor Castle’s grounds, with just 30 mourners in attendance due to COVID restrictions. Numbers are so tight that UK PM Boris Johnson will not attend, but Prince Harry will, sans Meghan. After that, Philip’s remains will be kept in the chapel’s royal vault until the Queen dies, when they will be buried together in the George VI Memorial Chapel within St George’s.

TELL ME SOMETHING ABOUT PHILIP THAT I MIGHT NOT KNOW…
Well, there’s a challenge…

• He was the first member of the Royal family to do a TV interview. That happened in 1961 when he appeared on BBC’s Panorama current affairs program to talk about his work in promoting apprenticeships.

• Philip described himself as “the world’s most experienced plaque unveiler“. When he retired from public life in mid-2017 at 96yo, he’d completed more than 300 official appointments in the preceding 12 months and was involved with more than 780 organisations.

• And he was worshipped as a god by those living on the Vanuatu island of Tanna. It’s expected they will transfer their spiritual allegiance to Charles. [Insert shrugging lady emoji…]

Want to know more about Philip’s background, his life with Queen Elizabeth, and what’s next for the Royal family? We got to work over the weekend to bring you a Squiz Shortcut to the life and death of Prince Philip. Go on, be that person who’s all over it…