Queen Elizabeth's last 15 months as monarch without Prince Philip, her 'constant strength and guide'

By Leigh Tonkin for the ABC*

One year, five months ago - or 516 days - Queen Elizabeth faced one of the biggest personal challenges of her reign.

The loss of her consort, Prince Philip, aged 99, shaped the last months of her life - an absence keenly felt despite the Queen's renowned stoicism.

Of all the deaths of her closest confidantes over the years - her father, her sister, her mother - this hit the hardest.

Theirs was a story that spanned 73 years of marriage - with love, family and service at its core. From first meeting when the Queen was 8 and Philip 13 to the blissful newlywed years before her coronation and the trials and tribulations of public life, Philip was in lock step.

At his funeral, she cut a lonely figure. It wasn't a funeral of pomp and state like we can expect for the Queen in coming days.

Isolated from her family due to Covid regulations, Her Majesty remained impassive behind her face mask.

But it was the moment the public first saw what life would now be like for the Queen, as she juggled her public role and her private grief, as she coped without her "constant strength and guide" - the man who called her "Cabbage".

A huge void

A few days after his father's death, Prince Andrew told the media that his mother was feeling a "huge void in her life".

"The Queen as you would expect is an incredibly stoic person and she described his passing as a miracle and she is contemplating, I think that's the way I would put it," he told reporters outside the Royal Chapel of All Saints at Windsor Park.

"She described it as having left a huge void in her life, but we, the family, the ones that are closer, are rallying around to make sure that we're there to support her."

And for the next 15 months, through political turmoil, family trouble and health scares, that void would be there.

But her service went on. Just four days after Philip's death, she hosted the outgoing Lord Chamberlain in a ceremony where he stood down.

Days after his funeral, she turned 95, to muted celebrations.

Her first official event after his funeral was the opening of Parliament in May. Stripped back because of the pandemic, the Queen appeared in a smart day dress, rather than her usual robes and crown. She was accompanied by Prince Charles, the son stepping into an even larger role after his father's death.

It wasn't until October that we heard her first public reference to her late husband, during the opening of Scottish Parliament.

Even then, her words were framed around their service, acknowledging the people of Scotland and the tough time the country had been through in the pandemic.

"I have spoken before of my deep and abiding affection for this wonderful country, and of the many happy memories Prince Philip and I always held of our time here. It is often said that it is the people that make a place, and there are few places where this is truer than in Scotland, as we have seen in recent times."

Young love and life

Elizabeth met Philip in 1934, when their families were joined through a different marriage - Prince Philip's cousin, Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, and Queen Elizabeth's uncle, Prince George, Duke of Kent - though they quickly became friends when the Queen turned 13. Philip was at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth and they began exchanging letters.

On July 8, 1947, their engagement was announced, and on November 20 they married in Westminster Abbey before 2000 guests and a worldwide radio audience.

From there they had five years together before the reality of royal life set in. They lived in a residence near Windsor, and then at Clarence House in London, though at various times Philip was stationed in Malta for the navy.

The couple lived there for months at a time, the closest they had to a relatively normal life, away from the shadow of the crown.

They took their royal duties seriously, with official visits across the Commonwealth including, in February 1952, a fateful visit to Kenya on their way to Australia and New Zealand.

And then the death of King George VI - inevitable as it was - up-ended everything.

Growing old together

It wasn't all smooth sailing after Elizabeth took the crown in 1952.

In some ways they were like any other couple, juggling the competing demands of work and raising a family.

But the work was like no other. Elizabeth took the lead, Philip was largely sidelined, which smarted for a man of his time and demeanour.

At one stage he complained: "I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his own children."

But a shared sense of humour and practical outlook, together with their belief in public service and the roles they held, helped forge a tight bond.

For although it was professional and about service, it was also about love.

For their golden anniversary in 1997, the Queen paid tribute to her husband's steady hand.

"He is someone who doesn't take easily to compliments but he has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years, and I, and his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim, or we shall ever know."

Photos of the pair chuckling together were common at public events, particularly as they grew older together.

Reunited once more

In death, the royal couple will be reunited again.

The Queen will soon begin her last journey to Buckingham Palace, from where preparations for final goodbyes will come to fruition.

After her funeral at Westminster Abbey in roughly 10 days' time, Queen Elizabeth II will be buried in the King George VI Memorial Chapel at St George's Chapel in Windsor.

There, she'll be reunited with her guiding lights - her father King George VI and the Queen Mother are buried there, too. The ashes of her sister Princess Margaret, who died in 2002, are also kept there.

But most importantly, the body of her husband Prince Philip will be moved from the Royal Vault so the two can lie together, as one.

- ABC