Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, died on April 9, 2021, at the age of 99. He had been married to Queen Elizabeth II for more than 70 years and was the longest-serving spouse of any British monarch. In Britain, flags around the country hung at half-mast in mourning for the royal family’s loss.

Philip’s funeral on April 17, 2021, was a quiet affair, with only 30 people in attendance due to the coronavirus restrictions. Generally, a man of Philip’s stature would have received a state funeral with a minimum of 800 people in attendance, but this could not happen due to the ongoing pandemic. The guest list of 30 people only comprised the closest royal family members, which naturally included all of Philip’s children and many grandchildren.

Although Philip was served by the Queen’s side for decades, much of his life wasn’t public knowledge. The Duke of Edinburgh retired from his royal duties in 2017 at the age of 95, removing himself from the public eye. Before stepping back, he was considered one of the busiest royals, having made more than 22,000 solo appearances.

The Duke of Edinburgh was a fundamental part of the British royal family. Philip was born overseas in Corfu, Greece, the son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark. When he was a young child, Philip was forced into exile with his family. In order to marry Elizabeth, he renounced his Greek and Danish titles and took on his mother’s maiden name of Mountbatten.

Until his passing in 2021, Philip experienced and lived through many highlights and challenges of the royal family. Among them was welcoming Meghan Markle into the fold. Read on to find out more about Philip’s approach toward her and discover the surprising nickname he gave her but only used behind her back.

Prince Philip (2017), (IMAGO / PA Images)

Philip was known to make odd, unconventional comments or jokes now and again. On one occasion, when meeting educational activist Malala Yousafzai, the duke reportedly told her, “(Children) go to school because their parents don’t want them in the house,” according to Express. While Malala understood his sense of humor and laughed at the joke, some of his more unsavory anecdotes have gotten him in trouble in the past.

Philip eventually garnered a reputation for being straightforward and blunt, with some of his “gaffes” often coming off as brusque or insensitive. Many put this down to his more relaxed and playful demeanor, which is why when reports surfaced about the nickname Philip had given Meghan, who married his grandson Prince Harry in 2018, the news didn’t seem out of character.

The nickname Philip conjured up for Meghan is linked to a shocking chapter in the British royal family. In 1936, Queen Elizabeth II’s uncle, King Edward VIII, caused a constitutional crisis when he decided to marry Wallis Simpson, an American socialite who had been divorced twice. At the time, members of the royal family could not marry divorcees, a rule that only changed when Prince Charles III married Queen Camilla in 2005.

Edward’s decision to marry Simpson was met with strong opposition from the British government, the Church of England, and the public. The government, led by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, made it clear that they could not support the marriage of the King to a divorced woman, especially one with two living ex-husbands.

Faced with this opposition and the looming crisis it could cause, Edward chose to abdicate the throne on December 11, 1936, after less than a year as king. He famously declared in a radio broadcast that he could not fulfill his duties as king without the support of “the woman I love,” referring to Simpson.