Peter Phillips spoke about the last time he saw his grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, before her death in 2022 in a new interview with Sky News Australia.
Queen Elizabeth II passed away at Balmoral Castle on 8 September 2022; her family flocked to see her one last time, though only a handful had made it in time. Peter’s mother, Princess Anne, was in Scotland at the time, as were the now-King and Queen.
Peter told Sky News Australia correspondent Caroline di Russo that he’d been “lucky to be in Scotland before she passed” and that having those few days immediately following her death with the wider family “before she left Balmoral—that was really nice.”
Peter drew a line between the family mourning and the public mourning, recalling that those first few days at Balmoral are “still quite emotional…because it was a proper family, the family moment.
“And then obviously once she left Balmoral, it became more of a public grieving, then in many ways, we had our quiet with her. We’d said our goodbyes.”
Princess Anne accompanied her mother on her final journey home, which began on 11 September and ended at Buckingham Palace on 13 September. Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral took place on 19 September.
Peter said having the Queen as a grandmother and role model was unique, and both hers and Prince Philip’s longevity meant that they shared “a greater connection, a greater respect and a greater ability to be able to learn from them.”
And speaking of the accession of his uncle, King Charles, Peter was quick to praise him for the “remarkable” way he’s shifted from Prince of Wales to monarch.
Peter also praised how King Charles hasn’t ripped up the rulebook that Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip wrote, saying that “he has kept the core of what they stood for and he has put his own mark on it and I think that’s probably the greatest testament to both of them.”
He added: “He is he’s doing things his way but very much with a nod to the way they always did it and the core of what they taught us and what they left us.”
The comments came during a wide-ranging interview with Sky News Australia while Peter in is the country to support the International Foundation for Arts and Culture.
Elsewhere in the interview, Peter spoke of the King’s health, saying that he’s in “good spirits” but likely frustrated that he can’t do more. He also spoke of how the Prince and Princess of Wales make a “fantastic team.”
