Woman who visited Romsey's Broadlands during Prince Philip's honeymoon pays tribute to Duke of Edinburgh

The news of his death was announced in a statement on Twitter by The Royal Family on behalf of the Queen on Friday [April 9].

It said: “It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen has announced the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

“His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle.”

He was aged 99.

Beryl Webb, now 89, claimed she touched Prince Philip's hat when she delivered an official letter welcoming the Duke of Edinburgh and the then Princess Elizabeth to Romsey after their wedding.

The pensioner, who was 16 at the time, worked for Romsey Town Hall and was chosen to deliver the message to the newlyweds with a colleague in 1947.

Paying tribute to the longest-serving consort in British history, Beryl said: "He was very resilient and very good for everybody, because he had a funny side and he also had a stern side.

"He didn't suffer fools gladly and he was so good for the Queen; he has been an absolute rock for her.

"I feel so sorry for the Queen, because of how lonely she must feel."

Beryl added some flowers have now been laid by the public outside of the Broadlands' gates in memory of the Duke of Edinburgh, which she spotted on Sunday [April 11].  

Prince Philip's link with Romsey continued beyond his honeymoon, with the couple revisiting Broadlands to mark 60 years of marriage in 2007.

Official photographs were released of the pair in the estate's grounds to celebrate their Diamond Anniversary.

A controversial debate also kickstarted at Broadlands over the Royal family's surname, following Prince Philip's and Princess Elizabeth's wedding.

At a private dinner party at Broadlands, not long after the Queen's accession, Philip's uncle, Louis Mountbatten, said that because the Queen had married a Mountbatten, the House of Windsor was actually the House of Mountbatten.

The comments were reported back to the Queen Mary (the Queen's grandmother), who passed the information onto the then Prime Minister, Winston Churchill.

He told the Queen the ruling House was the House of Windsor.

The surname had only been established by the Queen's grandfather, King George, in 1917 after he scrapped his house name of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, because of anti-German sentiments during the First World War.

Philip was thought to be angered by the Queen's decision, allegedly saying he was treated as "nothing but a bloody amoeba" and was "the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his own children".

However, the dispute was resolved by the Queen's Proclamation in 1952 that she and her children would be known as the House of Windsor.