Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip will celebrate their 72nd wedding anniversary in November, but reports from the Palace claim the ruling royal couple don’t spend much time in one another’s company these days.
So divergent are their schedules, it is said, they no longer live together.
After meeting as children, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh tied the knot on November 20, 1947 in a fairytale royal wedding at Westminster Abbey in London.
Through security scandals and threats to the crown, the couple at the helm of the royal family have weathered each storm as a unit – even when Prince Philip‘s outlandish remarks caused internal divisions thanks to his open distaste for Princess Diana, Fergie and the Prince of Wales‘ adulterous relationship with Camilla, now Duchess of Cornwall.
WATCH this video for a reminder of the Duke’s most outspoken moments!
The Queen gave a rare glimpse of affection for her longtime love in her 1997 golden wedding speech, in which she declared: “He is someone who doesn’t take easily to compliments.
“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 greater debt than he would ever claim.”
But since Philip’s retirement from official royal duties in 2017 at the ripe old age of 96, the controversial royal has been living a separate life from Her Majesty the Queen, Express.co.uk reports.
Prompting rumours of yet another royal rift, the Duke has been splitting his time between Wood Farm on the Sandringham Estate and Windsor Castle, while Queen Elizabeth – who celebrated her official 93rd birthday at Trooping the Colour on Saturday – is still hard at work at Buckingham Palace.

Royal Central editor Charlie Proctor told the Daily Star that the Greek-born Prince hardly spends any time at Buckingham Palace, which he finds “noisy”.
“It is in the middle of noisy central London, and perhaps doesn’t offer the same peaceful tranquility as Windsor Castle of Sandringham House.
“As our 93-year-old Queen is still working, this is where she will spend the majority of her time in her workplace,” he said.
The Queen is thought to be preparing her eldest son Prince Charles for his role of King of England, which he will assume after Her Majesty’s death.
Joe Little, editor of Majesty Magazine, noted that while the royal couple are away from each other for “weeks” at a time, they “speak everyday on the phone.”
Indeed in March of this year, royal experts made an interesting observation about Prince Philip’s integral role in the royal family over the last seven decades.

Speaking during a panel discussion on Yahoo’s The Royal Box, The Sunday Times royal correspondent Roya Nikkah gave her take on the life of the Duke and sensationally declared Prince Philip is the Windsor’s “resident feminist”.
“A man who in the early 1950s, who was soaring up to the top of the navy and would have gone all the way to the top had he not given up his career..who wasn’t even able to give his own surname to is children, who has literally stood behind his wife for pushing 70 years.
“A man who has supported his wife…to a very successful reign – if that’s not being a feminist role model, I don’t know what is.”
The journalist praised the Duke of Edinburgh for acting as the “bedrock” to Queen Elizabeth and their family, and lauded him for playing second fiddle to “probably the most famous woman in the world” for his entire adult life.
Their marriage is the longest union of any British sovereign in history.

The Duke of Edinburgh was last seen at the royal wedding of Lady Gabriella Windsor in London late last month.
He was also spotted in personal photos of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s first child Archie Harrison taken at Frogmore Cottage.
The Duke is seen looking adoringly on the newborn royal baby alongside Queen Elizabeth, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Meghan’s American mother Doria Ragland.