The queen is amused by a swarm of bees which disrupts a ceremony at Windsor Castle on April 15, 2003. – HUSSEIN ANWAR / SIPA
- Prince Philip disguised himself as a guard to make the queen laugh? This is the meaning attributed by many Internet users to an image of the royal couple dating from 2003.
- If the queen smiled, it was because a swarm of bees had invited themselves to the ceremony.
- The Duke of Edinburgh died on Friday at the age of 99.
Prince Philip’s joke to make his wife, the serious Elisabeth II smile? This is what many Internet users have seen, by mistake, in a snapshot dating from 2003. It shows the Duke of Edinburgh, in uniform, his face impassive, while the Queen walks past him, a big smile on her lips .
The photo went viral following news of Prince Philip’s death on Friday at the age of 99. He had married the queen seventy-three years earlier, in 1947. A union that had lasted for years, unlike the marital setbacks of their children.
Is it because of this apparent complicity that Internet users wanted to see in this photo a joke of the prince? “Prince Philip is playing a prank on the queen by dressing as a palace guard”, wrote Friday a user of the Reddit forum, before removing his post. The photo has also gone viral on the French internet.
FAKE OFF
If the queen appears with a big smile on her lips, it is because of an incident: a swarm of bees was indeed invited to the ceremony she presided at at Windsor Castle, as the photographer Ken relates. Goff in photos released by the Sipa agency. A beekeeper must have intervened to remove the intruders.
As for the prince’s outfit in the photo, there is nothing unusual about it. This is a uniform that he wore regularly in public. We can distinguish several decorations. Prince Philip enlisted in the British Navy in 1939 and had been decorated since many military titles.