Heartbreak as Prince Philip’s ‘most trusted’ former aide dies

Prince Philip’s most trusted aide, former Private Secretary Brigadier Sir Miles Hunt-Davis, has sadly passed away. He died at the age of 79 last week and is survived by his three children and wife, Gay.

It’s particularly sad news for the Duke of Edinburgh, with the two working closely for the 19 years Hunt-David was employed by the palace. The close bond originally formed in 1991 when Hunt-Davis first became a member of staff at the royal household.

It didn’t take long for him to earn Prince Philip’s trust and within just two years, he was promoted to Private Secretary. He’d previously been a member of the British Army.

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Working hard for the royals, Hunt-Davis was eventually appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1998, before being knighted as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 2003. When he eventually retired in 2010, he was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.

When he first became a member of Prince Philip’s staff, the Duke was 70. According to The Times, he helped Philip carry out close to 600 official royal engagements each year. Even when he retired close to two decades later, Hunt-Davis joined Prince Philip on almost all the 354 royal engagements he completed that year as he grew older.

Prince Philip, along with Queen Elizabeth II, grew so close to Hunt-Davis and his family over the years that they gave them permission to live on Kensington Palace grounds in Nottingham Cottage. That’s an honour in its own right, especially because the home is usually off-limits to anyone not part of the royal family.

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At one point, Hunt-Davis even defended Prince Philip at Princess Diana’s inquest, when the Duke was accused to causing the accident that killed not only Diana but Dodi Al Fayed. During this difficult time, Hunt-David revealed just how close he was to Prince Philip.

“As close as a private secretary is to a member of the royal family,” the Times reports him saying at the time.

He was originally born in South Africa in 1938 and fought with the Australian army at Gallipoli. It is thought both he and Prince Philip bonded over their past in the military.

Are you sad to hear about Sir Miles Hunt-Davis’ passing? Do you have an old co-worker from your past you’ve always been close with?