Traumatic story behind Prince Philip’s ‘favourite’ sister Princess Cecilie who died in a plane crash while in labour
PRINCESS Diana’s tragic car crash shocked the nation in 1997 – but it wasn’t the only high-profile royal accident.
Nearly 90 years ago, Prince Philip’s beloved sister, Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark, died in a plane crash while she was eight months pregnant.
The accident, which took place in November 1937, also claimed the lives of six others.
Princess Cecilie, affectionately known as “Cecile”, was said to be Prince Philip’s “favourite sister”, and the scenes were portrayed in season two of The Crown.
Cecilie was the third child out of five to be born to Princess Alice of Battenberg and Prince Andrew of Greece.
Born in June 1911, the royal is said to have had a happy upbringing, but also witnessed the First World War and Balkan Wars.
In 1922, Cecilie and Philip’s uncle, who was the monarch in Greece, was forced to abdicate after the Greco-Turkish War and Prince Andrew was accused of treason and exiled.
The family fled to France and were based there for the next decade, but it wasn’t a particularly happy period.
Royal author Philip Eade told Town & Country: “Though his parents both adored him, Philip saw little of them in his nomadic early years.
“His mother’s nerves had been badly strained by the family’s exile from Greece, and because of this the children were regularly packed off to friends and relations.”
In 1931, Cecilie tied the knot with her first cousin once removed, Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse.
They went on to have three children, Prince Ludwig, Prince Alexander and Princess Johanna.
Disaster struck in November 1937 when Cecilie – who was eight months pregnant – and her family flew to the UK to attend the wedding of her brother Prince Louis, Prince of Hesse to Margaret Campbell Geddes.
On board was her husband Georg, their two sons, Ludwig, six, and Alexander, four, her mother-in-law and a family friend.
The plane encountered dense fog with the pilot attempting to land at Ostend-Steene airport in Belgium.
However, the aircraft hit a factory chimney and crashed against the roof of the building, killing everyone on board – including the pilot and two crewmen.
Firemen found the body of a newborn infant in the debris, leading to the belief that Cecilie had given birth prematurely in the middle of the flight.
It was thought that the pilot had been trying to land as Cecilie went into labour.
Prince Philip, who was 16 at the time, was called into his headmaster’s study at Gordonstoun school to be informed about the tragic accident.
The late royal wrote years later: “I have the very clearest recollection of the profound shock with which I heard the news of the crash and the death of my sister and her family.”
Cecilie and Georg’s surviving daughter, Johanna, who was their only child not on the plane, was adopted by Prince Ludwig and Princess Margaret but died two years later from meningitis.
Philip’s fury
The horrific incident featured in the penultimate episode of The Crown in season two.
The hit Netflix show portrays Cecilie’s decision to fly from Germany to London as a reaction to Philip, then 16, having problems at school, but this was not the case.
And a scene dramatising Cecilie’s funeral shows their father, Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, say: “I’m surprised he dare show himself here.
“Had it not been for Philip and his indiscipline she would never have taken that flight. It’s true, isn’t it boy?
“You’re the reason we’re all here burying my favourite child. Get him out of here.”
The imagined scenes were first broadcast in 2017, and did not have a fictional disclaimer.
A royal expert claimed Prince Philip wanted to sue The Crown after it blamed him for the death of his sister.
He contacted royal lawyers Farrer & Co over the scenes, according to the Sunday Times, but did not pursue any action.
When did Prince Philip die?
PRINCE Philip sadly passed away in 2021, leaving an incredible legacy behind him.
The Duke of Edinburgh died at Windsor Castle surrounded by his family and his beloved wife, the late Queen.
Prince Philip‘s last birthday was on June, 2020, where he turned 99.
He would have hit a significant milestone this year when he turned 100 after being born in 1921 in Greece.
The Duke of Edinburgh passed away at Windsor Castle on April 9, 2021.
A statement from Buckingham Palace 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. Further announcements will made in due course.
“The Royal Family join with people around the world in mourning his loss.”
Prince Philip was married to the Queen for more than 70 years.