UPDATE: Prince Philip has confirmed that he is stepping down from official duties.
The announcement follows a night of tense speculation after Buckingham Palace brought staff in from all around the country to attend an emergency meeting.
The Duke turns 96 next month.
BBC royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell said the duke “clearly feels he now wishes to curtail” his royal duties. He is patron, president or a member of nearly 780 organizations.
Witchell told the BBC that:”The Queen is going to continue, of that there is no doubt. She will continue, albeit with a somewhat lightened workload.”
Prince Philip will carry out the duties scheduled for the net few months but not accept any more.
ORIGINAL: Queen Elizabeth II has called an emergency meeting at Buckingham Palace with staff from all over the United Kingdom heading to London to be addressed first thing in the morning.
Staff from all over will be met by Lord Chamberlain – the most senior officer of the Royal Household – and the Queen’s private secretary Sir Christopher Geidt.
As it’s currently the middle of the night, people are going crazy trying to guess what news could be so important that the royals had to organise it immediately.
“Although meetings involving the entire royal household are occasionally called, the way this has been done at the eleventh hour is highly unusual and suggests that there is something major to be disseminated,” Mail Online reported.
Speculation is that the announcement has something to do with Prince Philip, 95, who was last seen yesterday, or Queen Elizabeth II.
Today Show host, Lisa Wilkinson, noted via Twitter that “significant announcements” happen at 8am U.K. time, so perhaps an official statement is just a few hours away.
