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Blonde, tall, with a lean physique and a discreet charm: Penny Romsey she was Prince Philip’s closest confidant. Her great friend was a regular guest at Wood Farm, the chalet where, since 2017, the Queen’s husband often resided after saying goodbye to official commitments. Everyone in Sandringham knows her and according to the Daily Mail she will be among the small group of people who will take part in the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh.
Mysterious and always behind the scenes, Penny Romsey is an enigma to many. He owes his fortune to his butcher father, Reginald Eastwood who became a millionaire after he founded the company Angus Steakhouse. Penny spent her childhood in Switzerland, where she studied in the best schools, and in 1979 she married Norton Knatchbull, the seventh Baron of Brabourne, becoming Countess Mountbatten. To bring her closer to the Royal Family was her husband, Carlo’s cousin, particularly attached to the heir to the throne, so much so that he was chosen as a wedding witness.
To bring her closer to Philip, according to what was revealed by sources at Buckingham Palace, it would have been a tragedy: the death of her 5-year-old daughter in 1991 due to leukemia. A strong sympathy would first arise between the two, then an ever closer bond, which would allow Penny to overcome the pain of her daughter’s death. Those who know them say they had a lot of things in common, like the passion for horses and that for painting.
Together they participated in equestrian competitions, mixing friendship and business, and Penny was often Philip’s guest for chat and confide in him. A strong and indissoluble relationship, broken by the death of the Duke of Edinburgh, who died at 99 on 9 April 2021. Romsey would have asked and obtained from the Queen the permission to attend the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh by joining the most important members of the Royal Family, from William and Kate to Harry.
Those who know The Queen well say she would never be jealous of relationship between Penny and Filippo, certain that her husband would always put her first and would never do anything to embarrass her. “Elizabeth knew she was dealing with an edgy man, who found it difficult to live with being” in a cage “- said the expert Robert Lacey – and she was apparently too wise to feel threatened by the little things of he needed to prove his independence to himself ”.
