Buckingham Palace has announced Prince Philip's final public engagement

The Duke of Edinburgh is set to retire later this year

The Duke of Edinburgh is set to retire later this year

Earlier this year the Queen called an emergency meeting to make an important announcement regarding Prince Philip, in which she revealed he would be retiring from public life this Autumn.

His retirement will mean a major change for Prince William and Kate Middleton, as they take on more Royal responsibilities in Prince Philip's absence.

Buckingham Palace has now announced the date of Prince Philip's last official public engagement; a Royal Marines' charity parade outside the palace, which takes place next week on the 2nd August.

The event will be the Prince's 52nd public engagement this year. If you ask us, 2017 has been a pretty good final year for him – he's done everything from feeding elephants to meeting Tom Cruise. Not too shabby.

The event has special importance to the Duke of Edinburgh, as he is the Royal Marines' Captain General, a title he has held since 1953. The title was passed to him shortly after King George VI, the Queen's father, passed away.

But while this is Prince Philip's last official public engagement, it doesn't mean we won't see him at other important events by the Queen's side.

A spokesperson for the palace has said that the event will 'bring His Royal Highness's individual programme to a conclusion, although he may choose to attend certain events, alongside the Queen, from time to time.'

Here's hoping we still get to see the Prince doing things like feeding elephants, then.

Lucy Abbersteen
Beauty Contributor

Lucy is a freelance beauty editor and contributor at Marie Claire, and has written for titles including Glamour, Refinery29, Popsugar, woman&home and more. She was previously Marie Claire’s junior beauty editor. During her career, she’s covered everything from backstage beauty at fashion week to interviews with famous faces like Drag Race royalty and Little Mix. As for her beauty ethos, she’s a big advocate for not having to spend a fortune on beauty products to get good results, and when she’s not got beauty on the brain you’ll find her reading or hanging out with dogs.