Prince Philip was battling cancer for many years before his 2021 death, according to a new book. Historian Hugo Vickers' new biography Queen Elizabeth II: A Personal History tells the story of the late Duke of Edinburgh's private health struggles. Per the book, via DailyMail.com on Saturday, Philip was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer back in 2013: "Doctors had detected a shadow on his pancreas, and had cut him right across his stomach. The verdict was inoperable pancreatic cancer.