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Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

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The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philippos of Greece and Denmark, 10 June 1921) is the husband and consort of Queen Elizabeth II.

Originally a royal Prince of Greece and Denmark, Prince Philip renounced these titles shortly before his marriage. At the time of his engagement he was known as Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten. On 20 November 1947, he married Princess Elizabeth, the heiress presumptive to King George VI. Prince Philip is a member of the Danish-German House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, which includes the royal houses of Denmark and Norway and the deposed royal house of Greece.

The day before his marriage, King George VI granted him the style of His Royal Highness and, on the morning of the marriage, created him Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich. In 1957, Philip was created a Prince of the United Kingdom by Queen Elizabeth II. When he became a British subject Prince Philip took the surname Mountbatten, which is an anglicised version of his mother's German family name, Battenberg.

In addition to his royal duties, the Duke of Edinburgh is also the patron of many organisations, including The Duke of Edinburgh's Award and the World Wide Fund for Nature, and he is Chancellor of both the University of Edinburgh and the University of Cambridge. In particular, he has devoted himself to raising public awareness of the relationship of humanity with the environment since visiting the Southern Antarctic Islands in 1956, and has published and spoken widely for half a century on this subject. See Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh from these speeches.

The prince continues to fulfil his public duties as a member of the British Royal Family, and is an established public figure in the United Kingdom and in the Commonwealth Realms. He has gained a reputation for making controversial remarks, some of which have been interpreted as being racist, particularly when meeting the British public or on state visits to other countries. See Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh also.

Early life

Prince Philippos of Greece and Denmark was born on 10 June 1921 at Villa Mon Repos on Corfu, a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. His father was Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, the fourth son of Greece's King George I and Queen Olga of Greece. He is mostly of German descent. His mother was the former Princess Alice of Battenberg, elder daughter of the 1st Marquess of Milford Haven (formerly Prince Louis of Battenberg) and his wife, the former Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine. Lady Milford Haven, through her mother, the Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine (formerly Princess Alice of the United Kingdom), was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. (As a descendant of Queen Victoria, he is himself in line of succession to the British Throne, but very distantly.) Philip's mother Princess Alice was also a sister of Queen Louise of Sweden; George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven; and Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma. He is currently the oldest living great-great grandchild of Queen Victoria, as well as her second-oldest living descendant after Prince Carl Johan of Sweden.

The Prince was baptised a few days after his birth at St. George's Church in the Palaio Frourio ("Old Fortress") in Haddokkos, Corfu. His godparents were Queen Olga and the Corfu community (represented by Alexander S. Kokotos, Mayor of Corfu, and Stylianos I. Maniarizis, Chairman of Corfu City Council). In later life he has had a rediscovered interest in his original Greek Orthodox faith.

Prince Andrew and Princess Alice remained in residence on the Island of Corfu for 18 months. Greece was politically unstable, and it was expected that the monarchy would soon be overthrown. On 22 September 1922, Constantine I was forced to abdicate the throne. A revolutionary court sentenced Prince Andrew, his younger brother, to banishment for life. Fortunately for the family, George V ordered that the Royal Navy vessel, HMS Calypso, evacuate the family, and Philip was carried to safety in a cot made from an orange box.

Philip has survived his four elder sisters, all of whom married German princes:

Philip's first real family tragedy occurred in 1937, when his sister Cecilie, her husband, mother-in-law and two young sons were killed in the Sabena OO-AUB Ostend crash. Philip, who was only sixteen at the time, attended the funeral in Darmstadt.

Education

Prince Andrew and Princess Alice, along with their children, fled to Paris where they took up residence at Saint-Cloud, in a villa belonging to Prince Andrew's sister-in-law Princess Marie Bonaparte. After being exiled, the marriage of Prince Philip's parents began to crumble. His father retired to the South of France. His mother was wrongly diagnosed as suffering effects of schizophrenia. In later life, she turned increasingly toward religion.

Prince Philip's education began at The American School of Paris in Saint-Cloud. However, his grandmother, Lady Milford Haven, advised her daughter to have him educated in England. He subsequently departed for the Surrey preparatory school Cheam.

Aged 12, Prince Philip departed England for Germany, studying at the prestigious Schule Schloss Salem, a school in Southern Germany that belonged to Prince Maximilian of Baden, the former German Chancellor as well as the uncle of his brother-in-law. Prince Philip left Germany in 1936, and went to Gordonstoun where he flourished academically and socially. He was the head of the hockey and cricket teams, and eventually became Head Boy. Prince Philip was so fond of the school that he later sent his sons, Charles, Andrew and Edward, there, though they experienced the school with mixed results. The school's royal association continued with Princess Anne, who sent both her children to Gordonstoun.

Military Service

After leaving Gordonstoun in 1939, Prince Philip joined the Royal Navy, graduating in 1940 from the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth as the best cadet in his course.

Commissioned as a Midshipman, Prince Philip spent six months on the battleship HMS Ramillies then serving in the Indian Ocean. In January 1941 he was posted to the Mediterranean fleet aboard the battleship HMS Valiant where, amongst other engagements, he was involved in the Battle of Crete. He was mentioned in despatches for his service during the Battle of Cape Matapan and was also awarded the Greek War Cross of Valour.

Promoted Sub-Lieutenant, and after a series of courses, Prince Philip was posted to the destroyer HMS Cornwallace, where he was subsequently involved in convoy escort tasks. Promotion to Lieutenant followed on 16 July 1942 and in October 1942, he became the ship's First Lieutenant (at 21 years of age, he was one of the youngest to be appointed a First Lieutenant). Whilst with HMS Cornwallace, he took part in the Allied invasion of Sicily.

Prince Philip was later posted as the First Lieutenant of the new destroyer HMS Whelp where he saw service with the British Pacific Fleet in the 27th Destroyer Flotilla, including being present in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese surrender was signed. He eventually returned to Britain with the ship in January 1946. In the post-war years, Prince Philip served as an instructor at the Petty Officers' School, attended Naval Staff College, Greenwich.

Prince Philip has for many years been Colonel-in-Chief of the oldest Canadian Infantry Regiment, the Royal Canadian Regiment. This regiment continues to be the only Regiment in the Commonwealth to be authorized to wear a dead Monarch's insignia, that being Queen Victoria's insignia.

HRH Price Phillip is also an honorary Field Marshal in Australia. HRH was promoted to the rank of field marshal in the Australian Army on 1 April 1954 - over a year after he attained that rank in the British Army on 15 January 1953. However, as consort of Queen Elizabeth II, the duke's rank is purely ceremonial. He has no command or control role in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and is not part of the ADF's operational structure. He has never paraded as a field marshal with any units or elements of the ADF.

Marriage

On 20 November 1947, Prince Philip married the heiress presumptive to the British throne, The Princess Elizabeth, eldest daughter of George VI and Queen Elizabeth, his third cousin through Queen Victoria and second cousin, once removed through Christian IX of Denmark. The couple were married in a glittering ceremony in Westminster Abbey, London which was recorded and broadcast by the BBC.

Before they could marry, Prince Philip was required to convert from Greek Orthodoxy to become an Anglican, to renounce his allegiance to the Greek Crown, and to become a naturalised British subject. He renounced his Greek and Danish royal titles on 18 March 1947 and decided to take the name Mountbatten, an Anglicised version of Battenberg, his mother's family name. The day before his wedding, King George VI titled his future son-in-law Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich, of Greenwich in the County of London.

The King also issued Letters patent creating the Duke of Edinburgh His Royal Highness. After their marriage, his wife became Her Royal Highness The Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh. On the popular but erroneous assumption that if Philip had the style of 'Royal Highness' he was automatically a prince, media reports often mentioned "Prince Philip", with or without reference to his ducal title. Although the princely prefix was omitted in the Regency Act of 1953 and in Letters Patent of November 1953 appointing Counsellors of State, it had been included in the Letters Patent of 22 October 1948 conferring princely rank on children of his marriage to Princess Elizabeth. George VI, however, appears to have been clear and intentional in having withheld the princely title from his future son-in-law. From 1947 to 1957, Philip's correct style was His Royal Highness Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

At the marriage of his youngest son in 1999 it was announced that Prince Edward would be created Duke of Edinburgh when the current creation of that Dukedom reverts to the Crown.

In post-war Britain it was not acceptable to invite any of the Duke of Edinburgh's German relations to his wedding. The sole exception was his mother, who was born at Windsor of parents who had both renounced their German titles. Excluded from the invitation list were his three surviving sisters, each of whom had married German princes, some with Nazi connections. (His sister Princess Sophie's first husband, Prince Christoph of Hesse-Cassel had been a member of the Schutzstaffel (SS) and an aide to Heinrich Himmler.) Also, the bride's aunt Mary, Princess Royal allegedly refused to attend because her brother, the Duke of Windsor (who abdicated in 1936), was not invited due to his marital situation. She gave ill health as the official reason for not attending.

Duke of Edinburgh

After their marriage, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh took up residence at Clarence House in London. The Duke was keen to pursue his naval career. However the knowledge that it would be eclipsed by his wife's future role as Queen was always in his mind. Nevertheless, he returned to the Navy after his honeymoon, and from 1949 was stationed in Malta after being posted as First Lieutenant of the destroyer HMS Chequers in the Mediterranean Fleet. In 1950, he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and given command of the frigate HMS Magpie. He was promoted to Commander at the beginning of 1952.

With the King in ill-health, Princess Elizabeth and the Duke were each created members of the Privy Council on 4 November 1951. The Duke is now the only member of the Privy Council to have been appointed by King George VI.

In January 1952, the Duke and Princess Elizabeth set off for a tour of the Commonwealth, with planned visits to Africa, Australia and New Zealand. On 6 February, when they were in Kenya, the Princess' father, King George VI, died, and she ascended the Throne as Queen Elizabeth II. The Duke broke the news to the new Queen at their hotel (Tree Tops). As a result of the King's passing, the visits to Australia and New Zealand were cancelled until 1954. The Duke was resigned to the fact that his naval career was now over, and he had a new role as the consort of the British monarch.

Consort

The accession of Elizabeth II to the throne brought up the question of the name of the Royal House. The Duke's uncle, Earl Mountbatten of Burma, had advocated the new name House of Mountbatten, as Elizabeth would typically have taken Philip's name on marriage. When Queen Mary, Elizabeth's paternal grandmother, heard about this, she informed Sir Winston Churchill who later advised the Queen to issue a proclamation declaring that the Royal House was to remain the House of Windsor. Philip bitterly remarked that he had been "turned into an amoeba".

In 1952, the Duke was given the rank and titles Admiral of the Fleet, Field Marshal, and Marshal of the Royal Air Force. He was also made the Captain-General of the Royal Marines. As was the established tradition with all previous monarchs, the Queen as Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces outranks, by virtue of being Sovereign, all military personnel.

The Duke of Edinburgh has supported the Queen in her role for over 60 years. The Queen and Duke make state visits abroad, and receive foreign dignitaries in the United Kingdom together. The Duke often carries out his own separate engagements on behalf of the Queen at home and abroad.

The Duke is also patron of many organisations. He established The Duke of Edinburgh's Award in 1956 to give young people "a sense of responsibility to themselves and their communities". The scheme now operates in 100 countries around the world. He has also been President of the World Wide Fund for Nature.

In 1956-1957, the Duke took a round-the-world voyage on board HMY Britannia, visiting remote islands of the Commonwealth. This was when he first became aware of the effects of human industrialisation on the natural environment.

On the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 2002, the Duke was commended by the Speaker of the House of Commons for his role in supporting the Queen during her reign.

Family relationships, and alleged conflicts

One of the most controversial aspects of the Duke was his relationship with his daughters-in-law, Diana, Princess of Wales and Sarah, Duchess of York. He was alleged (though this has never been confirmed) to have been hostile to Diana after her divorce from the Prince of Wales. Letters between Philip and Diana, released at the inquiry into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 2007, refute this. Mohamed Al-Fayed, the father of Diana's companion Dodi Al-Fayed and owner of Harrods, has vehemently alleged, and even suggested in court, that the Duke was responsible for ordering Diana's death, remarks that led the Duke and the other members of the Royal Family to rescind their Royal Warrants from Harrods. The Duke remains very close to his grandchildren Princes William and Harry, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie ; as well as Lady Louise Windsor, Viscount Severn, Peter Phillips, and Zara Phillips.

Royal status

In May 1954, the Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, received a written suggestion from the Queen that her husband be granted the title "Prince of the Commonwealth", or some other suitable augmentation of his style. Churchill preferred the title "Prince Consort" and the Foreign Secretary Sir Anthony Eden preferred "Prince of the Realm". While the Commonwealth prime ministers were assembled in London, against his better judgement but at the Queen's behest, Churchill informally solicited their opinions. Canada's Prime Minister, Louis St. Laurent, was the only one to express "misgivings". Meanwhile, the Duke insisted to the Queen that he objected to any enhancement of his title, and she instructed Churchill to drop the matter. In February 1955, South Africa belatedly made known that it, too, would object to the "Prince of the Commonwealth" title. When told, the Queen continued to express the wish that her husband's position be raised, but rejected the Cabinet's recommendations to confer upon him either the title "Prince Consort" or "Prince Royal". By March 1955 the Cabinet was recommending that Philip's new title be simply "His Royal Highness the Prince". But the Queen was advised that, if she still preferred "Prince of the Commonwealth", her personal secretary could write to the Commonwealth's Governors-General directly for their response, but warned her that, if their consent was not unanimous, the proposal could not go forward. The matter appears to have been left there until the publication on 8 February 1957 of an article by P. Wykeham-Bourne in the Evening Standard titled "Well, is it correct to say Prince Philip?" A few days later Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and his Cabinet reversed the advice of the previous ministers, formally recommending that the Queen reject "The Prince" in favour of "Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Her other Realms and Territories", only to change this advice, after she consented, to delete even the vague reference to the Commonwealth countries. Letters Patent were issued, and according to the announcement in the London Gazette, the Queen's husband officially became His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. She inserted the capitalised definite article, a usage normally restricted to the children of monarchs.

An Order-in-Council was issued in 1960, which stated the surname of male-line descendants of the Duke and the Queen who are not Royal Highness or Prince or Princess was to be Mountbatten-Windsor. This was to address the Duke's complaint that he was the only father in the country unable to pass his name to his children. In practice, however, the Duke's children have all used Mountbatten-Windsor as the surname they prefer for themselves and their male-line children.

After her accession to the throne, the Queen also announced that the Duke was to have place, pre-eminence and precedence next to the Queen on all occasions and in all meetings, except where otherwise provided by Act of Parliament. This means the Duke is the first gentleman of the land, and takes precedence over his son, the Prince of Wales except, officially, in Parliament. In fact, however, he only attends Parliament when escorting the Queen for the annual Speech from the Throne, where he walks and is seated beside her.

The Queen has never granted the Duke the title of Prince Consort. This title was granted to Albert, Prince Consort by his wife, Queen Victoria, and has not been used since by a British consort. There was some media speculation in early 2007 that such a title might be conferred to mark the royal couple's 60th wedding anniversary in November 2007, however this has not occurred. Currently, he is the first husband of the Sovereign to bear a British peerage title since Prince George of Denmark, who was created Duke of Cumberland on his marriage to the future Queen Anne in 1683.

As of January 2006, the Duke is the oldest surviving great-great-grandchild of Queen Victoria and is c. 480th in the line of succession to the British Throne in his own right (through his great-grandmother Princess Alice). He is the oldest serving consort in British history, though former consorts, such as the Queen Mother, have lived longer lives. Should both he and the Queen survive until April 18, 2009, he will have been the longest-serving consort in British history (at 57 years and 71 days), surpassing Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Prince Philip Movement

It has been reported by the BBC that inhabitants of some small villages in Vanuatu, an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean, worship Prince Philip as a god. Islanders have been interviewed and pictured with portraits, sent with Prince Philip's permission.

Health

It was revealed in October 2007 that for the past 15 years Prince Philip has been suffering from a heart condition. It is said that bodyguards protecting His Royal Highness have been trained to rush him to seek medical attention for simple dizziness or shortage of breath; even if it is against the Prince's own personal wishes. The Prince is said to have to take regular medication for his condition, but refuses to cut back on his royal duties, which he has carried out alongside The Queen for the past 60 years as her consort. The Prince carries out over 300 royal engagements a year, only behind Princess Anne who carries out significantly more engagements due to her younger age. Prince Philip is said to have the energy and fitness "of a man half his age".

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

Styles, with postnominals, since birth

Arms

The family coat of arms of Prince Philip is that of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg.

The Duke has his own personal coat of arms, created on 19 November 1947. Unlike the arms used by other members of the Royal Family, the Duke's arms do not feature the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, as men are not entitled to bear the arms of their wives. However they do feature elements representing Greece and Denmark, from which he is descended in the male line; the Mountbatten family arms, from which he is descended in the female line; and the City of Edinburgh, representing his dukedom.

The shield is quartered. The first quarter depicting the arms of Denmark consists of three blue lions passant and nine red hearts on a yellow field. The second quadrant depicts the arms of Greece, a white cross on a blue field. The third quarter depicts the arms of the Mountbatten family, two vertical black stripes on a white field. The fourth quarter depicts the arms of the City of Edinburgh, a black and red castle. The dexter supporter is a savage from the Danish Royal Coat of Arms; the sinister a golden lion (a traditional British symbol) wearing a ducal cornet and gorged (collared) with a naval crown, alluding to the Duke's naval career.

The coat features both the motto God is my help and the motto of the Order of the Garter, Honi soit qui mal y pense (Shamed be he who thinks ill of it) on a representation of the Garter behind the shield.

A banner of the Duke's arms is used as his personal standard.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Issue

Name Birth Marriage Issue Divorce
Charles, Prince of Wales 14 November 1948 29 July 1981 Lady Diana Spencer Prince William of Wales
Prince Henry of Wales 		28 August 1996
9 April 2005 Camilla Parker-Bowles
Anne, Princess Royal 15 August 1950 14 November 1973 Mark Phillips Peter Phillips
Zara Phillips 		28 April 1992
12 December 1992 Timothy Laurence
Prince Andrew, Duke of York 19 February 1960 23 July 1986 Sarah Ferguson Princess Beatrice of York
Princess Eugenie of York 		30 May 1996
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex 10 March 1964 19 June 1999 Sophie Rhys-Jones Lady Louise Windsor
Viscount Severn

In popular culture

See also

Bibliography

  • Wildlife Crisis with James Fisher, (1970)
  • The Environmental Revolution: Speeches on Conservation, 1962-1977 (1978)
  • A Question of Balance (1982)
  • Men, Machines and Sacred Cows (1984)
  • A Windsor Correspondence (1984)
  • Down to Earth: Speeches and writings of his Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, on the relationship of man with his environment (1988)
  • Survival or Extinction: A Christian Attitude to the Environment (1989)
  • Competition Carriage Driving (1994)
  • Driving and Judging Dressage (1996)

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Notes and references

External links



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