Age, Biography, and Wiki
Prince Philip was born on June 10, 1921, in Corfu, Greece, to Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg. He was educated at Cheam School and then at Gordonstoun in Scotland. Prince Philip's life was marked by a strong sense of duty, first as a naval officer and then as a member of the British royal family. He married Princess Elizabeth in 1947, and on her accession to the throne in 1952, he became the Duke of Edinburgh. Throughout his life, Prince Philip supported over 780 organizations, reflecting his broad interests in education, conservation, and sports.
| Occupation | Environmentalist |
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| Date of Birth | 10 June 1921 |
| Age | 104 Years |
| Birth Place | Mon Repos, Corfu, Greece |
| Horoscope | Gemini |
| Country | England |
| Date of death | 9 April, 2021 |
| Died Place | Windsor Castle, Windsor, England |
Height, Weight & Measurements
Prince Philip stood at approximately 6 feet (183 cm) tall. His weight varied over the years, but he was known for his robust health and physical fitness, which he maintained through his active lifestyle.
In 2008 Philip was admitted to King Edward VII's Hospital, London, for a chest infection; he walked into the hospital unaided, recovered quickly, and was discharged three days later. After the Evening Standard reported that Philip had prostate cancer, Buckingham Palace—which usually refuses to comment on health rumours—denied the story and the paper retracted it.
In June 2011, in an interview marking his 90th birthday, Philip said that he would now slow down and reduce his duties, stating that he had "done [his] bit". The Queen gave him the title Lord High Admiral for his 90th birthday. While staying at Sandringham House in December 2011, Philip suffered chest pains and was taken to the cardio-thoracic unit at Papworth Hospital, Cambridgeshire, where he underwent successful coronary angioplasty and stenting. He was discharged a few days later.
| Height | 183 cm |
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Dating & Relationship Status
Prince Philip was married to Queen Elizabeth II from November 20, 1947, until his death on April 9, 2021. Their marriage was one of the longest-lasting in British royal history, spanning over 73 years.
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark,<ref name="GreeceDenmarkNameBundle"> later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 –9 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from his wife's accession on 6 February 1952 until his death in 2021, making him the longest-serving royal consort in history.
He was the only son and fifth and final child of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and his wife, Princess Alice of Battenberg. Philip's father was the fourth son of King George I and Queen Olga of Greece, and his mother was the eldest child of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, and Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven (formerly Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine). A member of the House of Glücksburg, Philip was a prince of both Greece and Denmark by virtue of his patrilineal descent from George I of Greece and George's father, Christian IX of Denmark; he was from birth in the line of succession to both thrones. Philip's four elder sisters were Margarita, Theodora, Cecilie, and Sophie. He was baptised in the Greek Orthodox rite at St. George's Church in the Old Fortress in Corfu. His godparents were his paternal grandmother, Queen Olga of Greece; his cousin George, Crown Prince of Greece; his uncle Lord Louis Mountbatten; and the municipality of Corfu, represented by its mayor, Alexandros Kokotos, and by the president of the council, Stylianos Maniarizis.
Shortly after Philip's birth, his maternal grandfather died in London. The Marquess of Milford Haven was a naturalised British subject who, after a career in the Royal Navy, had renounced his German titles and adopted the surname Mountbatten—an Anglicised version of Battenberg—during the First World War, owing to anti-German sentiment in the United Kingdom. After visiting London for his grandfather's memorial service, Philip and his mother returned to Greece, where Prince Andrew had remained to command a Greek Army division embroiled in the Greco-Turkish War.
Philip's family settled in a house in the Paris suburb of Saint-Cloud lent to them by his wealthy aunt, Princess George of Greece and Denmark. During his time there, Philip was first educated at The Elms, an American school in Paris run by Donald MacJannet, who described Philip as a "know it all smarty person, but always remarkably polite". In 1930 Philip was sent to Britain to live with his maternal grandmother at Kensington Palace and his uncle George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven, at Lynden Manor in Bray, Berkshire. He was then enrolled at Cheam School. Over the next three years, his four sisters married German princes and moved to Germany, his mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia and placed in an asylum, and his father took up residence in Monte Carlo. Philip had little contact with his mother for the remainder of his childhood.
In 1933 Philip was sent to Schule Schloss Salem in Germany, which had the "advantage of saving school fees", because it was owned by the family of his brother-in-law Berthold, Margrave of Baden. With the rise of Nazism in Germany, Salem's Jewish founder, Kurt Hahn, fled persecution and founded Gordonstoun School in Scotland, to which Philip moved after two terms at Salem. In 1937, his sister Cecilie; her husband, Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse; their two sons; and Georg Donatus's mother were killed in an air crash at Ostend; Philip, then 16 years old, attended the funeral in Darmstadt. Cecilie and Georg Donatus were members of the Nazi Party. The following year, Philip's uncle and guardian Lord Milford Haven died of bone marrow cancer. Milford Haven's younger brother Lord Louis took parental responsibility for Philip for the remainder of his youth.
After leaving Gordonstoun in early 1939, Philip completed a term as a cadet at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, then repatriated to Greece, living with his mother in Athens for a month in mid-1939. At the behest of King George II of Greece, his first cousin, he returned to Britain in September to resume training for the Royal Navy. He graduated from Dartmouth the next year as the best cadet in his course. During the Second World War, he continued to serve in the British forces, while two of his brothers-in-law, Prince Christoph of Hesse and Berthold, Margrave of Baden, fought on the opposing German side. Philip was appointed as a midshipman in January 1940. He spent four months on the battleship HMS Ramillies (07), protecting convoys of the Australian Expeditionary Force in the Indian Ocean, followed by shorter postings on HMS Kent (54), on HMS Shropshire, and in British Ceylon. After the invasion of Greece by Italy in October 1940, he was transferred from the Indian Ocean to the battleship HMS Valiant (1914) in the Mediterranean Fleet.
Eventually, in the summer of 1946, Philip asked George VI for his daughter's hand in marriage. The King granted his request, provided that any formal engagement be delayed until Elizabeth's 21st birthday the following April. By March 1947, Philip had adopted the surname Mountbatten from his mother's family and had stopped using his Greek and Danish royal titles upon becoming a naturalised British subject. The engagement was announced to the public on 9 July 1947.
The engagement attracted some controversy; Philip had no financial standing, was foreign-born, and had sisters who had married German noblemen with Nazi links. Marion Crawford wrote: "Some of the King's advisors did not think him good enough for her. He was a prince without a home or kingdom. Some of the papers played long and loud tunes on the string of Philip's foreign origin." Later biographies reported that Elizabeth's mother had reservations about the union initially and teased Philip as "the Hun". In later life, however, she told the biographer Tim Heald that Philip was "an English gentleman". Though Philip appeared "always to have regarded himself as an Anglican", and he had attended Anglican services with his classmates and relations in England and throughout his Royal Navy days, he was baptised in the Greek Orthodox Church. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, wanted to "regularise" Philip's position by officially receiving him into the Church of England, which he did in October 1947. The day before the wedding, the King bestowed the style of Royal Highness on Philip, and, on the morning of the wedding, 20 November 1947, he was made the Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich of Greenwich in the County of London. Consequently, being already a Knight of the Garter, between 19 and 20 November 1947, he bore the unusual style Lieutenant His Royal Highness Sir Philip Mountbatten and is so described in the letters patent of 20 November 1947.
Philip and Elizabeth were married in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey, recorded and broadcast by BBC radio to 200 million people around the world. In post-war Britain, it was unacceptable for any of Philip's German relations, including his three surviving sisters, to be invited to the wedding. After their marriage, Philip and Elizabeth took residence at Clarence House. Their first two children were born before Elizabeth's accession in 1952: Prince Charles in November 1948 and Princess Anne in August 1950. The couple's marriage was the longest of any British monarch, lasting over 73 years until Philip died in 2021. Concerned by her father's poor health, Elizabeth insisted that Philip give up smoking, which he did cold turkey on their wedding day.
With the King in ill health, Elizabeth and Philip were both appointed to the Privy Council on 4 November 1951, after a coast-to-coast tour of Canada. At the end of January 1952, the couple set out on a tour of the Commonwealth. They were in Kenya when Elizabeth's father died on 6 February 1952, and she became queen. Philip broke the news to Elizabeth at Sagana Lodge, and the royal party immediately returned to the United Kingdom.
In December 1952, Philip was initiated into Freemasonry by the Worshipful Master of Navy Lodge No 2612, honouring a commitment he had made to George VI, who had made it clear that he expected Philip to maintain the tradition of royal patronage of Freemasonry. However, according to one journalist writing in 1983, Philip's mother-in-law and his uncle Lord Mountbatten had unfavourable views of Freemasonry; after his initiation, Philip took no further part in the organisation. Although as the consort of the Queen, he might in time have been made Grand Master of British Freemasonry, Elizabeth's cousin Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, assumed that role in 1967. Philip's son Charles apparently never joined Freemasonry.
Six months after she acceded to the throne, Elizabeth announced that Philip was to have "place, pre-eminence and precedence" next to her "on all occasions and in all meetings, except where otherwise provided by Act of Parliament". She also intervened to ensure that Philip would serve as regent for their son Charles in the event of her unexpected death. Parliament passed a bill to that effect in 1953. Contrary to rumours over the years, Elizabeth and Philip were said by insiders to have had a strong relationship throughout their marriage, despite the challenges of Elizabeth's reign. Elizabeth referred to Philip in a speech on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee in 2012 as her "constant strength and guide".
As consort, Philip supported his wife in her duties as sovereign, accompanying her to ceremonies such as the State Opening of Parliament in various countries, state dinners, and tours abroad. As chairman of the Coronation Commission, he was the first member of the royal family to fly in a helicopter, visiting the troops that were to take part in the ceremony. Philip was not himself crowned in the coronation service, but knelt before Elizabeth, with her hands enclosing his, and swore to be her "liege man of life and limb". For six months, spanning 1953 and 1954, they toured the Commonwealth; as was customary during previous tours, the children remained in Britain.
In 1956 Philip and Kurt Hahn founded The Duke of Edinburgh's Award to give young people "a sense of responsibility to themselves and their communities". In the same year, he also established the Commonwealth Study Conferences. From 1956 to 1957, he travelled around the world aboard the newly commissioned HMY Britannia, during which he opened the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne and visited the Antarctic, becoming the first royal to cross the Antarctic Circle. Elizabeth and the children remained in Britain. On the return leg of the journey, Philip's private secretary, Mike Parker, was sued for divorce by his wife. As with Townsend, the press still portrayed divorce as a scandal, and eventually, Parker resigned. He later said that Philip was very supportive and "the Queen was wonderful throughout. She regarded divorce as a sadness, not a hanging offence." In a public show of support, Elizabeth created Parker a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order. Further press reports claimed that the royal couple were drifting apart, which enraged Philip and dismayed Elizabeth, who issued a strongly worded denial. She granted him the style and title of a Prince of the United Kingdom by Letters Patent on 22 February 1957; it was gazetted that Philip was to be known as "His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh". Philip was appointed to the Queen's Privy Council for Canada on 14 October 1957, taking his Oath of Allegiance before the Queen in person at her Canadian residence, Rideau Hall. Remarks he made two years later to the Canadian Medical Association on the subject of youth and sport were taken as a suggestion that Canadian children were out of shape. This was at first considered "tactless", but Philip was later admired for his encouragement of physical fitness. While in Canada in 1969, he spoke about his views on republicanism: "It is a complete misconception to imagine that the monarchy exists in the interests of the monarch. It doesn't. It exists in the interests of the people. If at any time any nation decides that the system is unacceptable, then it is up to them to change it."
Philip was patron of some 800 organisations, particularly focused on the environment, industry, sport, and education. His first solo engagement as Duke of Edinburgh was in March 1948, presenting prizes at the boxing finals of the London Federation of Boys' Clubs at the Royal Albert Hall. He was president of the National Playing Fields Association (now known as Fields in Trust) for 64 years, from 1947 until his grandson Prince William took over the role in 2013. He was appointed a fellow of the Royal Society in 1951. In 1952, he became patron of The Industrial Society (since renamed The Work Foundation). In the same year, and after his father-in-law's death, he took over the role of the Ranger of Windsor Great Park, overseeing its protection and maintenance. From 1955 to 1957, Philip was president of The Football Association and also served two terms as president of the Marylebone Cricket Club, with his tenures starting in 1949 and 1974, respectively. In the same decade, he became the first patron of Lord's Taverners, a youth cricket and disability sports charity, for which he organised fundraising events. Between 1959 and 1965 Philip was the president of BAFTA. He helped found the Australian Conservation Foundation in 1963 and the World Wildlife Fund in 1961 and served as the latter's UK president from 1961 to 1982, international president from 1981, and president emeritus from 1996. He was also president of the Zoological Society of London for two decades and was appointed an honorary fellow in 1977. Despite his involvement in initiatives for conserving nature, he was also criticised for practices such as fox hunting and shooting of game birds and the killing of a tiger in India in 1961. He was president of the International Equestrian Federation from 1964 to 1986. In 1980 he became world champion in four-in-hand driving with the British national team. He served as chancellor of the universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Salford, and Wales. In 1965, at the suggestion of Harold Wilson, Philip became chair to a scheme set up for awarding industrial innovations, which later became known as The Queen's Awards for Enterprise. In the same year, Philip became president of the Council of Engineering Institutions and in that capacity he assisted with the inception of the Fellowship of Engineering (later the Royal Academy of Engineering), of which he later became the senior fellow. He also commissioned the Prince Philip Designers Prize and the Prince Philip Medal to recognise designers and engineers with exceptional contributions. In 1970 he was involved with the founding of The Maritime Trust for restoring and preserving historic British ships. In 2017 the British Heart Foundation thanked Philip for being its patron for 55 years, during which time, in addition to organising fundraisers, he "supported the creation of nine BHF-funded centres of excellence". He was an honorary fellow of St Edmund's College, Cambridge.
At the beginning of 1981 Philip wrote to his son Charles counselling him to make up his mind to either propose to Lady Diana Spencer or break off their courtship. Charles felt pressured by his father to make a decision and did so, proposing to Diana in February. They married five months later. By 1992 the marriage had broken down. Elizabeth and Philip hosted a meeting between Charles and Diana, trying to effect a reconciliation, but without success. Philip wrote to Diana, expressing his disappointment at Charles's and her extra-marital affairs and asking her to examine both his and her behaviour from the other's point of view. She found the letters hard to take but appreciated that he acted with good intent. Charles and Diana separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996.
A year after the divorce, Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997. At the time, Philip was on holiday at Balmoral with the extended royal family. In their grief, Diana's sons, Princes William and Harry, wanted to attend church, so Elizabeth and Philip took them that morning. For five days, the royal couple shielded their grandsons from the ensuing press interest by keeping them at Balmoral, where they could grieve in private. The royal family's seclusion caused public dismay, but the public mood changed after a live broadcast made by Elizabeth on 5 September. Uncertain as to whether they should walk behind their mother's coffin during the funeral procession, William and Harry hesitated. Philip told William: "If you don't walk, I think you'll regret it later. If I walk, will you walk with me?" On the day of the funeral, Philip, William, Harry, Charles, and Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, walked through London behind her gun carriage. Over the next few years, Mohamed Al-Fayed, whose son Dodi Fayed was also killed in the crash, claimed that Philip had ordered the death of Diana and that the accident was staged. The inquest into Diana's death concluded in 2008 that there was no evidence of a conspiracy.
In April 2009, Philip became the longest-serving British royal consort, surpassing Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, wife of George III. He became the oldest-ever male British royal in February 2013 and the third-longest-lived member of the British royal family (following Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother) in April 2019. Personally, he was not enthused about living an extremely long life, remarking in a 2000 interview (when he was 79) that he could not "imagine anything worse" and had "no desire whatsoever" to become a centenarian, saying "bits of me are falling off already".
In June 2012, during the celebrations in honour of his wife's diamond jubilee, Philip was taken from Windsor Castle to King Edward VII's Hospital suffering from a bladder infection. He was subsequently discharged. After a recurrence of infection in August 2012, while staying at Balmoral Castle, he was admitted to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for five nights as a precautionary measure. In June 2013, Philip was admitted to the London Clinic for an exploratory operation on his abdomen, spending 11 days in hospital. In May 2014, he appeared in public with a bandage on his right hand after a "minor procedure" was performed in Buckingham Palace the preceding day. Tony Abbott's surprise 2015 decision to appoint Philip a Knight of the Order of Australia was widely criticised in the country and contributed to Abbott's ouster as Australian prime minister. In June 2017, Philip was taken from Windsor to London and admitted to King Edward VII's Hospital after being diagnosed with an infection. He spent two nights in the hospital and was unable to attend the State Opening of Parliament and Royal Ascot.
In April 2018, Philip was admitted to King Edward VII's Hospital for a planned hip replacement. This came after the Duke missed the annual Maundy and Easter Sunday services. Princess Anne spent about 50 minutes in the hospital and afterwards said her father was "on good form". He was discharged the next day. In May that year, he attended the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and was able to walk with Elizabeth unaided. That October, he also accompanied Elizabeth to the wedding of their granddaughter Princess Eugenie of York with Jack Brooksbank, with The Telegraph reporting that Philip works on a "wake up and see how I feel" basis when deciding whether to attend an event or not.
Philip died of "old age" on the morning of 9 April 2021 at Windsor Castle, at the age of 99. He was the longest-serving royal consort in world history. Elizabeth, who was reportedly at her husband's bedside when he died, described his death as "having left a huge void in her life".
In 2011 historian David Starkey described Philip as a kind of "HRH Victor Meldrew". For example, in May 1999, British newspapers accused Philip of insulting deaf children at a pop concert in Wales by saying: "No wonder you are deaf listening to this row." Later, Philip wrote: "The story is largely invention. It so happens that my mother was quite seriously deaf and I have been Patron of the Royal National Institute for the Deaf for ages, so it's hardly likely that I would do any such thing." When he and Elizabeth met Stephen Menary, an army cadet blinded by a Real IRA bomb, and Elizabeth enquired how much sight he retained, Philip quipped: "Not a lot, judging by the tie he's wearing." Menary later said: "I think he just tries to put people at ease by trying to make a joke. I certainly didn't take any offence." Philip's comparison of prostitutes and wives was also perceived as offensive after he reportedly stated: "I don't think a prostitute is more moral than a wife, but they are doing the same thing."
To mark the centenary of Philip's birth in June 2021, the Royal Collection Trust held an exhibition at Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Titled Prince Philip: A Celebration, it showcased around 150 personal items related to him, including his wedding card, wedding menu, midshipman's logbook from 1940 to 1941, Chair of Estate, and the coronation robes and coronet that he wore for his wife's coronation in 1953. George Alexis Weymouth's portrait of Philip in the ruins of Windsor Castle after the fire of 1992 formed part of a focus on Philip's involvement with the subsequent restoration.
The Royal Horticultural Society also marked Philip's centenary by breeding a new rose in his honour, christened "The Duke of Edinburgh Rose", created by British rose breeder Harkness Roses. Elizabeth, as patron of the society, was given the deep pink commemorative rose in honour of her husband, and she remarked that "It looks lovely". A Duke of Edinburgh Rose has since been planted in the mixed rose border of Windsor Castle's East Terrace Garden. Philip played a major role in the garden's design.
Upon his wife's accession to the throne in 1952, Philip was appointed Admiral of the Sea Cadet Corps, Colonel-in-Chief of the British Army Cadet Force, and Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Air Training Corps. The following year, he was appointed to the equivalent positions in Canada and made Admiral of the Fleet, Captain General Royal Marines, Field Marshal, and Marshal of the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom. Subsequent military appointments were made in New Zealand and Australia. In 1975 he was appointed colonel of the Grenadier Guards, a position he handed over to his son Andrew in 2017. On 16 December 2015, he relinquished his role as Honorary Air Commodore-in-Chief and was succeeded by his granddaughter-in-law Catherine, then Duchess of Cambridge, as Honorary Air Commandant.
Both Philip and Elizabeth were great-great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria, Elizabeth by descent from Victoria's eldest son, King Edward VII, and Philip by descent from Victoria's second daughter, Princess Alice. Both were also descended from King Christian IX of Denmark. Philip was also related to the House of Romanov through all four of his grandparents. His paternal grandmother was the granddaughter of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia. His paternal grandfather was a brother of Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar of Denmark), wife of Emperor Alexander III. His maternal grandmother was a sister of Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse), wife of Emperor Nicholas II, and Elizabeth Feodorovna (Elisabeth of Hesse), wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia. His maternal grandfather was the nephew of Maria Alexandrovna (Marie of Hesse), who was the wife of Emperor Alexander II.
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| Husband | Elizabeth II (m. 20 November 1947) |
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Net Worth and Salary
Prince Philip's net worth was not publicly disclosed, but as a member of the royal family, he received a significant annual allowance from the Queen's private income, the Duchy of Lancaster. This allowance covered his official duties and personal expenses. Additionally, he had a naval pension from his time in the Royal Navy and other investments. His annual income was reported to be around $686,000 during his active years.
Career, Business, and Investments
Prince Philip's career was predominantly focused on public service. He served in the Royal Navy, advancing to the rank of Admiral of the Fleet, before retiring in 1952. He was also a keen supporter of various charitable causes, particularly in the fields of education and conservation. His business interests were largely related to his patronages and charitable endeavors, rather than personal investments.
Promotion to lieutenant followed on 16 July 1942. In October of the same year, aged 21, Philip became first lieutenant of HMS Wallace. He was one of the youngest first lieutenants in the Royal Navy. During the invasion of Sicily, in July 1943, as second-in-command of Wallace, he saved his ship from a night bomber attack. He devised a plan to launch a raft with smoke floats that successfully distracted the bombers, allowing the ship to slip away unnoticed. In 1944, he moved on to the new destroyer, HMS Whelp (R37), where he saw service with the British Pacific Fleet in the 27th Destroyer Flotilla. He was present in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed. Philip returned to the United Kingdom on the Whelp in January 1946 and was posted as an instructor at HMS Royal Arthur (shore establishment), the Petty Officers' School in Corsham, Wiltshire.
After his honeymoon at the Mountbatten family home, Broadlands, Philip returned to the navy, at first in a desk job at the Admiralty and later on a staff course at the Naval Staff College, Greenwich. From 1949 he was stationed in Malta (residing at Villa Guardamangia) after being posted as the first lieutenant of the destroyer HMS Chequers, the lead ship of the 1st Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean Fleet. He was promoted to lieutenant commander on 16 July 1950 and given command of the frigate HMS Magpie (U82). Philip was promoted to commander on 30 June 1952, though his active naval career had ended in July 1951.
In December 2019, Philip stayed at King Edward VII's Hospital and received treatment for a "pre-existing condition" in a visit described by Buckingham Palace as a "precautionary measure". He had not been seen in public since attending Lady Gabriella Windsor's wedding in May 2019. A photo of the royal couple as they isolated at Windsor Castle during the COVID-19 pandemic was released ahead of his 99th birthday in June 2020. In July 2020, he stepped down as Colonel-in-Chief of The Rifles, a position he had held since 2007. He was succeeded by his daughter-in-law Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.
Social Network
Prince Philip was not known for engaging on social networks, as his official life was managed by the royal press office. However, his charitable work and public engagements were widely covered in traditional media.
The palace said Philip died peacefully, which was confirmed by his daughter-in-law Sophie, Countess of Wessex, who told the press it was "so gentle. It was just like somebody took him by the hand and off he went." His death led to the commencement of Operation Forth Bridge, the plan for publicly announcing his death and organising his funeral. The usual public ceremonial could not take place because of the regulations for the COVID-19 pandemic which restricted the number of mourners to thirty; it was later reported in the press that Elizabeth had rejected a government offer to relax the rules. The funeral took place on 17 April 2021 at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, and Philip was temporarily interred alongside 25 other coffins, including that of George III, in the Royal Vault inside St George's. Representatives of countries around the world sent condolences to the royal family upon his death.
In a private conversation with British students from Xi'an's Northwest University during a state visit to China in 1986, Philip joked: "If you stay here much longer, you'll go slit-eyed." The British press reported on the remark as indicative of racial intolerance, but the Chinese authorities were reportedly unconcerned. Chinese students studying in the UK, an official explained, were often told in jest not to stay away too long, lest they go "round-eyed". His comment did not affect Sino-British relations, but it shaped his reputation. Philip also made comments on the eating habits of Cantonese people, stating: "If it has four legs and is not a chair, has wings and is not an airplane, or swims and is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it." In Australia he asked an Indigenous Australian entrepreneur: "Do you still throw spears at each other?"
Philip has been portrayed by several actors, including Stewart Granger (The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana, 1982), Christopher Lee (Charles & Diana: A Royal Love Story, 1982), David Threlfall (The Queen's Sister, 2005), James Cromwell (The Queen, 2006), and Finn Elliot, Matt Smith, Tobias Menzies, and Jonathan Pryce (The Crown, 2016 onwards). He also appears as a fictional character in Nevil Shute's novel In the Wet (1952), Paul Gallico's novel Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Moscow (1974), Tom Clancy's novel Patriot Games (1987), and Sue Townsend's novel The Queen and I (1992).
* The Triumph of a Great Tradition: The Story of Cunard's 175 Years by Eric Flounders and Michael Gallagher, Lily Publications (2014), ISBN 978-1-906608-85-9
Philip was awarded medals from Britain, France, and Greece for his service during the Second World War, as well as ones commemorating the coronations of George VI and Elizabeth II and the silver, gold and diamond jubilees of Elizabeth. George VI appointed him to the Order of the Garter on the eve of his wedding on 19 November 1947. Since then, Philip received 17 appointments and decorations in the Commonwealth and 48 from foreign states. The inhabitants of some villages on the island of Tanna, Vanuatu, worship Philip as a god-like spiritual figure; the islanders possess portraits of him and hold feasts on his birthday.
Education
Prince Philip received his education at Cheam School in England and later at Gordonstoun School in Scotland. His military education included training at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, where he began his naval career.
Prince Philip's legacy continues to inspire through his numerous charitable endeavors and his role as a steadfast consort to Queen Elizabeth II. Despite his passing, his contributions to public service and philanthropy remain a significant part of his enduring legacy.
In 1939 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth toured the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. During the visit, the Queen and Lord Louis Mountbatten asked his nephew Philip to escort the royal couple's daughters, 13-year-old Elizabeth and 9-year-old Margaret, who were Philip's third cousins through Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and second cousins once removed through King Christian IX of Denmark. Philip and Elizabeth had first met as children in 1934 at the wedding of Elizabeth's uncle Prince George, Duke of Kent, to Philip's first cousin, Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark. After their 1939 meeting, Elizabeth fell in love with Philip, and they began to exchange letters.
