His Royal Highness Prince Philip was lionised for the adeptness with which he seamlessly permeated into the complexities of British royalty. As the monarch’s liegeman of ‘life and limb’, the prince, over the years, had quite simply become a constant in all the realms of the British monarchy.
His sudden demise on the ninth of April has impelled the citizens of Britain and other commonwealth nations to come to terms with the insurmountable void beside the Queen. The absence of Her Majesty’s greatest strength for the past 70 years has agonised people from the farthest corners of the world. But even in those sober moments of grieving, it was only deference that resonated with the multitudes.
While he was criticised by both the royal household and the then British administration for propelling the British monarchy to suit the ways of the 21st century, he was lauded for making the Firm more approachable to the common man.
The namesake Prince
Prince Philip empathised with the ways of the masses as his early life was nothing short of an ordeal. The raging sea of tribulations that he was subjected to at a young age is a perplexing tale, even for a commoner.
Born on the island of Corfu, in Greece, on June 10, 1921, he was named Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, the only son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Princess Alice of Battenberg. The origins of his paternal family could be traced back to a Danish lineage. His father, Prince Andrew, was the younger brother of King Constantine I of Greece and Prince Philip was the great-grandchild of Queen Victoria. He was also the proud nephew of Lord Louis Mountbatten.
Despite the grandiose of his lineage, that canopy failed to guard him against impending adversities lurking to devastate him. Prince Philip’s earlier life was stricken by poverty after his family was banished from Greece. Along with them, a young Philip fled to France, where they spent a life in exile.
His stoic demeanour developed out of the daunting circumstances he endured at a young age. One such unsettling incident came to pass when his mother was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in Berlin and was sent to a sanitarium in Switzerland for two years. This brought an end to her union with Andrew. Philip was just nine years old when all this transpired, a time when other children of his age, even sans the royal tag, relished the simple joys of life.
The idea of a home was farthest from reality for Philip. However, he found no reason to be dejected by the afflictions surrounding him and he equipped himself to become an exemplary student of ‘The Elms’. With his future hanging in the balance, Philip migrated to a boarding school in England and later to Germany. It was only after the Prince joined the Gordonstoun School in Scotland that he finally found his humble abode.
Just two years before his graduation, Philip’s life was marred by more catastrophes. This came in the form of the untimely demise of his sister Cecile and her family in a plane crash in 1937. Philip, yet again, had to brave another loss, that of his father, seven years later, to a heart attack. It certainly knocked him down, but like a hero from an English classic, Philip rose above adversities.
‘If winter comes, can spring be far behind?’
Prince Philip never let his tumultuous past dampen his spirits. He was a firm believer that adversity would lead to prosperity.
Driven by gumption, Philip set his eyes on joining the Navy and, after his uncle Louis Mountbatten persuaded him, he joined Britannia Royal Naval College of Dartmouth, where he was awarded the King’s Dirk for being the best cadet of the term. Philip had a rather long and illustrious stint in the Navy, which can be traced back to the time when he was just 18-months-old and his parents were coerced into fleeing aboard a Royal Navy ship to Paris.
In 1940, Prince Philip was posted to HMS Ramillies, which escorted Australian troop convoys in the Indian Ocean. He had short stints with HMS Kent and HMS Shropshire, after which he joined the battleship HMS Valiant in 1941. Such was his diligence that Philip was posted to the destroyer HMS Wallace, and was engaged in precarious convoy duty. By 21, he became the youngest First lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and was appointed to the fleet destroyer HMS Whelp in 1945. It was only in 1950, after being promoted to lieutenant commander, that he took the reins of his own ship, HMS Magpie, a frigate.
As fate would have it, the demise of an ailing King George VI on February 6, 1952, and the ascension of Princess Elizabeth to the throne, effectively ended his naval career.
His fascination with Royal yachts, catamarans and outrigger canoes can be attributed to his virtuosity at sailing. Philip used to religiously participate in the Cowes Regatta, one of the prominent sailing races. Despite being an immensely capable officer in the Navy, royal duties ultimately took precedence. For his 90th birthday, the Queen formally presented him with the title and office of Lord High Admiral of the Navy, which was a fitting acknowledgement of his sacrifices.
‘Unheard melodies are sweeter’
The story of Prince Philip and Princess Elizabeth is as old as time itself. Theirs was a chance meeting at a cousin’s wedding, when he was just thirteen-year-old and she was nine. It was the start of a union etched in the stars.
In what seemed like a bizarre encounter, the two of them crossed paths yet again. This time, he was asked to chaperone two young princesses, Elizabeth and her sister Margaret. A young Elizabeth in her teens did not utter a word, but she was entranced by his effervescent persona.
An enamoured Prince and Princess soon started writing to each other. It was believed that Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten proposed to Princess Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of King George VI and heir presumptive to the British throne, at the royal family’s Balmoral Estate in Scotland. The princess by then was ascribed the rank of honorary junior commander and was a trained driver and mechanic.
Their wedding in Westminster Abbey on November 20, 1947, was opulent and garnered the attention of people across continents.
Just days before the Royal couple celebrated their first wedding anniversary, they were blessed with their first child, Charles.
Charles, The Prince of Wales, was the heir to the throne and was the first of their four children: Anne, Princess Royal, Prince Andrew, Duke of York and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex.
After Princess Elizabeth’s sudden ascension to the throne, the royal position that Prince Philip held at that stage prompted him to latch the doors of his naval career behind him in 1953. As he uttered the words, ‘I do’ during his blissful union with the Queen, he was implying not only at his wife but also about embracing the British monarchy and the country.
With the Queen’s Coronation ceremony, he also opened the gateways of the royal family to newer experiences. The curtains of the royalty were raised for the television, thereby bringing them closer to the common man. While the move received flak from the British government, this decision by the Prince brought a new wave of revamping of the age-old royal system and stirred open[1]mindedness.
A review into the history of Great Britain shows how Prince Philip’s role took a departure from traditions and highlights a few privileges and rights his predecessors exercised, as part of their royal position, while he didn’t. The best examples of the same would be Philip of Spain, William III of England and Prince Albert. Philip of Spain, who was the husband of Mary I, the Queen of England, sent an armada so that he could claim the throne. Mary’s sister had by then ascended the throne after the Queen passed away.
William III of England, Sovereign Prince of Orange, on the other hand, rebuked all efforts to make him subservient. He even denied following the orders of the parliament, articulating the need for equality with his wife Mary II, the reigning queen after her demise.
Lastly, Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, was made Prince Consort after her insistence. State papers were soon received, vesting him with the power to accompany or sit alongside her in all her work, be it public or private.
Prince Philip, however, embarked on no such quests during his life in the Firm. Instead, he chose to always be a reflection of his wife. Until his last moment, his dedication to being her shadow, through thick and thin, was palpable. He continued to have a clear notion of the crown’s status, as well as his own, over the decades.
He gorged into that perfect potion of allegiance and service, which precisely laid the foundation stone of his marriage to the Queen. In 2017, the Queen and Prince Philip became the first couple in the royal family to celebrate their Platinum Wedding Anniversary. Their life as a married couple continued to be perceived as an embodiment of the strongest institution of marriage by the public.
Man for all seasons
‘Everything that wasn’t invented by God was invented by an Engineer,’ Philip explained in the Today programme on BBC Radio 4.
The Duke of Edinburgh breathed life into every domain he was a part of, be it design, engineering, sports, flying or simply the matters of the Firm. He had walked uncharted paths and took steely decisions, without the fear of failure.
For Prince Philip, the field of engineering held a plethora of possibilities. This explains why he fit in perfectly as the Patron of the Industrial Society, now known as’ ‘The Work Foundation’ and the Senior Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
It was his expertise in the field that led him to envision the old Chapel at Buckingham Palace as a gallery. A revival of sorts was initiated by him, which led to the construction of the Queen’s Gallery in 1962. He also helmed the Restoration Committee and shouldered the renovation of Windsor Castle, which had suffered extensive damage in a huge fire in 1992. The refurbished castle and his poignant efforts were celebrated at the 50th wedding anniversary of The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh on November 20, 1997.
His unquenched thirst for adventure made him the first member of the royal family to take off from Buckingham Palace in a helicopter. So intrigued by flying he was, that in November 1952, he took his first flying lesson in a De Havilland Chipmunk at White Waltham and received his Royal Air Force Wings in May the very next year. In 1956, he gained his helicopter wings from the Royal Navy and went on to receive his private pilot’s license in 1959. It came with such ease for him that he piloted the aircraft of the Queen’s Flight during his tours around the world.
Despite logging 5,986 flying hours in more than sixty different types of aircraft, the flying gear was brought to a screeching halt in August 1997.
The Duke had championed the art of designing as well. He even designed and gifted the Queen a bracelet fashioned with diamond and platinum stones from his mother’s tiara.
His interests were so expansive that they even covered environmental activism. He was an ardent lover of wildlife and, hence, had always wanted to give back to nature by being a proponent of conservation. It was the same passion with which he travelled across the South Pacific Ocean and Antarctica and identified seabirds.
Prince Philip also helped bolster the efforts by a conservation group in Mexico to protect the Monarch Butterfly, which was found to be on the verge of being endangered.
He was in close association with estate workers, farmers and conservationists and worked towards achieving the vision of preserving nature for future generations. The prince was also the first President of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), International President and its President Emeritus, until his death.
The Duke of Edinburgh channeled his passion for sports by actively indulging in a number of sporting and recreation charities. He served as the President of British Athletics for 59 years and the Commonwealth Games Federation between 1955 and 1990. He was also a Patron of the Lord’s Taverners, a cricketing charity. The Prince was in charge of organising all equestrian sporting events at the Olympic Games between 1955 and 1990.
It was his volition and far-sightedness that left people in awe of him. Though his entry into British royalty demanded him to keep a low profile, his verve for everything that life and human intelligence can offer was boundless.
Farewell to royal duties
Considering the wide range of things he was fastidious in, at the age of 70, he was at the forefront of a mind-boggling 300 engagements in a year and was the second busiest member of the royal family.
Even as younger members of the family entrained themselves, concerning matters of the Firm, Prince Philip did not shy away from hand-holding them. The Duke of Edinburgh retired from public life at the age of 95, in 2017, a well[1]thought-out decision that came in the wake of ill health.
One of his last grand public appearances was a meeting with the Royal Marines.
Operation Forth Bridge
“That which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will,” these lines from Ulysses is an apt description of the Prince who was iron-willed to plan his funeral. Prince Philip received the funeral that he had planned down to the letter.
A photograph that was shared by members of the royal family on social media after his demise was of him walking away into eternity, donning a mackintosh coat, taking off his felt bowler hat. It was symbolic, as though he was bidding farewell to the Britons, echoing, it’s time to leave the stage.
The future of the monarchy
Since putting on his royal armour, Prince Philip has never let go of the monarchy’s baton. Walking down memory lane, the fissures that the monarchy witnessed in the 1950s, and the post-World War era demanded mighty changes in the system. The aftermath of the war was coupled with relatively new hues introduced by a socialist parliament. A new stream of republicanism gradually started to flow into Britain. Thus, the 1000-year-old monarchy was prompted to resuscitate itself and make it well-equipped for the 21st century. Prince Philip, who himself became the pedestal for the monarchy to thrive on in the era of modernity, has bid adieu.
He was, in all likelihood, seen as the second last vestige of the monarchy, with only the Queen left behind. With him being gone now, the country has plunged into an abyss of melancholy.
The Queen, who bears testimony to the monarchy’s history-its ruins, its crevices and its transformation, in addition to its heroic tales of war and triumphant endeavours, will now have to press ahead without the backing of her companion and ardent supporter.
A life dedicated to the Commonwealth
Prince Philip’s ideologies and sensibilities always reverberated with the Commonwealth, as it took him to newer pastures of meeting and connecting with people from various walks of life. He was often transported to whichever realm the soothing breeze of service took him to. He had visited 70 per cent of the countries, in addition to 50 Commonwealth countries. He had made 229 solo visits, mostly to the remote islands of the Commonwealth.
A rare display of respect and camaraderie
His affinity towards tradition and the bond he forged with indigenous people was highlighted when a group in the island nation of Vanuatu venerated him, after his demise, as it brought alive the strong 50-year relationship he shared with them. According to anthropologists, the Prince became associated with the island of Vanuatu in the 1960s, back when the island nation was an Anglo-French colony called the New Hebrides. It was likely that the people there had seen portraits of Philip and Elizabeth at government offices and police stations, with colonial officials in charge before he visited the island with the Queen in 1974.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
A personal initiative of Prince Philip, which he took pride in, was the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, of which he was the Patron and Chairman of Trustees. It is considered the longest youth activity programme in Britain. He became the guiding light for the youth by intermittently encouraging them to lend their services to their communities.
Quotes
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales
“I particularly wanted to say that my father for the last 70 years has given the most remarkable devoted service to The Queen, to my family and to the country, but also to the whole of the Commonwealth.”
Prince William, The Duke of Cambridge
“I will never take for granted the special memories my children will always have of their great-grandpa coming to collect them in his carriage and seeing for themselves their infectious sense of adventure as well as his mischievous sense of humour! My grandfather was an extraordinary man and part of an extraordinary generation. Catherine and I will continue to do what he would have wanted and will support the Queen in the years ahead. I will miss my Grandpa, but I know he would want us to get on with the job.”
Prince Edward, The Earl of Wessex
“He had a unique ability to make a lasting impression in a remarkably short time. I, like all my family, have a lifetime of lasting impressions, shared passions and love. He may have departed this world, but his spirit and ethos lives on through the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, through each and every life touched, transformed, inspired: then, now and in the future. “
Anne, Princess Royal
“My father has been my teacher, my supporter and my critic, but mostly it is his example of a life well lived and service freely given that I most wanted to emulate. His ability to treat every person as an individual in their own right with their own skills comes through all the organisations with which he was involved. “