Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

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This article is about the Duke of Edinburgh. For the Sleeping Beauty character, see Sleeping Beauty (1959 film).

Prince Philip
Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip in 1951
Consort to	Elizabeth II
Issue
Charles, Prince of Wales Anne, Princess Royal Andrew, Duke of York Edward, Earl of Wessex
Full name
Philip Mountbatten
Detail Titles
HRH The Duke of Edinburgh Lt Philip Mountbatten, RN HRH Prince Philippos of Greece and Denmark
Royal house	House of Oldenburg
Father	Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark
Mother	Princess Alice of Battenberg
Born	10 June 1921 (age 85) Villa Mon Repos, Corfu
Baptised	St. George's Church, the Palaio Frourio, Corfu
Occupation	prev. Military

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

Originally a Prince of Greece and Denmark, Prince Philip abandoned those titles to serve in the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, but did not renounce them. In 1947, he married Princess Elizabeth, the heiress to King George VI. Prince Philip is a member of the Danish Royal House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. Prior to his marriage, George VI created him Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich with the style of His Royal Highness. In 1957, Philip was created a Prince of the United Kingdom. Prince Philip took the anglicized name of his mother's family, Mountbatten (formerly Battenberg) after becoming a British citizen.

In addition to his royal duties, the Duke of Edinburgh is also the patron of many organisations, including the Duke of Edinburgh Award and the World Wide Fund for Nature, and he is a chancellor of both the University of Cambridge and University of Edinburgh. 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 Wikiquote excerpts 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. He has gained something of a reputation for making "politically incorrect" and often controversial remarks, particularly when meeting the British public or on state visits to other countries (see below).

More bizarrely, a visit to the Pacific island of Vanuatu led him to be worshipped as a divine being by members of the Yaohnanen tribe.

[edit] 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 King George I of Greece, for whom some claim a partially Byzantine Greek descent, and Queen Olga. His mother was Princess Alice of Battenberg, the elder daughter of the 1st Marquess of Milford Haven (formerly Prince Louis of Battenberg) and his wife, the former Princess Victoria of Hesse and the 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. 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.

The Prince was baptized 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 death. 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:

• Princess Margarita of Greece and Denmark (1905-1981) married Gottfried, 8th Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and had issue;
• Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark (1906-1969) married Bertold, Margrave of Baden and had issue;
• Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark (1911-1937) married Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, had issue;
• Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark (1914-2000) married first Prince Christoph of Hesse-Cassel, had issue, and second Prince George William of Hanover, had issue.

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.

British Royalty
Royal Family
HM The Queen
HRH The Duke of Edinburgh
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[edit] Education

Prince and Princess Andrew, 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 descended into alcoholism and gambling. His mother declined into mental instability and subsequent institutionalisation. She recovered and turned to religion. Afterwards, Prince Philip was to see little of them.

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 Schule Schloss Salem, a school in Southern Germany that belonged to Prince Maximilian of Baden, the father 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 The Prince of Wales, The Duke of York and The Earl of Wessex there, though his sons experienced the school with mixed results and sent their own children to different schools. The school's royal association continued with Princess Anne, who sent both her children to Gordonstoun - though neither she nor her husband attended it.

[edit] Naval career

On 1 May 1939, Prince Philip began his naval career at Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth as a Special Entry Cadet. In his training year, Philip won the prestigious King's Dirk and the prize for best cadet of his entry. The start of the Second World War meant that Prince Philip was soon on active duty.

In 1940 he served on HMS Ramilles in Colombo, Ceylon, as a Midshipman, patrolling the Indian Ocean and escorting troops from Australia to the Middle East. In 1941 he was transferred to HMS Valiant, a battleship stationed in Alexandria, Egypt. Philip acted as the searchlight control on the ship, helping to sink two Italian cruisers. Later service in the war saw Philip promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and serving during the invasion of Sicily. Philip was also present onboard HMS Whelp at the surrender of Japanese forces in Tokyo Bay.

[edit] Marriage

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

The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh on their wedding day.

Before they could marry, Prince Philip was required to convert from Greek Orthodoxy to Anglicanism, to renounce his allegiance to the Hellenic Crown, and to become a naturalised British subject ^[1]. 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 allowing the Duke of Edinburgh to use the style 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 October 22, 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.^[2] From 1947 to 1957, Philip's correct style was His Royal Highness Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

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 German parents. Excluded from the invitation list were his three surviving sisters, each of whom had married German aristocrats, some with Nazi connections. (His sister Princess Sophie's first husband, Prince Christophe of Hesse had been a member of the SS and an aide to Heinrich Himmler.) Also, the bride's aunt Mary, Princess Royal refused to attend because her brother, the Duke of Windsor (who abdicated in 1936), was not invited.

[edit] Duke of Edinburgh

The Duke of Edinburgh accompanies the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II back from Westminster Abbey on her coronation day

After their marriage, the Duke and Princess Elizabeth 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 was stationed in Malta. He rose through the naval ranks and commanded his own frigate, HMS Magpie.

In January 1952, the Duke and Princess Elizabeth set off for a tour of the Commonwealth, with visits to Africa, Australia and New Zealand. On 6 February, when they were in Kenya, the Princess's 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). 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.

[edit] Consort

The accession of Elizabeth 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 grandmother, heard about this, she told 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. This was in tune with the tradition established by Queen Victoria, who did not wish to take a military role that women could not normally assume (though she did not appoint her prince consort to these positions).

The Duke of Edinburgh has supported the Queen in her role for well over 50 years. The Queen and Duke attend state visits abroad, and receive foreign dignitaries 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 Queen 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.

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 to have been hostile to Diana after her divorce from the Prince of Wales. Mohamed Al-Fayed, the father of Diana's companion Dodi Al-Fayed and owner of Harrods, 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 Harrod's. The Duke remains close to his grandchildren Princes William and Harry and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

[edit] Personal life

Prince Philip and the President of the United States George W. Bush inspecting the Guard of Honour during the ceremonial welcome at Buckingham Palace at the start of the President's state visit to the UK in 2003.

Throughout Philip's marriage, rumours have spread about alleged extra-marital affairs.

The first public media report of the allegation appeared in 1957 in the Baltimore Sun, which claimed "REPORT QUEEN, DUKE IN RIFT OVER PARTY GIRL". In a break with precedent, Buckingham Palace commented on the story, denying it in a forthright manner. Australia's Woman's Day front page once promised readers a detailed exposé of "Prince Philip's torrid sex life" with his "famous lovers named"^{[citation needed]}, and The Tatler once published Philip's 'fan club', a list of famous women close to him, implying that they were his mistresses.^{[citation needed]} Author Nicholas Davies has suggested that the Prince's lovers included his wife's cousin, Princess Alexandra of Kent, film star Merle Oberon, and Susan Barrantes, mother of Sarah, Duchess of York.^{[citation needed]} One rumour even claimed Philip had a homosexual affair with former President of France Valéry Giscard d'Estaing,^{[citation needed]} while other rumours included an actress, a 1950s personality and a childhood friend with whom he allegedly had children.^{[citation needed]} Sarah Bradford, a respected biographer of King George VI and Elizabeth II, has expressed her belief that Philip committed adultery.^{[citation needed]} Lauren Bacall has even suggested that Philip used his 'close friends' the actors David Niven and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr to pretend to be escorting women who were in reality Philip's girlfriends.

One German newspaper even claimed in 1995 that Buckingham Palace had confirmed that Prince Philip was the father of 24 illegitimate children, only to retract the claim when they realised that they had mistranslated information from the Palace that had said he had 24 godchildren.

However, the Prince's most recent biographer, Gyles Brandreth, who interviewed Prince Philip, Kirkwood, Boyle, Cordet and friends, concluded that all the rumours were untrue; Kirkwood only met Philip socially on a handful of occasions, as did Boyle. The rumours concerning Cordet originated because she had had two children with her future second husband while separated from her first husband, but had declined at the time to name the father of her children, leading to rumours that it was her close friend Philip who was the father. Nor were Niven or Fairbanks, contrary to Bacall's claims, more than casual acquaintances of Philip's. Brandreth concluded that Philip had not had any sexual relationship outside his marriage, believing that it would have been out of character, given his personal devotion to the Queen, and also no independent verified evidence, even in the most widely believed cases, could be found. Philip himself noted how his face is internationally recognised and that he has been accompanied continually since 1947 by police and detectives, so that extra-marital relationships could not have been carried out and had they been, they would invariably have been discovered and that they would have been most likely reported back to the Queen or one of her private secretaries and would have not been covered up for him. While the rumours spread, no British tabloid has ever unearthed evidence to support the claims, which - given the tabloids' predilictions for publishing lurid scandals - tends to support the position that Prince Philip has been nothing other than faithful to his wife.^[3] "I am the type who enjoys loyal company at Balmoral, if you catch my drift".

[edit] Royal status

The armorial banner of the Duke of Edinburgh

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 preferred "Prince of the Realm". While the Commonwealth prime ministers were assembled in London, against his better judgment 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.^[4] 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 February 8 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 capitalized definite article, a usage normally restricted to the children of monarchs.^[4]

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 Highnesses 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 Queen and 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, whereat he walks and is seated beside her.

The Queen has never granted the Duke the title of Prince Consort. This title was granted to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha by his wife, Queen Victoria, and has not been used since by a British consort (it is however currently used by Henrik, Prince Consort of Denmark).

As of July 2006, the Duke is the oldest surviving great-great-grandchild of Queen Victoria and is 468th in the line of succession to the British Throne in his own right (through his great-grandmother Princess Alice).

[edit] Titles, styles, honours and arms

[edit] Titles

• 10 June 1921 - 18 March 1947: His Royal Highness Prince Philippos of Greece and Denmark
• 18 March - 18 November 1947: Lt Philip Mountbatten, RN
• 18 November - 19 November 1947: Lt Sir Philip Mountbatten, RN
• 19 November - 20 November 1947: Lt His Royal Highness Sir Philip Mountbatten, RN
• 20 November 1947: His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh
• 20 November 1947 - 22 February 1957: His Royal Highness Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
• 22 February 1957: His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Further information: List of titles and honours of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

[edit] Honours

Main article: List of titles and honours of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

[edit] Arms

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, five black and white vertical stripes. 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 English 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.

[edit] Ancestors

[edit] Issue

[edit] Controversial remarks

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

The Duke is well-known in Britain for cracking jokes during public visits that can come across as blunt, insensitive, and racist. ^[5]

• Speaking to a driving instructor in Scotland, he asked: "How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to get them through the test?"^[6]
• When visiting China in 1986, he told a group of British students, "If you stay here much longer, you'll all be slitty-eyed".^[6]
• After accepting a gift from a Kenyan citizen he replied, "You are a woman, aren't you?"^[6]
• "If it has four legs and is not a chair, has wings and is not an aeroplane, or swims and is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it." (1986)^[6]
• In 1966 he remarked that "British women can't cook."^[6]
• When addessing an AIDS awareness program, he remarked, "Loop before you Leap".
• To a British student in Papua New Guinea: "You managed not to get eaten then?"^[6]
• Angering local residents in Lockerbie when on a visit to the town in 1993, the Prince said to a man who lived in a road where eleven people had been killed by wreckage from the Pan Am jumbo jet: "People usually say that after a fire it is water damage that is the worst. We are still trying to dry out Windsor Castle."^[7]
• On a visit to the new Welsh Assembly in Cardiff, he told a group of deaf children standing next to a Jamaican steel drum band, "Deaf? If you are near there, no wonder you are deaf."^[8][6]
• He asked an Indigenous Australian, "Still throwing spears?" (2002)^[9][6]
• When listening to a speech given by Cherie Blair, wife of Tony Blair, in 1999, he was reported by several MPs as having said, very loudly, "you could post a letter through that mouth".
• Said to a Briton in Budapest, Hungary, "You can't have been here that long – you haven't got a pot belly." (1993)^[6]
• To the President of Nigeria, who was dressed in traditional African robes, "You look like you're ready for bed!"^{[citation needed]}
• To Lord Taylor of Warwick, who is black: "And what exotic part of the world do you come from?" Lord Taylor: "I'm from Birmingham." (same story also told with Bernie Grant as the subject)^{[citation needed]}
• Seeing a shoddily installed fuse box in a high-tech Edinburgh factory, HRH remarked that it looked "like it was put in by an Indian".^[10]
• During a Royal visit to China in 1986 he described Peking as "ghastly".^[11]
• "Aren't most of you descended from pirates?" (in 1994, to an islander in the Cayman Islands)^[6]
• At the height of the recession in 1981 he said: "Everybody was saying we must have more leisure. Now they are complaining they are unemployed."^[6]
• Upon presenting a Duke of Edinburgh Award to a student, when informed that the young man was going to help out in Romania for six months, he asked if the student was going to help the Romanian orphans; upon being informed he was not, he said words to the effect of "Good, they [the Romanians] breed orphans over there."^{[citation needed]}
• At Salford University, he told a 13-year-old aspiring astronaut: "You could do with losing a bit of weight."^[12]
• In 1997, the Duke of Edinburgh, participating in an already controversial British visit to the Amritsar Massacre Monument, provoked outrage in India and in the UK with an offhand comment. Having observed a plaque claiming 2,000 casualties, Prince Philip observed, "That's not right. The number is less."^[13]
• During a Royal visit to a Tamil Hindu temple in London , he asked a Hindu priest if he was related to the terrorist Tamil Tigers.^[6]
• During his speech at the 80th Anniversary Luncheon of Round Table (the young men's organisation of which he is patron) he remarked, in reference to the likelihood of his attending the 100th Anniversary celebrations that he would be "past my bury-by date" by that time.

[edit] Portrayal in fiction

• Actor James Cromwell portrays Prince Philip in the 2006 Oscar-winning film, The Queen.

[edit] See also

• Prince George of Denmark

[edit] Bibliography

• The Concise British Flora in Colour by William Keble Martin, Ebury Press/ Michael Joseph (1965)
• British Flags and Emblems by Graham Bartram, Tuckwell Press (2004)

[edit] Notes and references

1. ^ As a descendant of the Electress Sophia of Hanover through his mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, Philip could already claim to be a naturalised British subject under the terms of the Sophia Naturalization Act passed in 1705. His naturalisation was at Lord Mountbatten's behest and merely undertaken out of an abundance of caution in the somewhat xenophobic atmosphere of the immediate postwar years.
2. ^ Velde, François. Title of Prince: HRH Philip Duke of Edinburgh. Royal styles and titles: Files from the UK National Archives. Retrieved on 2006-09-05. “Home Office, Whitehall. S.W.1. 28 February, 1955. "My dear George {Coldstream, clerk of the Crown in Chancery}, We were speaking the other day about the designation of the Duke of Edinburgh. In 1948 the General Register Office consulted us about the way in which the birth of Prince Charles was to be registered. They sent over a suggested entry, in column 4 of which (name and surname of father) they had inserted: 'His Royal Highness Prince Philip'. I consulted {Sir Alan} Lascelles {principal private secretary to the King} on this and he laid my letter before The King, together with the draft entry, I have in my possession the entry, as amended by The King in his own hand. The King amended column 4, name and surname of father, to read: 'His Royal Highness Philip, Duke of Edinburgh'. Austin Strutt {assistant under-aecretary of State}”
3. ^ For details of the rumours surrounding Prince Philip's life, see Gyles Brandreth, Philip & Elizabeth: Portrait of a Marriage (Arrow, 1994) pp.335-369.
4. ^ ^{a b} Velde, François. Title of Prince: HRH Philip Duke of Edinburgh. Royal styles and titles: Files from the UK National Archives. Retrieved on 2006-09-05.
5. ^ "Caught on tape: Infamous gaffes", BBC, September 19, 2006.
6. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} "Long line of princely gaffes", BBC, March 1, 2002.
7. ^ "Prince Philip's gaffes", BBC, August 10, 1999.
8. ^ "Deaf insulted by duke's remark", BBC, May 27, 1999.
9. ^ "Prince Philip's spear 'gaffe'", BBC, March 1, 2002.
10. ^ "Royal apology for race remark", BBC, August 10, 1999.
11. ^ "Prince Philip's gaffes", BBC, August 10, 1999.
12. ^ "Prince tells boy: You're too fat for spaceship", Manchester Evening News, July 26, 2001.
13. ^ (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/354666.stm |title=Deaf Insulted by Duke's Remark|date=May 27, 1999|BBC)</)

[edit] External links

• Royal.gov.uk- HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
• Duke of Edinburgh Award
• Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at the Internet Movie Database