Prince Philip was known as the husband to the Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth II though without an official role in the Queen’s affairs, over the years, you can’t ignore his influence in the overall administration of the kingdom as a consort to her Majesty.
Prince Philip prince-hood was not just the fact that he was married to the Queen ( by that virtue a prince), he was born a into the Greek and Danish royal families 10th of June 1921.
Prince Philip was educated in France, Germany and the United Kingdom. He joined the Royal Navy in 1939, at the age 18. He served meritoriously with distinction during Second World War in the Mediterranean and British Pacific fleets.
He met then Princess Elizabeth in 1934 and began to court her in July 1939. From July 1939, he began corresponding with the thirteen-year-old Princess Elizabeth, whom he had first met in 1934.
After the war, Philip was granted permission by George VI to marry Elizabeth. Before the official announcement of their engagement in July 1947, he abandoned his Greek and Danish titles and styles, became a naturalised British subject, and adopted his maternal grandparents’ surname Mountbatten.
Prince Philip was granted the British royal title and style Just before the wedding with Princess Elizabeth. He was granted the style His Royal Highness and created Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich by the King. Philip left active military service when Elizabeth became queen in 1952, having reached the rank of commander, and was made a British prince in 1957.
The name of the royal house became an issue as Elizabeth accessioned the throne. It is typical for wives to take up their husbands last names uopn marriage. The Duke’s uncle, Earl Mountbatten of Burma, advocated the name House of Mountbatten. Philip suggested House of Edinburgh, after his ducal title.
When Queen Mary, Elizabeth’s grandmother, heard of this, she informed the British prime minister, Winston Churchill, who himself later advised the Queen to issue a royal proclamation declaring that the royal house was to remain known as the House of Windsor. Prince Philip privately complained, “I am nothing but a bloody amoeba. I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his own children.
On 8 February 1960, several years after the death of Queen Mary and the resignation of Churchill as prime minister, the Queen issued an Order in Council declaring that Mountbatten-Windsor would be the surname of her and her husband’s male-line descendants who are not styled as Royal Highness or titled as prince or princess.
The Queen had in mind for some time to make the change, it occurred only 11 days before the birth of Prince Andrew (19 February), and only after three months of protracted correspondence between constitutional expert Edward Iwi and Prime Minister Harold Macmillan who had attempted to rebut Iwi’s arguments.
After her accession to the throne, the Queen also announced that the Duke 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”. This meant the Duke took precedence over his son, the Prince of Wales, except, officially, in the British parliament. In fact, however, he attended Parliament only when escorting the Queen for the annual State Opening of Parliament, where he walked and sat beside her.
As consort to the Queen, Philip supported his wife in her new 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 crowned in the service, but knelt before Elizabeth, with her hands enclosing his, and swore to be her “liege man of life and limb”
n 1956, the Duke, with Kurt Hahn, founded The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in order 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, Philip 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.
The Queen and the children remained in the UK. 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 the Duke 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, the Queen created Parker a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.
Further press reports claimed that the Queen and the Duke were drifting apart, which enraged the Duke and dismayed the Queen, who issued a strongly worded denial. On 22 February 1957, she granted her husband the style and title of a Prince of the United Kingdom by Letters Patent, and it was gazetted that he 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.
Prince Philip and the Queen : Charles, Prince of Wales; Anne, Princess Royal; Prince Andrew, Duke of York; and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex.
The Queen referred to Prince Philip in a speech on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee in 2012 as her “constant strength and guide”.
In April 2009, Philip became the longest-serving British royal consort. 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.
Prince Philip retired from his royal duties on 2 August 2017, meeting Royal Marines in his final solo public engagement, aged 96. Since 1952 he had completed 22,219 solo engagements. Prime Minister Theresa May thanked him for “a remarkable lifetime of service”.On 20 November 2017, he celebrated his 70th wedding anniversary with the Queen, which made her the first British monarch to celebrate a platinum wedding anniversary.
In midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Philip and the Queen were vaccinated against COVID-19 on the 9th January 2021 at Windsor Castle.
On 16 February 2021, he was admitted to King Edward VII’s Hospital as a “precautionary measure” after feeling unwell.[140] He was visited by Prince Charles on 20 February. On 23 February, it was confirmed by Buckingham Palace that Philip was “responding to treatment” for an infection. On 1 March 2021, Philip was transferred by ambulance to St Bartholomew’s Hospital to continue treatment for an infection, and additionally to undergo “testing and observation” relating to a pre-existing heart condition.
He underwent a successful procedure for his heart condition on 3 March, and was transferred back to King Edward VII’s Hospital on 5 March.He was discharged on 16 March.
Price Philip died two months before his 100th birthday and as the longest-serving royal consort in British history on the morning of 9 April 2021 at Windsor Castle. He was aged 99.
