Tribute: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh 1921-2021
By Sue Careless
PRINCE PHILIP was a Greek prince before he was ever a British one. He was born on the dining room table in a villa on the Greek island of Corfu on June 10th, 1921. His parents were Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg. He was the youngest of their five children and their only son. A few days later he was baptized in the local Greek Orthodox church.
His family was sent into exile when Philip was only eighteen months old. The toddler slept in an orange crate as the family fled across the Mediterranean to France on a British warship.
When he was eight, his parents divorced. His father took a French mistress and his mother, who was born deaf, was suffering from schizophrenia and was placed in an insane asylum. He had no contact with either parent for years.
Instead, Philip lived in boarding schools in France, Germany and Scotland and on school holidays, stayed with various relatives. Years later when he was asked what language he spoke at home, he replied, “What home?” (He actually was fluent in English, French and German.)
His favourite school was Gordonstoun in Scotland, where seamanship, self-discipline and service to others was stressed. It was founded by Kurt Hahn. Philip had studied at Hahn’s school in Germany but the Jewish educator had spoken out against the Nazis and was arrested in 1933, then exiled to Britain. Philip transferred to Hahn’s new school in Scotland.
His four much older sisters all married German princes, all of whom were members of the Nazi party. When Philip was 16, his favourite sister Cecile and most of her family were killed in a plane crash. Philip attended her funeral in Germany but was shocked by the country’s rampant Nazism.
In 1934 Philip met Elizabeth when she and her family toured the Royal Naval College he was attending. He was assigned to escort the two princesses around the grounds. Elizabeth was just 13 but fell in love with the dashing 18-year-old, and they began to exchange letters.
During the Second World War Philip served with distinction in the Mediterranean and British Pacific fleets, while two of his brothers-in-law were fighting in the German command.
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 became a naturalised British subject. He also adopted his maternal grandparents’ surname Mountbatten.
Though Philip had attended Anglican services with his classmates and relations in England and throughout his Royal Navy days, he had been baptised in the Greek Orthodox Church. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, wanted to “regularise” Philip’s position and officially received him into the Church of England a month before his wedding.
Philip married Elizabeth on Nov. 20 1947 when he was 26 and she was 21. Just before the wedding, he was granted the style His Royal Highness and created Duke of Edinburgh.
Their first five years of marriage were happy ones and Elizabeth enjoyed the relative privacy of being a naval officer’s wife. On Feb. 6 1952, while the young couple was on a royal tour in Kenya, filling in for her ailing father, King George died. It was Philip who broke the news to Elizabeth.
With Elizabeth now queen Philip left active military service, having reached the rank of commander. He was made a British prince in 1957.
Philip and Elizabeth had four children: Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward. When the couple went on royal tours, even one lasting 6 months, they left their children at home. In hindsight, it was probably not the best parental model. But the Duke could give wise counsel.
A year after the divorce of Charles and Diana, Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris. Uncertain as to whether they should walk behind their mother’s coffin during the public funeral procession, Diana’s sons 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 walked through London behind her bier.
A working royal, Philip didn’t retire from his royal duties until he was 96, having completed over 22,000 solo engagements and almost 5,500 speeches since 1952. He made 60 visits to Canada.
Philip was a patron, president or member of over 780 charities and organisations. In 1961 he helped found the World Wildlife Fund (now the World Wide Fund for Nature.) But he will probably be best remembered for co-founding the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE) in 1956. It is widely recognised as the world’s leading youth achievement award.
The DofE was designed to challenge young people between the ages of 14-24 to attain standards of achievement in a wide variety of active interests – to serve their communities, experience adventure and to develop and learn outside the classroom. The program now operates in 143 countries and over eight million people have taken part in it.
A fine athlete, Philip was a top polo player and loved sailing. He also had his pilot’s licence and helped develop the equestrian event of carriage driving. He was so physically fit that even at 99 he never walked with a stoop or needed a cane.
He also had an artistic side. He painted with oils, and collected artworks. And his love of classical music was apparent at his funeral.
The Prince did, however, have a reputation for bluntness and occasionally made observations and jokes that were considered offensive. “Trying to be funny is a great deal more difficult than trying to be serious,” he said. “What seems a witty comment to me can easily turn out to be tactless.”
When he and the Queen met an army cadet blinded by an IRA bomb, and the Queen enquired how much sight he retained, Philip quipped: “Not a lot, judging by the tie he’s wearing.” The cadet was not offended and felt the Prince was simply trying to put him at ease.
Faith
Philip’s mother may well have influenced his Christian faith. During the war Princess Alice saved a Jewish family by hiding them in her home for a year in Nazi-occupied Athens. Later she became a Greek Orthodox nun and attended Philip’s wedding in her habit. She returned to Greece and founded a nursing order called the Christian Sisterhood of Martha and Mary.
When Greece suffered frequent military coups Philip tried to persuade his mother to leave. She eventually did and spent the last three years of her life in Buckingham Palace. She is buried in Jerusalem, being recognized by Israel as a “Righteous Gentile.”
Philip was also influenced by Robin Woods, the Dean of Windsor (1962-1970). Woods wrote in his autobiography, “For years I found preaching before the Queen difficult, and I came to expect critical—but always constructive—comments from Prince Philip afterwards.”
Woods opened St George’s House on the grounds of Windsor Castle in 1966. The House was the product of five years of planning with Philip to create a space for discussion of both religious and modern secular issues. The Prince gave talks at the House on the role of clergy in modern society and also stressed the importance of bringing together scientists and theologians to try and find common ground. The Prince and Woods maintained their friendship until the priest’s death in 1977. St. George’s House remains active to this day.
The Duke was also a regular visitor to Mount Athos, a monastic community and religious sanctuary in Greece, and was a long-time patron of the Templeton Prize, which recognizes a significant contribution to life’s “spiritual dimension.” Winners include Mother Teresa and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
Marriage and Family
Philip was the longest-serving royal consort in British history. Married for 73 years, the Queen described her husband’s death as “having left a huge void in her life.” He was her confidante.
“He is someone who doesn’t take easily to compliments but he has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years,” the Queen said on their 50th wedding anniversary in 1997. “I, and his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim, or we shall ever know.”
Philip lived long enough to see his eight grandchildren grown and meet ten great-grandchildren. The Prince died on April 9, just two months before his 100th birthday. He had been in hospital for a month but died peacefully at home in Windsor Castle. The cause of death has not been disclosed.
Funeral Service
A royal ceremonial funeral was held on Apr. 17 at St George’s Chapel, Windsor. Almost the whole service – music, lessons and prayers – had been planned by the Prince himself and reflected his strong Christian faith.
The service was televised without commentary and many who had lost loved ones during the pandemic and had been unable to hold proper funeral rites for them felt his service honoured their dead as well. (In the UK alone, 127 thousand people have died from COVID.)
Because of the pandemic, there was no funeral procession through the streets of London, nor were any foreign dignitaries or statesmen present. The funeral began with a national minute’s silence at 3pm, as the coffin was brought into the chapel.
Only 30 people could attend the service; they were all family members and sat socially distanced in the quire. The Queen, just shy of her 95th birthday, sat alone, with her head bowed through most of the ceremony. Congregational singing was banned so a quartet sang in the nave.
There was no eulogy or sermon, nor did any member of the royal family speak. The 50-minute service was conducted by Bp David Connor the Dean of Windsor, with Justin Welby the Archbishop of Canterbury assisting.
Besides the famous Gospel lesson of John 11: 21—27 “I am the resurrection and the life….” Philip had also chosen a wonderful passage about the created world in Ecclesiasticus 43:11—26: “Look at the rainbow and praise its Maker….”
The Duke’s selection of music reflected his legacy with the Royal Navy, and his love of Britain’s musical heritage. The choir sang ‘Eternal Father, Strong to Save,’ often called ‘the Royal Navy Hymn.’ They also sang The Jubilate in C, written by British composer Benjamin Britten at the Duke’s request in 1961 and Psalm 104 set, by the Duke’s request, to the music of William Lovelady.
For organ music, Philip again chose British composers: Jerusalem (Hubert Parry), Nimrod (Edward Elgar), I Vow to Thee My Country (Gustav Holst) and Supreme Sacrifice (Charles Harris).
Near the end of the service was sung the Russian Kontakion of the Departed, an ancient Russian Orthodox chant which expresses the sorrow of loss, but with a reminder of the Christian hope of everlasting life.
At the Commendation “Go forth upon thy journey from this world, O Christian soul…” the Prince’s coffin was lowered into the royal vault.
The Dean said in one prayer that the Duke “has left us a fair pattern of valiant and true knighthood” but his opening prayer may be the best on which to close. He said of the Prince:
“With grateful hearts, we remember the many ways in which his long life has been a blessing to us. We have been inspired by his unwavering loyalty to our Queen, by his service to the Nation and the Commonwealth, by his courage, fortitude and faith. Our lives have been enriched through the challenges that he has set us, the encouragement that he has given us, his kindness, humour and humanity. We therefore pray that God will give us grace to follow his example, and that, with our brother Philip, at the last, we shall know the joys of life eternal.” TAP
