The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, is husband and consort to Queen Elizabeth II. He himself is a member of the Royal families of Greece and Denmark, born in Corfu, an island territory of Greece, in 1921. His father was younger brother to King Constantine of Greece. He is also loosely related to his wife, Queen Elizabeth, in the way of many Royal inter-marriages, in that through his maternal line, his great-great-grandmother was Queen Victoria.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s family left Greece when their monarchy was overthrown in 1922, and it was actually the then monarch George V who rescued them, sending a Royal Navy ship to their aid. The one year old Philip was aboard and they were all taken to the safety of Paris. However, later, the marriage of Philip’s parents ended in divorce and Philip was educated variously in England, Germany and lastly in Scotland, at the elite Gordonstoun school, where he thrived on the outdoor life and captained the school teams in hockey and cricket. He was also appointed Head Boy at Gordonstoun.
It was in 1934 that Philip met his future wife, the then Princess Elizabeth, when he was 12 and she was 8. This was at the wedding of Princess Marina of Greece (Philip’s cousin) to The Duke of Kent (Princess Elizabeth’s uncle).
In 1939 Philip became a member of the Royal Navy, training in Dartmouth College. Here again he saw his future wife, escorting the 13 year old Princess Elizabeth on a visit. During World War 2, Philip was on active service with the navy, when the Allies invaded Sicily, and he was part of the British Pacific fleet at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo.
1946 saw the future Duke of Edinburgh returning to Britain to take up a staff officer position at Greenwich Naval College. The following year he took up British citizenship and that is when he changed his surname to Mountbatten, an anglicized version of his mother’s maiden name, Battenberg. This year was significant for Philip in that he also renounced his claim to the Greek crown and converted from the Greek Orthodox Church to the Anglican faith.
1947 was also the year that the future Duke of Edinburgh became engaged to Princess Elizabeth on 9 July that year, and just four months later, on 20 November 1947 the pair married at Westminster Abbey.
The eve of the wedding day was when Philip became the Duke of Edinburgh, a title conferred upon him by King George VI, who was to become his father-in-law. Philip was also given the titles of Baron Greenwich, London and the Earl of Merioneth. The wedding ceremony was televised by the BBC and attracted huge viewing figures. After their honeymoon, the couple lived in Malta and the Duke of Edinburgh continued his naval career.
It was in 1952, when the couple were holidaying in Kenya that Princess Elizabeth’s father. King George VI, died, making Elizabeth the new monarch and the Duke of Edinburgh her consort, whereupon he resigned from the Royal Navy.
Since that time, the Duke of Edinburgh has carried out numerous Royal duties. His famously blunt manner and perhaps rather out of vogue prejudices have got the Duke of Edinburgh into much trouble over the years but he continues to display loyalty and dedication to his wife and to the Crown. He is patron of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and also, despite his love of field sports, the World Wide Fund for Nature. He is Chancellor of two universities: Cambridge and Edinburgh and despite his age, he fulfils a heavy schedule of public engagements. He is also keen on many sports such as carriage driving and polo.
Full name: Prince Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh – born Prince Philippos of Greece and Denmark
Father: Prince Andrew of Greece (1882-1944)
Mother: Princess Alice of Battenberg (1885-1969)
Born: June 10, 1921 at Villa Mon Repos, Corfu, Greece
Married: Princess Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth II, on November 20, 1947
Children: Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales (b. 1948); Princess Anne, The Princess Royal (b. 1950); Prince Andrew, The Duke of York (b. 1960); and Prince Edward, The Earl of Wessex (b. 1964)
