Philip Mountbatten Philip of Greece and Denmark
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Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, was born on 10 June 1921 in Corfu, Greece, and married Princess Elizabeth in 1947, becoming the longest-serving British royal consort, serving Queen Elizabeth II for 69 years until his death in April 2021. He renounced his Greek and Danish titles to marry and adopted the surname Mountbatten.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Prince Philip — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Prince Philip by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Prince Philip — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Prince Philip, born on 10 June 1921 on the dining-room table of Mon Repos in Corfu, was an infant when his family was deposed and fled into exile. He spent part of his childhood in France and attended boarding schools including Gordonstoun in Scotland, which later educated his sons. His mother had a nervous breakdown in the early 1930s, leading to the breakup of his family. His maternal uncle, Louis Mountbatten, largely raised him.
After training at the Britannia Royal Naval College, Prince Philip served in the Royal Navy during World War II and was mentioned in dispatches for his service. In 1952, after the death of King George VI, his wife became Queen Elizabeth II, and Philip had to give up his naval career to support her as royal consort. He took on thousands of public engagements and became the first President of the World Wildlife Fund-UK in 1961, serving until 1982. He also wrote 13 books, many on environmental topics.
Prince Philip married Princess Elizabeth on 20 November 1947 at Westminster Abbey. The couple had four children: Charles born 1948, Anne 1950, Andrew 1960, and Edward 1964. He maintained separate bedrooms from the Queen, reflecting traditional upper-class British practice. He gave up smoking upon marriage and preferred beer to wine. An accomplished pilot, he gained his RAF wings in 1953 and a private pilot’s licence in 1959.
With 69 years of service, Prince Philip became the longest-serving British consort in history. He established the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in 1956, which has influenced millions of young people globally. His environmental advocacy, his wit, and his unwavering support of the Queen define his legacy. At his death in April 2021, flags were lowered, and Royal Mail issued a commemorative stamp set in June 2021.
The complete filmography of Prince Philip — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Prince Philip — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Prince Philip — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
British Women Can’t Cook.
The Man Who Invented the Red Carpet Needed His Head Examined.
I Just Wonder What It Would Be Like to Be Reincarnated in an Animal Whose Species Had Been so Reduced in Numbers Than It Was in Danger of Extinction. What Would Be Its Feelings Toward the Human Species Whose Population Explosion Had Denied It Somewhere to Exist . . . I Must Confess That I Am Tempted to Ask for Reincarnation as a Particularly Deadly Virus.
A Gun Is No More Dangerous Than a Cricket Bat in the Hands of a Madman.
When a Man Opens a Car Door for His Wife, It’s Either a New Car or a New Wife.
I Was Dazzled by the Sun.
I Would Like to Go to Russia Very Much Although the Bastards Murdered Half My Family.
People Think There’s a Rigid Class System Here, but Dukes Have Even Been Known to Marry Chorus Girls. Some Have Even Married Americans.
Any Bloody Fool Can Lay a Wreath at the Thingamy.
Little-known facts about Prince Philip — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
As a great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria, he was in the line of succession to the British throne. At birth, he was 103rd in line, and by the time of his death in 2021 he had fallen to around 700th in line.
He is related to Tsarina Alexandra through his mother’s side. Because he shares the same DNA passed down from females as Czarina Alexandra and her children, investigators used his DNA to compare with the skeletal remains found in Yekaterinburg, where the remaining Romanov family was executed by Bolshevik soldiers, to determine whether they were the Czarina and her children. They also used his DNA to see if Anna Anderson was really Grand Duchess Anastasia.
His birth took place on the dining-room table of his parents’ house, Mon Repos, at 10:00 AM.
A Greek prince at birth, he had no surname until he gave up his princely titles in 1947. He chose the surname Mountbatten, an anglicized version of Battenberg, after his maternal uncle Louis Mountbatten, whom Philip viewed as a father figure.
From its formation in 1961 to 1982, he served as the first President of World Wildlife Fund – UK.
He gave up smoking when he married Princess Elizabeth.
He holds the titles Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich.
He slept in his own private suite and rarely shared a bedroom with the Queen. Traditionally, the upper class in Great Britain always have separate bedrooms. This was not public knowledge until Michael Fagan intruded into the Queen’s bedroom in 1982.
In June 1968, his wife appointed him to the Order of Merit.
He has several cups of coffee each morning.
He likes to drive a Hackney green taxi through London.
Inhabitants of Tanna in the South Pacific worshiped him as a god.
Among the conditions Philip had to accept in order to marry Elizabeth was that their children would not bear his family name, Mountbatten, at the insistence of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, Queen Mary, and Winston Churchill, who wished for the royal family to continue being the House of Windsor. In 1960, after Queen Mary and Churchill had died, Elizabeth issued letters patent giving her descendants without royal styles the surname Mountbatten-Windsor, except for those with the title HRH – which is a title used by all of her children and male-line grandchildren.
Investigators used his DNA to match Anna Anderson to check if she was really the Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov. The DNA did not match Anderson’s.
Prince Philip gained his RAF wings in 1953, his helicopter wings in 1956 and his private pilot’s licence in 1959.
His appointments include Knight of the Garter in 1947, Knight of the Thistle in 1952, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in 1953, and Member of the Order of Merit in 1968.
He is father of King Charles III, Princess Anne, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and Prince Edward.
He is grandfather of Peter Phillips, Zara Tindall, Prince William of Wales, Prince Harry, Princess Beatrice, and Princess Eugenie.
He is grandson of King George of Greece and Queen Olga. George was the brother of King Frederik VIII, Queen Alexandra, consort of King Edward VII, Czarina Maria Fyodorovna, Prinsesse Thyra, and Prins Valdemar. Olga was the niece of Tsar Alexander II. Philip was fifth in line to the Greek throne when his family had to flee Greece in 1922 after the monarchy was overthrown by a military junta.
On the day of his wedding to Elizabeth, his father-in-law King George VI made him Duke of Edinburgh and issued letters patent giving him the style His Royal Highness. Philip was a prince of Greece and Denmark by birth but renounced those titles to marry Elizabeth, creating a rare occurrence of someone who was an HRH but not a British prince or princess. Even though he married a British princess and expected future queen, British common law does not make the husband of a British princess a prince, only vice versa. Elizabeth made him a prince of the United Kingdom in 1957, after she became queen, allowing him to use the title prince before his name.
He received the titles Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich on 19 November 1947.
He is a great-grandson of Christian IX.
In April 1952, his wife made him a Knight of the Thistle.
He held the ranks of Admiral of the Fleet, Field Marshal and Marshal of the Royal Air Force since 1953.
He was son-in-law of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
He was brother-in-law of Princess Margaret.
King George VI appointed him a Knight of the Garter.
He became a naturalised British subject in 1947.
He is great-grandfather of Prince George of Wales and Princess Charlotte of Wales.
He was briefly hospitalised with a chest infection in April 2008.
The 1988 Queen’s Birthday Honours List awarded him the AC, Companion of the Order of Australia.
He is father-in-law of Sophie Duchess of Edinburgh and Queen Camilla. He is former father-in-law of Princess Diana, Sarah Ferguson, and Mark Phillips.
He is son of Princess Alice of Battenberg.
While he was born in Greece and spent most of his life in England, he had no ethnic Greek or English ancestry.
At his death, he was two months shy of his 100th birthday. If he had reached it, he would have been the second high-ranking royal of Britain’s royal family to do so, after his mother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
Elizabeth offered him the title Prince Consort shortly after she became queen, the same title held by Queen Victoria’s consort Prince Albert, but he declined.
He stated his family broke up in the early 1930s due to his mother’s nervous breakdown, his parents’ separation, and his sisters marrying and relocating to Germany. His mother’s family, the Mountbattens, largely raised him.
At the time of his death, he was the last surviving member of the Greece and Denmark royal family from the period when it was still an active monarchy, which was abolished in 1922, the year after Philip was born.
He was the first royal consort to predecease the monarch since Prince Albert predeceased Queen Victoria in 1861.
An intellectual, he wrote 13 books. Most of which were concerning his passion for the environment. He also contributed to the forewords of numerous other books.
His 69 years of service made him the longest serving English or British consort in history.
In 1964, he became the first father in the British royal family to be present for the birth of his child when he accompanied Elizabeth for the birth of their fourth and final child, Prince Edward.
He preferred drinking beer to wine because he found wine too acid-forming.
Royal Mail issued a set of 4 In Memoriam postage stamps in a souvenir sheet as a tribute to Prince Philip on 24 June 2021. Each stamp shows a different black-and-white photograph of the prince in chronological order. The face values in order are: 2nd class postage at 66p on day of issue; 1st class postage at 85p on day of issue; 1.70; and 2.25.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Prince Philip.
Celebrities similar to Prince Philip — same craft, ranked by reach.
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