The Duke of Edinburgh Dies: A look back at Prince Philip's life

[Applause] always by the queen's side tolerance is the one essential ingredient of any happy marriage prince philip was a devoted consort and father i am so happy my future husband is by my side he was a fun parent to have around and very conscious of spending time with the children when he could shaping his own legacy through his charity work 5 000 quid which will go a long way to help a great many families i think we better get on with the celebrations now thank you very much his straight talking manner and commitment to his country embodying the values of the wartime generation born in corfu in 1921 prince philip of greece and denmark was welcomed into a world of title and privilege but when he was still a baby his family were forced to flee their home a military coup meant it was no longer safe to stay in greece when the family were on board this boat that the sailors looked at the infant prince philip who was only 18 months old at the time and decided that the best place for him would be this orange crate from which they fashioned us a sort of crib and there he slept during the journey effectively homeless they eventually made their way to paris while money was tight it was a happy time for philip surrounded by his parents and sisters it wouldn't last when he was eight his mother was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia his mother was then tragically confined to um what was called in those days an asylum for mental for the mentally disturbed it was the more tragic because philip was not told what had happened to his mother she just vanished from his life i mean it's difficult for me to imagine how on earth he coped with the sort of family life that he had and i think he hugely valued the family life and and people coming together and and being there for each other with his parents separated he moved around boarding schools in britain eventually settling at gordenstein in scotland it turned him into the entirely reliable person that he was i mean he learned very early that he had to really stand on his own two feet as soon as he left school a career in the navy was calling while training at dartmouth naval college another chapter of his life would open during a royal visit he was asked to escort king george vi his wife and two daughters including princess elizabeth was included in the royal party i think her heart was lost then i mean he was a god-like good-looking he must have been about 18 i think i i think i did suppose that he fell in love with her i'm sure he would have very much enjoyed her company and thought she was a rather unusual child for her age and i think it wasn't long before it developed into something rather different six weeks after that visit britain would go to war philip was first sent to the indian ocean and then the mediterranean where he'd serve on hms valiant his efforts during the battle of cape matapan against the italian ships was mentioned in dispatches like so many elizabeth and philip would stay in touch during the war by writing letters it was quite a lot of correspondence went on and they probably managed to to to meet occasionally he was a bachelor again remember this is war time and you don't know whether you're really going to get blown out of the sea the next uh the next morning uh adds a certain sort of frisson to the to the to the whole of next for november 20th lieutenant mountbatten returns to the naval training center as conflict came to an end not everyone was happy about elizabeth's continuing infatuation most notably her parents queen elizabeth i think wasn't quite sure about this good looking young man also where was his family where'd he go to school what was this place gordenstrom nobody had heard of it prince philip had joined the royal navy very good mentioned in dispatches but it's not the brigade of guards is it but in 1947 their engagement was announced for the famous balcony came the bride and bridegroom in the gloom of post-war britain the wedding was a cause for celebration [Applause] the duke of edinburgh and his duchess soon settled into married life their first two children charles and then ann were born he was a fun parent to have around and very conscious of spending time with the children when he could the more you known about him and his life i think the more impressed and the more proud i become of what not only he achieved as an individual but how he translated that in into the rest of his life and that is an example which uh i would hope to be to be able to follow philip continued to rise through the navy he was posted in malta where his wife would visit a chance for them to spend time together as a couple they're taking the places of the king and queen who would have gone but for his majesty's illness but in 1952 as they were beginning a tour of the commonwealth everything changed to the stunned heart of london and to the whole commonwealth came the tragic news from sandringham of the passing of a beloved sovereign king george vi princess elizabeth and prince philip were in such a remote place in a hunting lodge in kenya it was difficult to contact them the word came through it was given initially to the duke of edinburgh of course he immediately went to tell his young wife the news that her father her much loved father had died a year later came the coronation his wife was now queen he was her consort next the duke of edinburgh preceding the other royal dukes she understood the limitations that he willingly took on in his life as a very masculine man being always one step behind his wife and there was no disguising his obvious pleasure at being back amongst his former shipmates with his wife settling into her new role he was forced to give up his career in the navy in a rare interview he talked about how difficult that decision was to make i do perfectly well go on with this career i didn't seem to and it would have seemed to me would have been a great value to the to the queen when she became queen eventually to have somebody who was in a sense professionally qualified at something not just traipsing around outwardly dedicated and seemingly compliant there was however the issue of whether his children would take his name windsor won out over mountbatten i don't think she quite realized that it was really going to have a very deep effect on prince philip as he said that i must be the only man in the whole country was not allowed to pass his name on to his children prince philip would carve out his own path traveling across the country and around the world promoting his favorite causes from british industry three out of every five gas turbines flying or on order in the entire western world are british to the environment there are exciting opportunities to protect some very significant habitats and doing his bid to help young people so i wasn't prepared for this so i think we better get on with the celebrations now out of the 800 charities he supported the duke of edinburgh's award scheme was one of his biggest achievements 300 000 young people are doing this award at any one time and what they're getting is this life-changing experience the duke's relationship with young people was actually quite a surprising thing the way in which he engaged with young people when he met with them was extraordinary to see i'm very active lots of interest and and constantly encouraged us in all sorts of get involved in all sorts of activities and and that's been you know that's the bit that we will always remember when his wife needed him for overseas tours garden parties and the big state occasions he was for decades of constant by his side the main lesson that we've learned is that tolerance is the one essential ingredient of any happy marriage it may not be quite so important when things are going well but it is absolutely vital when things get and you can take it from me that the queen has the quality of tolerance and abundance i think particularly for a woman in a role such as she has um i think it would be a very lonely place to be um if she didn't have uh a life partner the way that she has with with prince philip um and he's you know he's he's a strong character he's someone she can lean on um he has his own interests as well as the interests of of the queen as well he sort of has her back really i don't think he got involved in constitutional issues that he shouldn't have got involved in but for instance the christmas broadcast which was a an ordeal for the queen um the duke was probably the most important person who she consulted just on the text and the language out of the public eye he was also someone his four children could turn to lots of different members of the family would of always find him a good person a good sounding board but it was always done very quietly and he would never talk to anybody else about his conversations the family is very close together and and we do enjoy spending time school will break up in july and that would be for me the sort of the phony holiday so we go off and do different things but my parents really didn't uh weren't really able to escape until august and that was always really frustrating because we get to to get to balmoral in in um you know sort of sort of mid-august and uh it was great fun but i was only there for about two weeks and it was off back to school again as one by one his children's marriages failed the 1990s were some of the most testing years amid the scandal and divorce proceedings there was also a fire at windsor castle in 1997 princess diana was killed in a car crash they were criticized for staying in scotland keeping the princes away from london it was hard for the duke to see his wife under attack it was in fact prince philip who encouraged prince william to walk behind his mother's coffin but it was clear that william didn't want to walk behind the coffin just felt it would be difficult and he said to prince william you may regret this if you don't walk in the procession in years to come you may regret not having been there so prince philip said if in those difficult years he had little time for the press are you well sir do i look ill in an age of increasing political correctness philip at times became as well known for his gaffes as his good work a reputation he wasn't fond of an outburst at a battle of britain event just one that made the headlines some of the most famous gaffes this was probably the thousandth person he was shaking hands with that week he could see that they were stuck and they didn't quite know what to say next and he was trying to jolly them along many of those closest to him would argue he was full of fun helping his wife to modernize the monarchy making them more accessible sometimes on really rather stiff occasions the people would be lined up in a ghastly long semicircle and the queen would go one way the duke would go the other and you'd hear gales of laughter coming from the duke side and that made things better on the queen side as well duke vendor always notices the little one who's got a flower that she he or she wants to give to the queen and there are many many photographs and footage of him picking the child up taking it over the barrier and then you know letting the child go and give the flower to the queen and then he's he's always he always notices things like that [Music] it was following the diamond jubilee pageant that he was forced into hospital with a bladder infection [Applause] this was the queen's milestone but also a reminder of the public's affection for her husband ladies and gentlemen if we shout loud enough he might just hear us in hospital around his 90th birthday he did admit he was slowing down a little i mean can you get radio three of us but it wasn't until he was 96 that he retired from his own program of royal duties in retirement he stayed active his independent spirit brought into the spotlight when he was involved in a car crash and then spotted driving 48 hours later occasionally in his latter years he would still appear alongside the queen for big events and family celebrations [Music] in 2020 he made an unexpected public appearance to hand over one of his longest standing military patronages in the year that he also marked his 99th birthday it was his marriage that would place prince philip at the center of national life as well known for his humor as his charity work a man with a deep sense of duty to his family his country and his queen he has quite simply been my strength and stay all these years and i and his whole family and this and many other countries owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim for we shall ever know

Channel: Sky News

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Keywords: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburugh, consort, dies, Royal, Sky, News, Sky News, DEATH, FAMILY, QUEEN, BREAKING, INTERVIEW, UK, WORLD, COMMONWEALTH, WINDSOR, 99, SCOTLAND, NAVY, ARMY, LEGACY, PUBLIC, buckingham palace, london, uk, britain, queen, queen elizabeth, northern ireland, scotland, england, wales, briton, royals, death, diana, princess of wales, harry, william, charles, royal family, CORFU, WALES, GORDONSTOUN, WILDLIFE, DUTY, SERVICE, CHARITIES, NETFLIX, THE CROWN

Id: bfBESXgJno0

Length: 16min 37sec (997 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 09 2021