In the following Murrination we seek to better understand the Duke of Edinburgh's remarkable life, highlighting the Iconic Leadership he embodied within the context of Britain’s modern history.

Philippos Andreou of Schleswig-Holstein, Sonderberg, Glucksberg, Prince of Greece and Denmark took the name of Mountbatten, becoming known and loved as Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and consort of Queen Elizabeth. In the parlance of the youth of today, Phillip was a total legend.

Whilst his death is a time of sadness at the loss of a truly great man, it is also a time to celebrate a remarkable life. Phillip’s actions were those of a man who served his Queen, nation, and family in ways that, due to his self-effacing nature, we are ll only learning and fully  appreciating after his death. The Duke's story is also the story of Britain as it lost an Empire, fell into the dark abyss of decline and legacy and then rose like a phoenix into the new Global Britain. Our thoughts are with the Queen and Duke's family and friends at this time of loss.

Table of Contents

1.0 Forged in Fire During Turbulent Times

2.0 Raised in a Cosmopolitan European Environment

3.0 Going to War with the Royal Navy

4.0 Reinforced the Family Tradition of Military Service and Raised the National Profile of the Armed Forces

5.0 Royal Blood Well-Matched to the Queen

6.0 A Remarkable Marriage Founded and Sustained by Love With Some Interesting Lessons

7.0 Where did the Duke Gain his Secure Attachment From?

8.0 The Greatest of Consorts

9.0 The Duke Personified Iconic Leadership

 

1.0 Forged in Fire During Turbulent Times

The Duke was born in Corfu on June 10th 1921 and was just a year old when his family was banished from Greece. His father was Prince Andrew, the younger brother of  King Constantine I, whose father King George I of Greece and Denmark had been assassinated in 1913 during the First Balkan War. After nine years of turbulence around Greece and its monarchy, Prince Andrew and his family were banished from Greece for life by a revolutionary court in December 1922. When Greece lost the Greco-Turkish War, King Constantine was forced to abdicate. At the same time, the military government arrested Prince Andrew. The commander of the army and five senior politicians were executed. Consequently, Prince Andrew and his family was believed to be in danger, especially after the fate of the Russian royal family at the hands of the communists. A British naval vessel, HMS Calypso, evacuated the family with Philip being carried to safety in a cot made from a fruit box. This initiated his lifelong connection with the Royal Navy. Meanwhile, in Greece Philip’s cousin King George II did not last long after being placed on the throne; in March 1924 Greece proclaimed itself a Republic.

Perhaps being a product of a deposed royal family shaped the Duke’s determination to do all he could to ensure the longevity of the Queen's monarchy. His qualities of determination and resourcefulness were typical of his generation who grew up following World War One and shouldered the burden of fighting World War Two. They stand in contrast to the ‘snowflake’ generation who have been brought up in easy and secure times, unequipped for the potential period of anti-entropy the West faces in the decade ahead. Consequently, the Duke’s life and personal values are more than ever required to inspire the youth of today in their trials ahead. The Duke of Edinburgh award scheme was his enduring gift to the growth and endurance of the youth of British society.

“I WOULD LIKE TO GO TO RUSSIA VERY MUCH – ALTHOUGH THE BASTARDS MURDERED HALF MY FAMILY”

 The Duke when asked in 1967 if he would like to visit the USSR

 

2.0 Raised In a Cosmopolitan European Environment

 

After leaving Greece, the Duke’s family went to France and settled in the Paris suburb of Saint-Cloud in a house lent to them by his wealthy aunt, Princess Marie Bonaparte. The trauma of his family's banishment and dispossession must have left a marked impact on Philips's fractured family which would have shaped the environment in which he was raised. His mother, Alice, was eventually committed to a psychiatric institution. His father relocated to the south of France and maintained limited contact with the rest of the family. Philip attended the MacJannet American School in Paris before being sent to the UK to study at Cheam School. In the 1930’s he relocated to a school in Germany and then moved again to Scotland’s Gordonstoun School, founded by Jewish headmaster Kurt Hanh following the rise of the Nazis. However, many of his family members stayed in Germany including his four older sisters Margarita, Theodora, Cecilie, and Sophie, all of whom married into German aristocratic circles.

As a result of his nomadic childhood he grew up in a cosmopolitan European environment that laid the foundations for his future role as the Duke. His links to Germany must have given him a unique perspective on the road to war in 1939 and the need to prove his loyalty to his adopted nation. At the war's end it also allowed him to subtly build bridges with a defeated Germany, helping to re-integrate it back into Europe. The Duke's challenging upbringing and early war years must have also shaped his expectations in the need to emulate a similarly tough upbringing regarding his children. Thus, all three of his sons were schooled at Gordonstoun.

“IT LOOKS AS THOUGH IT WAS PUT IN BY AN INDIAN”

The Duke on a fuse box during a tour of a Scottish factory in August 1999

“I MEANT TO SAY COWBOYS. I JUST GOT MY COWBOYS AND INDIANS MIXED UP”

Clarifying his previous comment about a fuse box.

3.0 Going to War with the Royal Navy

 

After leaving school in 1939 at 18 Philip attended the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth where he won the Sword of Honor as the best midshipman of his class. He quickly went on to serve during World War 2. Initially, as a Greek national (a neutral nation) the Duke was withheld from zones where action was likely and was posted in January 1940 as a midshipman on battleship HMS Ramillies, tasked with protecting convoys of the Australian Expeditionary Force in the Indian Ocean. However, once Greece entered the war on 28^th October 1940 Phillip was stationed on HMS Valiant, one of five Queen Elizabeth-class battleships built for the Royal Navy during the early 1910s. HMS Valiant participated in the Battle of Jutland during the First World War as part of the Grand Fleet in the vanguard of the battle. On March 28th 1941, with Phillip as a young midshipman aboard manning the midship searchlights, Valiant and her two sister ships delivered a devastating blow to the Italian Navy at Cape Matapan.

"I seem to remember that I reported that I had a target in sight, and was ordered to 'open shutter'. The beam lit up a stationary cruiser, but we were so close by then that the beam only lit up half the ship" Philip recalled in the forward of the 2012 history book Dark Seas: The Battle of Cape Matapan. The Dukewas mentioned in dispatches for his swift action on the searchlights. Witnessing the total and swift destruction of these Italian cruisers in what he described as ‘damn near close to murder’ must have left him with an abiding memory of war.

In July 1943 at the age of just 22 Phillip was credited with saving the destroyer HMS Wallace which came under heavy bombardment during the invasion of Sicily. To confuse the German bombers who were attacking the ship at night, he devised a plan to launch a raft with smoke floats that successfully distracted them. He was credited in 2003 by Harry Hargreaves, one of Wallace‘s crew, who said: “Prince Philip saved our lives that night. He was always very courageous and resourceful and thought very quickly”. After victory in Europe in 1944, Philip moved to the British fleet in the Pacific and was present during the historic signing of Japanese surrender the following year.

The Duke’s experiences at war would have matured and hardened him beyond his years, as it did for all those who experienced combat. The witnessing of the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay would have been a great moment of history. Phillip’s wartime and subsequent peacetime service allowed fine leadership qualities to be honed and manifest, harnessing his swift and sound thought process. Ultimately, this resulted in him being granted command of HMS Magpie in September 1950. After this he was promoted to Commander on June 30th 1952, his final active duty. Many say he would have risen to become the First Sea Lord if he had stayed in the Navy. Yet, as we all know, he chose to support the Queen. He was, however, awarded the title of Lord High Admiral, the ceremonial head of the RN, by the Queen in 2011.

                                                       'GHASTLY'

Prince Philip’s opinion of Beijing during a 1986 tour of China

 

4.0 The Duke Significantly Raised the National Profile of the Armed Forces

The Duke’s naval career no doubt shaped the path of his two sons, Charles and Andrew, and his grandsons. Charles qualified in 1974 as a helicopter pilot at RNAS Yeovilton and joined 845 Naval Air Squadron, operating from HMS Hermes. On February 9th 1976, Charles took command of the coastal mine hunter HMS Bronington as a Commander for his last ten months of active service in the Navy, attaining the same rank as his father. Similarly, Andrew entered Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC), Dartmouth in 1979 and completed the course in 1980. He underwent pilot training in fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, receiving his pilot’s wings in 1981. The following year, as a Royal Navy sub-lieutenant assigned to HMS Invincible he flew helicopter missions in the Falkland War. Andrew remained on active duty after the war ended. Most of his service was in naval aviation, but he also commanded HMS Cottesmore, a mine countermeasures vessel, between 1993 and 1994. In his last years of active duty, he worked in London for the Ministry of Defence and the Royal Navy. He retired in 2001 with the rank of Commander. If there was an error, it was encouraging Edward to join the Marines, a role that he was manifestly unsuitable for and almost doomed to fail in. The pattern of military service was followed by Prince William and Prince Harry who both trained at Sandhurst and became helicopter pilots in the RAF and Army.

The Duke's military service strengthened the Royal’s ties with the Armed Forces, especially the Royal Navy. These ties have continued down through to his grandchildren, ensuring senior members of the Royalty have had to prove their leadership capabilities under stress. The strengthened association has proven ever more critical to the Armed Forces public profile at a time when the defence of the nation receives so little political support.

“HE’S THE MONEY MAN – EXCEPT WE HAVEN’T GOT ANY MONEY”

The Duke introducing George Osborne at an event

Prince Philip’s family tree

 

5.0 Royal Blood Well-Matched to the Queen

In the era when Royal families were constructed through arranged marriages, finding a match for the future Queen of the United Kingdom would have been a tricky process. However, as the family tree below shows, both the Queen and Duke were great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria. There was serendipity at work when the Duke and Queen first met at Dartmouth. The Duke had been delayed concerning his posting to a warship after graduating during a Royal visit from King George and his family to Dartmouth. The Duke was asked to babysit the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret for three days. It was that first meeting from which the longest and most enduring match in the history of the British monarchy grew. The Duke was equally, if not more royal than, the Queen; he was in the line of succession to both the Greek and Danish thrones. However, when he married the Queen in 1947 he was forced to renounce his Royal titles, which he did for love. In return, he was given the title Duke of Edinburgh by the Queen's father, King George VI, as a wedding gift. In 1957, the Queen made him an official Prince of the United Kingdom. This is an interesting example of how serendipity within human systems does exist.

“PEOPLE THINK THERE'S A RIGID CLASS SYSTEM HERE, BUT DUKES HAVE EVEN BEEN KNOWN TO MARRY CHORUS GIRLS. SOME HAVE EVEN MARRIED AMERICANS”

The Duke in 2000

 

6.0 A Remarkable Marriage Founded and Sustained by Love With Some Interesting Lessons

Although the initial introduction between the Duke and Queen was almost certainly arranged, attraction took hold as they started to write to each other over the war years. Whilst the Duke experienced the war both on and off ship as a naval officer, exposing himself to all kinds of encounters, the Queen lived a sheltered life and only in early 1945 at the age of 19 years old was she given permission to join the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service (similar to the American Women’s Army Corps). She was registered as inductee No. 230873 under the name Elizabeth Windsor. She became a driver and mechanic, exposing her to everyday life and strengthening her bond to collective service.There is no doubt that love drew these two Royals together in a fairytale attraction; the duration and function of their long relations attest to this and lasted until the Duke’s last day.

When they were married on the 29^th of November 1947 the Duke continued his career in the Navy and the Queen acted as his dutiful wife in various postings.  King George VI was 52 at the time of their marriage, so there was every expectation that he would live a long and healthy life which would allow the Duke to rise through the ranks of the Navy. That all changed in 1952 when the King died of cancer on February 6^th. For the Duke, his love and loyalty to the Queen dominated his decision to leave the job he loved and devote his life to the support of his wife and Queen. In so doing, he was always two steps behind her in every way in public. For a proven and highly capable man who himself would have made a remarkable King, this was a truly admirable decision that he followed through for the rest of his life without fail. His individuality and dignity allowed the Queen to be all she could be in her demanding role. Undoubtedly he consistently provided sage counsel which facilitated the success of the monarchy during some very tough times. The Duke's sense of loyalty and duty was unwavering, setting an example to us all.

In a day and age where marriages that last the duration and remain functional are very rare indeed, the 74 years they were together was a remarkable achievement. I suspect the rumours of some challenging times that allowed the Duke to go off and discreetly have his lovers are true in a Franco model of marriage, as opposed to the more rigid construct of Anglo-Saxon marriage. For a couple that married so young, who both would inevitably change and grow with time, this should be hardly a surprise. The fact that the match was fundamentally good in the first place, coupled with an irrevocable bond through both their sense of service to each other and the nation, meant they were able to grow separately yet return to each other and share their love into old age. One cannot but help to ask if the Anglo-Saxon construct of marriage would become more enduring with a greater understanding of human growth and tolerance. With such a dynamic in their marriage, their frustration with the collapse of Charles and Diana’s marriage comes into greater focus.

'DON'T FEED YOUR RABBITS PAWPAW FRUIT – IT ACTS AS A CONTRACEPTIVE. THEN AGAIN, IT MIGHT NOT WORK ON RABBITS'

The Duke talking to a Caribbean rabbit breeder in Anguilla in 1994

7.0 From Where did the Duke Gain his Secure Attachment?

Although the Duke's parents both adored him, Philip saw little of them in his nomadic early years. His mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, had been badly strained by the family’s exile from Greece. Because of this, the children were regularly packed off to friends and relations as his father was mostly absent. In 1931, Princess Alice suffered from a nervous breakdown and she was confined to a sanatorium in Switzerland. The children had been taken out for the day and they returned that evening to find their mother had gone, something that must have been truly traumatic. Princess Alice was later reportedly diagnosed with schizophrenia. With his four older sisters married to German aristocrats and settled in Germany and his father now in the South of France, Philip was alone at just 10 years old. His relationship with his mother was always challenging, even after she regained her coping mechanisms for living; she was a chain smoking Orthodox nun who continued to embarrass her son. She did, however, show him the true meaning of authenticity, a quality he exuded in spades. When she died in 1969 she had reportedly given away all of her possessions, leaving a note for her only son which said "You will always find me when you need me most".

It is a mystery where the Duke gained his secure attachment that allowed him to be so emotionally stable and become the bedrock of his family. This lends even more credit to his character that he did so with such dignity and composure throughout his life.

8.0 The Greatest of Queens Consorts

There have been three great Queens of England in the last 1000 years. The first was Elizabeth I, known as the Virgin Queen because in a time of male dominance she would not allow the dilution of her power by marrying and having a King sit beside her. Even her dalliances ran the risk of favours and corresponding political machinations. Next came Queen Victoria who reigned from 1837 until she died in 1901. Known as the Victorian era, her reign of 63 years and seven months was longer than any of her predecessors. She married her beloved husband Albert in 1840, but he died in 1861 and she continued bereft for another 40 years alone. Albert shared the same right-brained innovative passion and curiosity that drove the Duke. He was beside Victoria during the period of the Constitutional Revolution where the monarchy divested power to Parliament. His part in that tricky transition was considerable. Albert was a significant force, yet the Duke has been even more so. His tenancy has lasted a full 51 years more than Albert. The Duke stood by his Queen in tumultuous times, but rather than being at the peak of the British Empire as Albert was, he and the Queen lived through the loss of the Empire and all they had known. Having said that, they also presided over the beginnings of a new Global Britain. Of the three pillars of the state (Parliament, Church and Monarchy), the Church's influence has waned in the last decades. It is the monarchy that has filled that vacuum to create a new balance.

“THAT'S ABOUT THE RIGHT NUMBER. WE HAVE 650 AND MOST OF THEM ARE A COMPLETE BLOODY WASTE OF TIME”

Phillip when he discovered Ghana had 200 MPs

It is a huge achievement that the monarchy has survived through such tumultuous times. It is an even larger achievement that it has become stronger than ever. This success is no doubt in part due to the Duke's contribution and the combination of his first-hand experience of the abolition of a monarchy. To avoid that, he sought to iteratively evolve the monarchy to remain contemporary in modern Britain. Its vibrancy today is a huge testament to both the Queen and the Duke’s influence and it has laid the foundations for future generations of Kings and Queens. Most of all, he stood as his Queen's constant love and loyal protector.

    'DAMN FOOL QUESTION!'

The Duke to BBC journalist Caroline Wyatt at a banquet at the Elysée Palace after she asked the Queen if she was enjoying her stay in Paris in 2006

9.0 The Duke Personified Iconic Leadership

The Duke demonstrated all of the qualities of right-brained Iconic Leadership at its finest. He was individualistic, yet could work in a team with a common cause. Under that gruff exterior, he demonstrated great empathy for others. He had a curious mind and never stopped questioning and learning throughout his long life. He was quick-witted and, as we have heard, blunt with his many manifestations of his art of 'Dontopedalogy’.

“DONTOPEDALOGY IS THE SCIENCE OF OPENING YOUR MOUTH AND PUTTING YOUR FOOT IN IT, A SCIENCE WHICH I HAVE PRACTISED FOR A GOOD MANY YEARS”

The Duke to the General Dental Council, quoted in Time in 1960

His sharp sense of humour and disparate linkages are characteristic of a right-brained ability to link non-related elements into a humorous communication. His inability to suffer fools attested to the power of his intellect and impatience to get things done. His polymath-like interests in a plethora of topics gave him a perspective few could emulate. This included a deep interest in the spiritual and the many religions of the world. He was a thought leader, ahead of the herd. His interest in conserving the environment was but one manifestation of this, long before it became fashionable. This interest would later ignite Prince Charle’s driving passion. He was a  reformer and sought to make the world a better place with his charities and award schemes driven by a sense of service to those he led.

'FASHION IS NOT RESTRICTED TO CLOTHES AND WHEN IDEAS BECOME FASHIONABLE THEY ARE JUST AS RESISTANT TO OBJECTIVE CRITICISM AS THE LENGTH OF SKIRTS. THAT IS WHY ALL ECONOMIC IDEAS NEED TO BE FREELY DISCUSSED AND JUDGED AGAINST THE FACTS OF REAL LIFE'

to the IEA in 1983.

Despite a disjointed and tumultuous childhood, the Duke dedicated every cell in his body to do the very best he could at all times and make a profound difference to the world, using his privilege to serve others and improve their lives. He inspired those around him with his values and achievements. Most of all he was a man that loved life, loved his family and loved country.

What a man he was. Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh, was an inspiration to the world, Britain, and all of us to be the best we can be.