by Ava Salado
It has been a sad couple days for the royal family, for Great Britain and for the world.
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, passed away April 9th 2021. The royal family made a statement to share the news on their official website this Friday. They report that he passed “peacefully” in Windsor Castle. Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II have been married for 73 years now and have been through good and bad together, being the longest marriage in British monarch history. Their somewhat “fairytale” love story is one for the ages and his extraordinary life is truly one to remember.
He was born June 10, 1921 in Mon Repos, Corfu, Kingdom of Greece to Greek and Danish royal Families, he was the only son of five children and last born. He was related to
George I of Greece, King of Greece from 1863 to 1913 and Christian XI of Denmark because he was in line for both thrones. The Greco-Turkish war went badly, and Phillip’s family was thought at risk and banished from Greece. Phillips family escaped safely in a cot made of fruit boxes and went to France where they settled in a small French suburb.
Phillip first went to The Elms school, then he went to the Cheam School in the United Kingdom. He lived with his grandmother Victoria Mountbatten in the Kensington Palace, then he lived with George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven, in Lynden Manor. Prince Philip’s mother was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia and sent to an asylum, he unfortunately had little to no contact with his mother for the rest of his childhood. After this he was sent to Schule Schloss Salem school of Germany in 1933. The school was owned by his brother-in-law’s family.
When Philip was 16, his sister Cecilie, her new born child, and two other children, husband, and Cecilie’s mother-in-law all died in a plane crash, then his uncle and guardian died of bone marrow cancer the following year. Phillip endured pain and sorrow throughout his childhood and it scarred him for the remainder of his life.
In 1939 he finished his first term in the Royal Naval College and graduated best cadet in his course. In the second world war, he served in the British forces, while his two brother-in-laws fought on the opposite German side. In January 1940 Philip was appointed midshipman and spent four months in the ship, HMS Ramillies, participating in the Australian Expeditionary Force in the Indian Ocean.
In 1939, Elizabeth II and her father, King George XI, toured Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, the college that Philip went to. On the visit, Phillip was asked to escort the two daughters of the King around, Elizabeth and Margaret. Elizebeth fell in love with him and they began sending letters to each other, eventually in the summer of 1946 Phillip asked the King if he would give him Elizabeth’s hand in marriage, the king accepted and they were married November 20th, 1947 in Westminster Abbey.
He was an amazing man with an interesting past and we are all truly fortunate to learn about it now, so we thank him for his service and the extraordinary life that he has shared.
The Lighthouse 