Prince Philip's 90th Birthday: June 10, 2011


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BBC1 is screening "The Duke at 90" at 9 pm on Thursday 9 June.
 
Prince Phillip at 90 was on ITV about a week ago.
 
Lumutqueen said:
Prince Phillip at 90 was on ITV about a week ago.
Click to expand...

The interview airing this week is not the same one as was on last week, where the Duke was interviewed by Alan Titchmarsh.
 
Duke of Marmalade said:
It has all been trial and error... In a revealing interview to mark his 90th birthday, Prince Philip gives a rare glimpse into his life as the Queen¿s leading man | Mail Online
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excerpts

On his childhood, WWII and DOE Award Scheme
‘I don’t try to psychoanalyse myself,’ he protests in answer to probings about the difficulties of his childhood, when his family escaped from Greece in 1922 (narrowly avoiding an Ottoman firing squad in the Greco-Turkish War), his exiled royal parents separated and, aged ten, he was abandoned to relatives in various parts of Europe. Where was home? ‘Wherever I happened to be,’ he says, ‘It was no great deal. I just lived my life.’ The Duke’s biographer, Gyles Brandreth, however, is convinced he’s covering up. ‘As a boy, Prince Philip lost everybody, and he became very self-reliant. But he won’t talk about it and has spent a lifetime blocking it out. He simply says, “What’s there to complain about? These things happen.”’

Among other ‘things’ that happened to him was serving as a young Royal Navy midshipman on the battleship HMS Valiant in World War II and performing heroically in a running battle with enemy cruisers in 1941. He typically underplays the incident and his part in it, just as, later, he skates over his role in the hugely influential Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme which, since 1956, has encouraged a spirit of adventure and service in millions of young people. He demurs when asked if he is ‘proud’ of it, shrugging off such an egocentric word. ‘I’ve no reason to be proud. It’s satisfying that we’ve set up a formula that works but I don’t run it. It’s all fairly second-hand.’ He didn’t even want his name to be attached to it. ‘That was against my better judgement. I tried to avoid it but I was overridden.’

On the Queen's accession and his role
The Duke’s cousin, Lady Mountbatten, remembers the ‘appalling shock’ felt by the young couple with two small children as their lives changed overnight. ‘It must have been very difficult for both of them.’ The Duke was the first of the new queen’s subjects to kneel before her at her coronation in 1953 and pledge himself her ‘liege man of life and limb’ who would ‘live and die for her against all manner of folks’. For the six decades since he has been her most ardent protector and supporter, keeping that quaintly worded promise to the letter. She, in turn, awarded him ‘place, pre-eminence and precedence’ next to her. But his life was inevitably curtailed as he gave up the job he adored to be a full-time prince. He won’t say how much that hurt at the time and perhaps still does.

His wife had duties to perform, but there is no specified role in our constitution for a consort, so he had none. ‘It’s all been trial and error,’ he says. Moreover, fearing a reprise of the last consort, Prince Albert, who had wielded considerable and possibly undue influence over Queen Victoria, politicians insisted that Philip should be kept out of the loop when it came to matters of government. He was, though, master in his own household, the head of the family. But there was a cloud over that role too when the government decided, with the Queen’s consent, that their children were not to take his family name of Mountbatten but to be designated Windsors. The Duke is said to have been incandescent with rage, famously fulminating that ‘I am nothing but a bloody amoeba, the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his own children.’

On his intellect and openness
His razor-sharp edge had Joanna Lumley on her toes. ‘It’s rather like meeting a hawk or an eagle. There’s something absolutely penetrating about the eyes. You feel you’re being scanned. You raise your game. You hope he’ll like you.’ He’s notoriously tetchy with reporters while also, conversely, acknowledging that communication with the people is an essential part of a modern monarchy. ‘We’re not a secret society,’ he insists in justification of his initiative in 1969 to let the cameras in for the famous and controversial BBC fly-on-the-wall documentary, Royal Family. ‘I don’t see why people shouldn’t know what’s going on. Much better that they should know than speculate,’ he says pointedly. ‘The media is a professional intruder. You can’t complain about it.’

‘He always speaks his mind,’ says Lady Mountbatten, ‘but people enjoy it. They think how nice it is to hear somebody actually say what they think instead of saying what they think they should say.’
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The Duke of Edinburgh is due to take the salute tomorrow at Beating Retreat, Horseguards, London SW1.

I am lucky enough to be going..........with my waterproofs [in case of rain] and travel rug as it is a floodlit performance and is bound to be a bit cold.....

Alex
 
It's great that Prince Phillip turns 90 and at this venerable age he had the opportunity to see his grandson's wedding,the future Prince of Wales's.He and HM managed to make a really strong couple 4 children,I just hope the next generations will take their example in the married life and will have more than 2 kids
 
When will the interview with Fiona Bruce air?
 
Happy Birthday Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh. You have been a blessing to Britain and the Commonwealth. Truly God's gift to Her Majesty, the Queen.
 
I've just watched the BBC interview.

Philip comes across as a self-effacing, practical chap.
I've always thought of him as an irrelevance.....
 
Can anyone upload the interview via youtube? I checked the BBC website but you can't watch their videos online in the U.S.
 
Thanks for posting these links. It's great viewing so far. And, could he have more of a resemblance to Prince Harry in this clip? The clip in question is about 8 minutes and 20 seconds in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ6z59KczQ8&feature=player_detailpage#t=503s
 
Hard to believe he's 90. Hope I can still be going like he does at that age.
 
I hope Prince Philip will finally receive all the credit he is due for having been the best royal consort of the 20th century, IMHO. He has served HM like no other in her family and for an alpha male like the D of E - it must be terribly difficult to always take second place as he has done with enormous grace and without fail.

Looking at pictures of him during his engagement and wedding, it is so easy to see why the young Princess Elizabeth would fall so hard and so quickly in love with him. If Victoria and Albert were THE Royal Couple of that era, Philip and Elizabeth fill that position in our time.

This is without mentioning his unbelievably hard work at so many different levels for many, many causes. I think his contributions will not be recognised fully during his lifetime, but I hope I am wrong.

God bless Prince Philip - and may we see other Royal Consorts following in his footsteps as time marches on and the reign of this Queen will then be a part of history. I hope he enjoys many more happy and fulfilling years by HM's side; I can not imagine one without the other!
 
I can not imagine one w/o the other either! The DOE is HM's strength, her rock.
She is his happiness. They both are life to each other.
 
As I said in my above post I was there at the Ceremony, which actually takes place on the same Parade Ground as where the Birthday Parade [Trooping the Colour]. [The Guards Museum is actually some distance away along Birdcage Walk, which is much nearer to BP. Hope you don't mind me pointing this out.]

The Ceremony was performed by the massed mounted bands and Trumpeters of the Household Cavalry The massed Corps of Drums, the Massed Pipes and Drums and, as a very novel and interesting addition to the 'usual programme' of previous years, a stirring and innovative performance given by the United States Army Europe Band, which included [and I have never seen this before at Horseguards!!] an energetic jiving routine performed by dancers from the US Army Europe Band. Music ranged from the 'traditional' American Favourites [In the Mood, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy etc right through to an American rendition of Vera Lynn's 'White Cliffs of Dover'. I was amused to see a 'modern' drum kit and an electonic Kawai keyboard used - another first on the Parade Ground!! There was also a fine solo by the extremely talented Staff Sergeant Linda Wolfe USAEEUR. The peformance of Abide With Me was equal to any operatic version I have heard - it was performed because it had been included in the wedding ceremonies of both the Queen and her own Parents.

During the 'American dance part' of the programme, your Diarist observed much foot-tapping on the part of the Duke, who was clearly enjoying himself.

After the Duke left the Parade Ground at 10.15pm [Beating Retreat was a floodlit performance commencing at 9pm] by car [no carriages] I had the honour to meeet and speak with Staff Sergeant Wolfe, who despite her enormous talent was delightfully modest. If I may say so, it is touching that she made a career in the US Army, because she would have undoubteldy had great commerical success.

I then had the great honour to be a guest at a delightful Reception. This all meant that I was very late to bed.

American members of the forum - you can be very proud of the wonderful contribution that your fellow countrymen and women gave last night.

Thank you

[A rather tired] Diarist!
 
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Best wishes and Happy Birthday to Prince Phillip
 
Aliza said:
I hope Prince Philip will finally receive all the credit he is due for having been the best royal consort of the 20th century, IMHO. He has served HM like no other in her family and for an alpha male like the D of E - it must be terribly difficult to always take second place as he has done with enormous grace and without fail.

Looking at pictures of him during his engagement and wedding, it is so easy to see why the young Princess Elizabeth would fall so hard and so quickly in love with him. If Victoria and Albert were THE Royal Couple of that era, Philip and Elizabeth fill that position in our time.

This is without mentioning his unbelievably hard work at so many different levels for many, many causes. I think his contributions will not be recognised fully during his lifetime, but I hope I am wrong.

God bless Prince Philip - and may we see other Royal Consorts following in his footsteps as time marches on and the reign of this Queen will then be a part of history. I hope he enjoys many more happy and fulfilling years by HM's side; I can not imagine one without the other!
Click to expand...

Beautifully put.
 
Happy birthday to HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. :flowers:
 
I would really like to be that active and involved when I am 90! Happy Birthday to HRH The Duke of Endinburgh...long life and much happiness.
 
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