The prince behind the queen
A blunt-speaking naval officer who as Queen Elizabeth's dutiful consort helped modernise the British monarchy, Prince Philip might be best remembered for his gruff public persona.
Outspoken and irascible, Philip lived in the shadow of the woman he married at Westminster Abbey in 1947 and always walked a step behind the queen at the thousands of ceremonial events they attended during her reign, the longest in British history.
Though he had no official role, Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, was one of the most influential figures in the royal family for more than 70 years. He died aged 99 on Friday.
While Philip was often criticised for his demeanour and sometimes brusque remarks, friends said that as Queen Elizabeth II's closest confidant he brought wit, impatient intelligence and unflagging energy to the monarchy.
"He has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years," Elizabeth said in a rare personal tribute to Philip during a speech to mark their 50th wedding anniversary in 1997.
"I, and his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim, or we shall ever know."
If Philip harboured frustration at his life as consort, he never publicly showed it.
Born in an age of deference to monarchy, Philip helped Elizabeth navigate the political and social upheaval of the 20th century to craft a monarchy fit for a different time.
Often facing a deeply traditional court, he reformed the palace and tried to harness the growing power of television to project royal influence.
However, later in life Philip was criticised for impeding the monarchy's ability to adapt to the times, and detractors partly blamed his overbearing manner for his children's failure to produce happy families.
The couple had four children: Charles, Prince of Wales (born in 1948), Princess Anne,(1950), Prince Andrew (1960) and Prince Edward (1964), three of whose marriages ended in divorce.
For Elizabeth, Philip was a supportive husband who courtiers said was the only person to treat the monarch as a human being.
Despite rumours about his infidelity, the couple stayed together and in old age they clearly enjoyed an affection and regard for each other. They celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary in November 2017.
However Philip, the son of the exiled Prince Andrew of Greece, a descendant of Elizabeth's great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria and his wife's third cousin, never quite won the hearts of all Britons.
Elizabeth was the sovereign, but in family matters it was Philip who was viewed as the head of the family.
Philippos Schleswig-Holstein Sonderburg-Glucksburg was born on a dining room table on the Greek island of Corfu on June 10, 1921, the fifth child and only son of Prince Andrew of Greece.
His parents went into exile when he was 18 months old. They sailed from Corfu with the little boy sleeping in a cot made hurriedly from orange boxes.
Philip had British and German blood through his mother, a great grand-daughter of Queen Victoria. She was born Princess Alice of Battenberg and became a nun after drifting apart from her husband, who died virtually penniless in 1944.
Philip lived his early life on the move around Europe. It was a troubled childhood.
He was educated at Gordonstoun, where his son Prince Charles was later an unwilling pupil, and became a naturalised British citizen, looking and sounding every bit the English gentleman.
But to his detractors he remained "Phil the Greek".
Philip joined the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth as a cadet in 1939. He served in warships during World War Two, was mentioned in dispatches, took part in the Allied landings in Sicily and was in Tokyo Bay when Japan surrendered in 1945.
He and Elizabeth first met at the wedding of Philip's cousin in 1934. Five years later the dashing young sailor attracted the attention of his future wife when the then-princess was 13 and visited Dartmouth with her parents.
"The colour drained from her face and then she blushed. She stared at him and for the rest of the day followed him everywhere. She was in love from the beginning," the late Earl Mountbatten, Philip's uncle, recalled later.
They were married at Westminster Abbey on Nov. 20, 1947, in a ceremony attended by statesmen and royalty from around the world.
He continued his naval career until 1951, then took leave and devoted himself full-time to public duties when Elizabeth became queen a year later.
There was one place where he outshone his wife - on the Pacific island of Tanna in the Vanuatu group, where people believed he was a god with magical powers and was the fount of all goodness.
Asked whether he felt he had been a success in his role, he gave a typically phlegmatic response.
"I couldn't care less," he said. "Who cares what I think about it, I mean it's ridiculous."
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