Biography Of Prince Philip.

  London in the early morning can be the most fascinating city in the world yet surely one day in November 1947 there was an added sense of excitement not only for Londoners but for all of us official program a visual program.

I remember the morning as if it was yesterday Maggie and me had found a good spot at  midnight the night before so that we had a place of course the poor thing would choose that time to have one of her faints on this of all days as i always say nothing beats a good wedding and what a lovely wedding it was just like one of your own family getting married that's what it was all her life we've known and and we felt she'd grown up with us everyone rejoiced that the princess Elizabeth had married the man she loved though we didn't know him so well then most of us knew he was a sailor some of us knew that he'd been born far away from the romantic Greek island of Corfu 26 years before yes a prince from over the seas Philip of the Helene's but when he was still very young he entered the family of his British uncle lord Louis Mountbatten because his uncle had to be away so often any school prince Philip went to must have had a greater influence upon him than on a boy from an ordinary home Gordon's town is a boarding school on the east coast of Scotland i was a boy there at the same time as prince Philip now i'm back as a master the same kind of lessons are taught as in most schools and we play the same kind of games like at all other British public schools there's a great emphasis upon the team spirit I remember prince Philip was captain of  our cricket eleven but perhaps we're aware a little different from other schools is that there are some additional opportunities for a boy to discover his true bent I wouldn't argue whether Gordon stone is the best school in Britain because as an old boy i'm a little biased you see everyone has always been willing to have a go in the same way every boy is encouraged to develop his talents but in my days when we did Macbeth there was one 14 year old actor who wasn't a bit shy but on the more practical side we've always believed that every boy should work with his hands there can't be many schools where boys learn to build houses what does anybody like better than messing around with bricks and mortar by being a father of course fire drill is of course great fun for the boys but if a genuine fire does break out in the district the school's brigade is on the job in earnest just as the school's coast guard service keeps a lookout for any ship in distress prince Philip often stood his turn on watch hey for a boy learning about the sea is better than swatting at Latin that's one thing the lads never get tired of going down to the ships let the boy mess about with things that belong to the sea that's the way i look at it makes a marvel as far as the sea's concerned the boys from the fishing village and the boys from the school they all mix in together it was the same with prince Philip at school so they told me he was a bit of a widen but if ever there was a chance of getting aboard the ship you'd always find him there some of our training in the boys coast guard service is guaranteed to test the nerve the most daring but after all it doesn't compare with actually going to sea we don't only sail in small ships prince Philip was one of the crew only got as far as Norway so i suppose it wasn't very surprising that when he left us he should join the royal navy the whole point of the royal naval college is to train a boy for duty in the senior service but at Dartmouth we were taught other things besides seafaring if you're going to command men yourself you've got to know what it feels like to be commanded and above all we learn to understand service discipline.

Hello for work well done there's the weekly prize giving and for the outstanding cadet of the term the award of the king's dirk in 1939 it was won by prince Philip don't think there's any nonsense about that in the navy you get what you deserve nothing more usually a darn sight less I remember it was that same summer we had an important visitor during the king's visit prince Philip had one of his first meetings with princess Elizabeth soon for the king and his peoples the carefree days of peace were to end in January 1940 prince Philip went to sea.

He saw service in the Indian ocean and then was in the Mediterranean of the night action of Manhattan after the battle he joined HMS Wallis a destroyer his appointed first lieutenant and spent many months on convoy duty in the north sea later the Wallace helped to cover the landings at Sicily and he was in at the death aboard the new destroyer HMS whelp for the jet surrender at Tokyo bay during the war on leave as an inconspicuous naval lieutenant he got to know many Australians whilst earlier he'd spent occasional three days at Windsor castle where it said there was a photograph of him certainly after the war he was seen more often with the princess although now he'd lost his beard like his uncle the navy was his life and after five years at sea he was transferred to a shore station for training petty officers at cor sum in Wiltshire you're a long way from the seared caution our pubs are quiet and old as Wiltshire and prince Philip light them we talked about cricket and their beer in the navy prince Philip was just another instructor mind you his mess mates might have thought it a bit strange that one minute he was having a pint in the pub and the next going off to barrel morrow in 1947 it was not the sailor going back to sea but princess Elizabeth accompanying her father upon a commonwealth mission which took her to many parts of Africa it is with the greatest pleasure that the king and queen announced the betrothal of their dearly beloved daughter the princess Elizabeth to lieutenant Philip Mountbatten r.n the king made lieutenant Mountbatten the duke of Edinburgh but now all of us wanted to know him whether we've been inside the palace or not i am so happy that on this my third visit my future husband is by my side from that November wedding day his destiny was woven into the rich texture of the commonwealth at Windsor there was the traditional ceremony of the most noble order of the garter at Buckingham palace the reception of statesmen from all over the commonwealth and at Glasgow a visit to an old folks hostel but soon by himself he was carrying out official duties which took him to all parts of Scotland England northern Ireland and wales i'll come off right there here as he moved among us it appeared to some of us young people that he was pointing the way it wasn't only that he was keen on sport we knew he could play most games but he seemed to have something to say to us now the choice before us is quite simple as well it is either the destruction of the world or a peaceful world society and it is up to us to make the choice i would just like to say that we all know that utopia is unobtainable but if we know the world that we want then at least we can work for it well the duke certainly works for our playing fields it doesn't make much difference to him whether he visits a working class area or a western club i understand that the um this contribution is to be spent on a children's playground in the east end of London all i hope is that the children who play there will have a thought for their sugar daddies here in the Albany club everyone's very grateful to the generous people who give but it must all begin with the business of collecting as you heard tonight's check brings the total collected in the last three years to 30000 pounds balloons balloons collapsing from above i think that must have been almost as surprised as you are at the summit i think there are various ways of collecting money for the national playing field and when the duke thought playing cricket with first-class cricketers like Dennis Compton would help then he was ready to face the bowling you