Prince Philip: Attenborough on Duke's climate change concerns

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Buckingham Palace confirmed the Duke of Edinburgh passed away yesterday, aged 99, after more than 70 years married to Queen Elizabeth II. Gun salutes will take place later today to show respect for the longest-serving royal consort in British history. Saluting batteries will fire 41 rounds at one round every minute from 12:00pm in cities including London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.

Royal Navy ships at sea, including HMS Diamond and HMS Montrose, will also fire the salute in honour of Philip, who served as a naval officer during World War 2 and held the office of Lord High Admiral.

And his incredible service to the UK can be seen through those who were in office at the time he became consort in 1952.

It includes Winston Churchill, Harry Truman, Vincent Auriol, Joseph Stalin, Konrad Adenauer, Eamon de Valera, Francisco Franco, Mao Zedong and Jawaharlal Nehru.

At the age of 18, the prince joined the Royal Navy as a cadet and he would go on to see active service in the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean.

And he was mentioned in despatches for his service.

He was a midshipman aboard HMS Valiant off the southern coast of Greece when he earned his honourable citation.

A young naval officer, he was praised for his actions in the decisive Battle of Cape Matapan against the Italian fleet in March 1941.

He survived unscathed after an enemy cannon shell ripped into his position and quickly responded to help his crew.

His commanding officer said: “Thanks to his alertness and appreciation of the situation, we were able to sink in five minutes two Italian cruisers.”

And later in the war he also reportedly foiled a Luftwaffe bomber which looked certain to destroy his ship.

Philip was second in command on the destroyer HMS Wallace in July 1943 during the Allied landings in Sicily when the ship came under repeated attack in the night.

According to a fellow veteran named Harry Hargreaves, the prince conjured up a plan to throw a smoking wooden raft overboard to create the illusion of debris on fire in the water.

Mr Hargreaves told the BBC: “It was for all the world like being blindfolded and trying to evade an enemy whose only problem was getting his aim right. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that a direct hit was inevitable. 

“There was no question but to accept that on the next run or the one after that we had little chance of survival. I had been through so much that the feeling of anger and frustration was as great as the fear I and everyone else felt.”  

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Mr Hargreaves recalled how the crew had only 20 minutes before the next bombing run to come up with an idea when Philip went into a “hurried conversation” with the captain.  

Within five minutes they had launched a raft over the side with devices at each end that imitated flaming debris in the water. 

The captain ordered the ship to sail away before stopping the engines to hide the wake. 

Mr Hargreaves added: “The next thing was the scream of bombs, but at some distance.

“The ruse had worked and the aircraft was bombing the raft. Prince Philip saved our lives that night.”

But historian Stephen Fisher says his greatest achievement has been “overlooked”.

Writing on Twitter, he said: “He became an acting sub-lieutenant and early in 1942 became a full sub-lieutenant shortly after he joined HMS Wallace on the East Coast.

“Philip would spend the next year on the East Coast, a largely forgotten battlefront, escorting convoys up and down the coast.

“On the night of 14/15 March, Philip met the Kriegsmarine for the first time during an attack by S-boats on convoy FN655. Wallace tangled with boats of the 4th Flotilla and with fellow escorts, saw them off.

“But that same night, the danger of their work was clearly highlighted by the loss of HMS Vortigern, sunk by S-boat S-104. There were only 14 survivors.

“The vast majority of convoys that Wallace escorted made it, thanks to the escorts and the Coastal Forces operating in the North Sea. This was arguably Prince Philip’s greatest contribution to the war.”

During the six-year-long conflict, the prince and Her Majesty are said to have exchanged love letters, but they waited until after the war to get engaged.

But when the crowds cheered their wedding at Westminster Abbey in 1947, neither of them expected she would be crowned queen anytime soon. 

King George VI, was in his early 50s. 

Philip had intended to continue his career in the navy, but the king died five years into their marriage, and his wife became queen at the age of 25.

And so, in 1952, he became consort – until his passing yesterday.

The Duke of Edinburgh was once described by the Queen as her “strength and stay”.

Putting aside his own career ambitions, he proved his strong sense of duty serving the country through hundreds of engagements every year, refusing to stop working even into his old age. 

He became patron or president of 800 organisations, founded the Duke of Edinburgh Awards in 1956 and won a place in the nation’s hearts for his no-nonsense attitude.

Tributes have poured in across the nation and the world in response to yesterday’s tragic news. There is expected to be eight days of mourning before his funeral.

The flag over Number 10 and buildings across Westminster were lowered to half-mast out of respect to the Duke.

Speaking outside Downing Street the Prime Minister made a heartfelt statement expressing his sorrow at the loss of one of the most senior members of the Royal Family.

He said: “Prince Philip earned the affection of generations here in the UK, across the Commonwealth and around the world. 

“He was the longest-serving consort in history and one of the last surviving people in this country to have served in WW2.

“We mourn today with Her Majesty the Queen, we offer our condolences to her and all her family and we give thanks as a nation and a kingdom for the extraordinary work of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. 

“He helped to steer the Royal Family and the monarchy so that it remains an institution indisputably vital to the balance and happiness of our national life.

“It is with Her Majesty and her family that our nation’s thoughts must turn today.”

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