Buckingham Palace announced this morning that Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh has died. Prince Philip was the longest serving consort of a reigning monarch in the Commonwealth, and the longest-lived male member of the British royal family.
Below are a selection of photos of Prince Philip from our Toronto Star Photograph Archive — as well as a brief biography.
About Prince Philip
Prince Philip was born in Greece, the son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg, but was exiled from Greece at a young age. He was educated in France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
He joined the Royal Navy in 1939, and had a distinguished career as a naval officer until his retirement in 1952.
Prince Philip had a number of associations with Canada, and visited 27 times starting with a cross country tour of Canada with Princess Elizabeth in 1951.
The Prince had an interest in youth development and founded the Duke of Edinburgh Award in 1956. The awards are given to youth between the age of 14 and 24 to recognize achievement in key areas of volunteer service, physical recreation, skills development and adventure travel. The awards are presented in 144 nations around the world. The first Duke of Edinburgh's Awards were presented in Canada in 1963, and since then over 500,000 Canadians have participated in the program. Prince Philip visited Toronto 20 times, and presented the awards in person on a number of occasions.
Married in 1947, Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II have the longest lasting royal marriage in British history. At their platinum wedding anniversary in 2017, the Queen appointed him Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.
On May 4, 2017, Buckingham Palace announced that HRH Prince Philip would be retiring from official duties.
Here was Prince Philip’s full title:
His Royal Highness the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, Baron Greenwich, Royal Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Extra Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, Member of the Order of Merit Grand Master and First Principal Knight Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Knight of the Order of Australia, Additional member of the Order of New Zealand, Extra Companion of the Queen’s Service Order, Royal Chief of the Order of Logohu, Extraordinary Companion of the Order of Canada, Lord of her Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council, Privy Councillor of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada, Personal Aide-de-Camp to Her Majesty, Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom.
To learn more, browse books about Prince Philip that you can borrow from TPL.
Photos from our collections
