Índex per HELLO! Special Collectors' Edition - HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh a HELLO! Special Collectors' Edition - HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

The Duke of Edinburgh was an extraordinary man, a tireless public servant who helped shape the lives of millions of people. He had many outstanding achievements. A loving father, grandfather and greatgrandfather, he was also a war hero, an environmentalist and, with the many groundbreaking projects he launched over the years, a tireless champion of young people. But, of course, his greatest legacy – and the one history books will remember him best by – is as the man who for more than 73 years was the Queen’s rock, or as she so famously put it, “her strength and stay”. As numerous commentators have said since his passing a mere two months shy of turning 100, he was, as the longest-serving consort in British history, the joint author in making…

The Duke of Edinburgh was “the most dynamic human being I’ve ever met”, says his long-time friend and biographer Gyles Brandreth. Gyles, who knew the Duke for more than 40 years, says the supremely unstuffy Prince Philip was interested in “real people” and once went into the kitchen after an official lunch in London to thank staff individually, seeking out the washers-up. “That was so typical of him,” the author and broadcaster tells HELLO!. “But he wasn’t always easy. At the last fundraising night I did at Buckingham Palace about ten years ago, he kept heckling me during my speech, saying: ‘That’s not true,’ and: ‘Get on with it.’ It was quite disconcerting.” Philip was also irritated when headlines about his so-called gaffes often misrepresented him, says Gyles, adding he…

Making an appearance at the funeral was the Duke’s much-loved horse-drawn carriage, in which he had enjoyed many outings over the years. The polished dark-green four-wheeled carriage, which Prince Philip designed himself, stood in the quadrangle of the castle, along with his two black fell ponies, Balmoral Nevis and Notlaw Storm, and two of Prince Philip’s grooms, and his hat, gloves and whip (inset), as his coffin began its journey to the chapel. The carriage, which Philip used for riding around Windsor and other royal estates, was built eight years ago. Made from aluminised steel, it has two padded black leather seats for up to four people and can harness up to eight horses. A clock mounted on brass at the front was given to him by the Queen’s Royal…

His Coronation vow was to be the Queen’s “liege man of life and limb”, and few can doubt Philip stayed utterly true to his word. Theirs was a great and enduring romance. In November 2017 the couple celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary, making their union the longest of any monarch and consort in British history. The Queen remarked in her Christmas message at the end of that landmark year: “I don’t know that anyone had invented the term ‘platinum’ for a 70th wedding anniversary when I was born. You weren’t expected to be around that long.” However, Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh will also be remembered as a superlative royal team. When the Queen acceded to the throne in 1952 there was no textbook for male consorts.…

The newlyweds’ honeymoon at Broadlands, near the New Forest, and Birkhall, on the Balmoral estate, was a blissful time. “It is so lovely and peaceful,” wrote Princess Elizabeth to her mother. As for her new husband: “Cherish Lilibet?” Philip wrote to the Queen. “I wonder if that word is enough to express what is in me.” For 21-year-old Elizabeth, the future surely looked rosy. Married to the man of her dreams, she looked forward to setting up her marital home. With her father aged 52 and her mother a youthful 47, she must have assumed it would be years before she would accede to the throne. Philip, meanwhile, was eager to resume his naval duties. Although he accepted a desk job at the Admiralty, followed by a staff course at…

By his own admission, Prince Philip was a terrible spectator. “I’ve never been a dedicated watcher of anything,” he once said. “I would much rather be taking part.” Whether that involved wielding a squash racquet or a fishing rod, he thrived on the thrill of competition. Naturally athletic, Philip was a strong swimmer and even in his final years enjoyed daily laps in the pool at Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle. His love of life on the ocean wave is well documented, starting with his sailing expeditions around the coasts of Scotland and Norway as a schoolboy. A regular at the Cowes Week regatta, he was still sailing competitively in his 70s. The Duke was also a keen cricketer, captaining his school team and becoming president of the MCC –…

Leading the royal family’s tributes to his “dear Papa”, the Prince of Wales praised the Duke of Edinburgh’s “remarkable devoted service” to the Queen, his family, the nation and the Commonwealth. An emotional Prince Charles, who now becomes the patriarch of his family, also thanked well-wishers for their support. Speaking outside Highgrove, his Gloucestershire home, he said: “As you can imagine, my family and I miss my father enormously. He was a much-loved and appreciated figure and apart from anything else, I can imagine, he would be so deeply touched by the number of other people here, and elsewhere around the world and the Commonwealth, who also, I think, share our loss and our sorrow. “My dear Papa was a very special person, who I think above all else would…

‘In the end, it was an intimate and very personal affair for his closest loved ones. But the Duke of Edinburgh’s deeply moving funeral will have touched millions more beyond the walls of Windsor Castle. HELLO! was one of a small number of publications invited into the castle precincts to report on the procession and ceremony and the solemn atmosphere was like nothing I have encountered there before. More than 730 members of the armed forces took part in the ceremony, but what struck me was the absolute silence as the Duke’s coffin emerged from the State Entrance. The limitations of the Covid-19 crisis made it a royal funeral like no other. But where possible, the military spectacle and the personal elements he had planned for his own send-off were…

Countess Mountbatten of Burma, a close confidante of the Duke, was one of just four guests at the funeral who is not part of the British royal family. The 68-year-old Countess – Penelope “Penny” Knatchbull (left) – was a regular visitor at the Duke’s Wood Farm cottage at Sandringham in the years after he retired from public duties, and had a close and enduring friendship with both Philip and the Queen. Their closeness is understood to have become deeper after she lost her five-year-old daughter Leonora to cancer in 1991. It was with Philip, though, that she shared a love of carriage driving. He began teaching her the equestrian sport he adored in 1994, and they were often pictured together at the Royal Windsor Horse Show. She is the wife…

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With a firm and steady gaze, nine-year-old Prince Philip proudly poses in the uniform of an evzone – a Greek elite soldier – raising his right hand in salute. Despite his tender years, his commanding demeanour and stoic disposition are already clear to see. This strength of character not only helped him endure the many tribulations and tragedies that beset his childhood, but it also enabled him to become a staunch source of support to those he loved in adulthood. Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark’s pedigree was profoundly royal, and yet the way in which he entered the world was rather humble. On 10 June 1921 he was born on a kitchen table in Mon Repos, a villa set among groves of olive and cypress trees on the island…

In the early hours of 6 February 1952, the course of Prince Philip’s life changed forever. Princess Elizabeth’s beloved father, George VI, died in his sleep from a coronary thrombosis – a fatal blood clot to the heart. It was left to the Duke to gently break the news to his wife. At the time of the King’s death, the couple were on safari, staying overnight at Treetops, a game-viewing lodge in Kenya’s Aberdare National Park, on the first leg of their Commonwealth tour. Due to their remote location, the sombre message did not reach the royal party until hours later, by which time they had returned to nearby Sagana, a fishing lodge given to them by the Kenyan people as a wedding present. It was here, beside a trout…

Intelligent and charismatic, with the athletic good looks of a Viking god – and a Prince to boot – it’s hardly surprising that the dapper Duke was so attractive to women. In her memoirs, Queen Alexandra of Yugoslavia recalled her cousin as a “tease”. “Blondes, brunettes and redhead charmers, Philip gallantly, and I think quite impartially, squired them all,” she wrote. By the war years, she noted: “The fascination of Philip had spread like influenza through a whole string of girls.” A rhyme was doing the party rounds: “Oh come into my arms, you bundle of charms, Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten RN.” Over the years the Duke worked his spell on famous beauties from Marilyn Monroe – “Oh yeah, he’s cute,” the actress told her friend, Breakfast at Tiffany’s author Truman…

‘It was an honour to have met the Prince over the years… We will miss him’ RONNIE WOOD Rolling Stones guitarist and talented artist Ronnie Wood shared his portrait (above), painted before the Duke’s death. He met him on a number of occasions with his wife Sally ‘We will miss him and his sense of humour,” Ronnie Wood tells HELLO!. To honour Prince Philip, the rock star shared a portrait painted before the Duke’s death, showing the royal tipping his bowler hat at his final solo engagement, the Captain General’s Parade on the forecourt of Buckingham Palace in August 2017. “I recently painted this picture of him from a photo I saw, and wanted to share it with you,” Ronnie posted on Instagram. “We are very sad to hear of…

Inside St George’s Chapel, the setting for so many joyful royal family moments in recent years, the nave had been stripped of furniture but was bathed in bright sunlight from the windows high overhead. Before the service, chapel organist Luke Bond played JS Bach’s Schmücke dich, O liebe Seele, Adagio Espressivo by Sir William Harris, Salix by Percy Whitlock, Berceuse by Louis Vierne and Rhosymedre by Ralph Vaughan Williams. The last piece had also been played at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales and at the weddings of both Prince William and Prince Harry. The pallbearers approached the organ screen and, as the coffin entered the quire, a choir conducted by James Vivian sang The Sentences by William Croft from behind a wooden screen in the nave. Rhosymedre was…

‘There simply wasn’t space to have them all on display at the funeral’ His many medals, awards and insignia were a source of immense pride to the Duke of Edinburgh, so when it came to choosing which would be displayed at his funeral, he decided himself. The Duke selected the regalia that meant the most to him, displayed on nine burgundy velvet and gold piped cushions and placed at the altar for the service. Among them were his Royal Air Force wings and field marshal’s baton, as well as the most distinguished orders from Denmark and Greece – the Order of the Elephant and the Order of the Redeemer – in recognition of his heritage as Prince of Denmark and Greece. The display also included awards and tributes from the…