He and Prince Philip raced together on the Dragon class yacht Bluebottle and in the Flying Fifteen Coweslip that was designed and built by Uffa. The 20-foot Flying Fifteen was one of Uffa’s most successful post-war designs and Coweslip was presented to the Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip by the people of Cowes as a wedding gift. Uffa and Philip won the Britannia Cup in Coweslip in 1952.

Bloodhound is a 63-foot ocean racing yacht built in 1936. She was purchased for the royal family in 1962 at the request of Prince Philip. During royal ownership, Bloodhound would accompany the royal yacht Britannia in the Western Isles when the royal family had their family holiday every year. She had a permanent crew of three and one skipper was a descendant of Sir Francis Drake. It was during these times that the young royals learned to sail on Bloodhound. When not in royal use, Bloodhound and her crew were made available by Prince Philip to yacht clubs across the country, and was used to teach thousands of young people how to sail.

Cricket was another sport at which Prince Philip excelled at Gordonstoun. Although he likes to claim he was not particularly good, he became captain of the first XI in his final year. When he was first married, and had a weekend house in the country at Windlesham, he adapted the tennis court for use as a cricket pitch. Always keen to mix with ordinary people, Philip would make up teams from assorted friends, locals, gardeners, detectives and drivers.

In 1949, Philip became president of Marylebone Cricket Club, the ruling body of the sport, and led a victorious English Invitation XI against Hampshire, piloting his own helicopter from Balmoral to the cricket ground at Bournemouth. He possessed ‘the perfect action’ according to no less a judge than Australian batsman Don Bradman. The MCC, of which the Queen is patron, celebrated Prince Philip’s ninetieth birthday with a lunch in the Long Room at Lord’s cricket ground, attended by representatives of his sporting charities, at which he was guest of honour. He is also patron and ‘Twelfth Man’ of the Lord’s Taverners, the official charity for recreational cricket in the United Kingdom.

Until 1998, when the MCC voted to admit women members, the Queen was the only woman permitted to watch cricket from the pavilion. Both the Queen and Prince Philip still visit Lord’s occasionally during a Test match. The royal family’s patronage of Lord’s is infused with a hint of scandal, however. Hanging in the pavilion is a painting of ‘An Imaginary Cricket Match’ at the ground, commissioned to mark the MCC’s centenary in 1887. While England bat and Australia field, the Prince and Princess of Wales (the future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) stroll around the outfield, while in the foreground, wearing a yellow dress and scarlet bonnet, is the prince’s mistress, actress Lillie Langtry.