Ever since Kurt Hahn had impressed upon Prince Philip how physical fitness should be a cornerstone of young people’s education, he has been a driving force to get more children into sports and physical activities of all kinds. In 1947, he became the patron of the London Federation of Boys’ Clubs. The following year, he accepted the presidency of the National Playing Fields Association, which he held for many years. When the Central Council of Physical Recreation for the United Kingdom appeared close to being disbanded in 1951, Philip assumed the presidency and guided the organisation into its present form as the Sport and Recreation Alliance. These organisations, together with the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme, have helped millions of young people to make fitness a priority.

Philip would not have been able to keep up his customary punishing schedule of engagements past his ninety-sixth birthday if he were not supremely fit himself. Even in his nineties he follows part of the Royal Canadian Air Force exercise plan, which was created by a doctor in the 1950s. It is a stretching and toning twelve-minute plan designed to keep men and women fit without the use of gym equipment and most of the fashionable simple exercise plans today are based on it.

One of the first things Philip did when he moved to Buckingham Palace from Clarence House was to get the squash court back into working order. He was also a regular user of the indoor pool at the palace. When the Queen was giving birth to Prince Charles, Philip passed the time with a game of squash with his equerry Michael Parker.

Shooting has always been a sport that royalty has enjoyed as a favourite pastime. For example, King George VI was an exceptional shot, and as the Sandringham estate has a particularly fine shoot, a bag of 2000 pheasants in a day was not uncommon in his time. In addition, there was always grouse shooting to be had in the heather at Balmoral. George VI gave Philip a pair of matched Purdey shotguns as a wedding present and taught him the finer points of shooting at Balmoral and Sandringham. Up to that point, Philip’s shooting experience had been limited to hunting wild boar in Germany, where all four of his brothers-in-law had country estates. In time, he became a crack shot. After the death of George VI, Philip re-organised the shoot at Sandringham and for many years managed to achieve his target bag of 10,000 pheasant during the annual seven-week stay. He also enjoyed shooting wildfowl from a punt on the Norfolk Broads in the company of the actor James Robertson Justice.