He opened the speech with a quote from the address that Prince Albert had made to the same association in Aberdeen in 1859. After an hour, he concluded with the words: ‘It is clearly our duty as citizens to see that science is used for the benefit of mankind. For of what use is science if man does not survive?’ His speech was warmly received by the scientists and was well reviewed in the press. Prince Albert had not been quite so fortunate in all his interventions. He had supported the theory of evolution by natural selection, based on Charles Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species, which the church would not accept. He had even put forward Darwin’s name for a knighthood, but it was rejected after opposition from the bishops.

But that was not all Philip did. By 1953, he had already taken on two major projects with great success. He had been made chairman of the Coronation Commission and had overseen every detail of the ceremony. Leaving nothing to chance, he even stood on the balcony at Buckingham Palace to find the best angle from which the Queen could watch the fly-past after the ceremony without getting a crick in her neck while still wearing her heavy crown.

At the suggestion of King George VI, Philip became chairman of the National Playing Fields Association (NPFA) in 1949. He set about raising the equivalent of many millions of pounds in today’s money to open new playing fields across the country. He enlisted the help of Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope to make charitable appearances and so successful were his endeavours that, four years later, new playing fields were still being opened at the rate of 200 a year. He remained president of the NPFA for sixty-four years until Prince William took over in 2013.

Like Albert, Prince Philip involved himself in the modernisation of the royal estates. After her accession, the Queen made him Ranger of Windsor Great Park, a job for which Philip had to immerse himself in a course of estate management. He turned the farms at Sandringham and Windsor into profitable concerns, as well as supplying the royal households with food. At Balmoral, a herd of Highland cattle was put on the land and a forestry programme was introduced. Despite opposition from the stuffy officials at Buckingham Palace, Philip introduced many changes following a much-maligned time and motion study. An intercom system was installed so that if the Queen wanted a cup of tea or Philip a sandwich, it no longer took four footmen to pass the order on to the kitchen.

Between 1959 and 2011, he chaired the judging panel for the Prince Philip Designers Prize, which rewarded the innovation and creativity of designers and engineers shaping daily life. Winners have included product designer Sir James Dyson, of vacuum cleaner fame, architect Lord Foster, designer of the Gherkin in the City of London, and Andrew Ritchie, inventor of the Brompton folding bicycle.