Although Prince Philip ended his active naval career in July 1951, he remained very closely connected to the armed forces. In 1952, he was appointed Admiral of the Sea Cadet Corps, Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Cadet Force and Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Air Training Corps. The following year he was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet and appointed Field Marshal and Marshal of the Royal Air Force. For his ninetieth birthday, the Queen gave him the title Lord High Admiral.

He has been patron of some 800 organisations focused on the environment, science and industry, sport, education technology and design. He has served as chancellor of the universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Salford and Wales, but despite all of this work, he once said: ‘I am not a graduate of any university. I am not a humanist or a scientist, and oddly enough I don’t regret it. I owe my allegiance to another of the world’s few really great fraternities, the fraternity of the sea.’

However, of all Prince Philip’s many interests and achievements, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme is the best known across the globe. Set up in 1956, it has helped more than 6 million young people to believe in themselves. It was originally administered by Sir John Hunt, who had led the first successful climb of Mount Everest. The scheme was based on the principles of physical fitness and community spirit laid down by Kurt Hahn and has become the world’s leading youth achievement award. Bronze, silver and gold awards are earned through volunteering, physical activities, life skills and expeditions.

But, if pressed to say which of his many duties is the most important to him, it is likely that his duty as consort to the Queen would be named first. To support and protect her as sovereign, to accompany her to official ceremonies such as the State Opening of Parliament, to be at her side at state dinners and foreign tours, has been the central part of his life. At the Coronation in 1953, Prince Philip knelt before the Queen and swore to be her ‘liege man of life and limb’, and that pledge is something he has never forgotten. It was only in August 2017, at the age of ninety-six, that he finally stepped back from royal duties to enjoy life at his own pace.

Victoria was already Queen when she married Prince Albert on 10 February 1840 in the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace. In her diary entry for that day she wrote: ‘The Ceremony was very imposing, and fine and simple, and I think ought to make an everlasting impression on everyone who promises at the Altar to keep what he or she promises. Dearest Albert repeated everything very distinctly. I felt so happy when the ring was put on, and by my precious Albert.’