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From Greek exile to British prince: Philip’s amazing life

Pam CasellasThe West Australian
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The Duke of Edinburgh was born, so history tells us, on a kitchen table on the Greek island of Corfu.

Shortly after his birth, his exiled family took him, in a cot made from orange crates, to France to begin a peripatetic life which has ended with him being the longest-serving consort in British royal history.

He was a prince in his own right, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, the fifth child and only son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg. Born deaf, she was the great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

Philip’s was not a happy childhood.

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His uncle, King Constantine of Greece, was forced to abdicate and Philip’s father, Prince Andrew, was banished from Greece for life. He took his family, including Philip in his orange crate, to the Paris suburb of St Cloud where they lived cheaply in a house belonging to an aunt.

Philip saw little of his father, who moved to the south of France, and money was never plentiful.

He was initially educated at the American School in Paris but then his association with Britain began.

His mother was institutionalised with what was then called religious mania — though manic depression was also suggested — when he was eight.

For almost five years he and his sisters heard virtually nothing from either parent and lived on the bounty of other relatives.

His parents never lived together again.

Prince Philip of Greece, later Duke of Edinburgh, as a toddler, July 1922.
Camera IconPrince Philip of Greece, later Duke of Edinburgh, as a toddler, July 1922. Credit: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

His maternal grandfather, Prince Louis of Battenberg, had already gained British citizenship after serving in the Royal Navy and had renounced his German ancestry to anglicise his surname and become Louis Mountbatten, Marquess of Milford Haven, a title granted in recognition of his long service in the navy.

His son George, Philip’s uncle, also became his friend, confidant and mentor, and provided an entrée into British society.

In an interview to mark his 90th birthday, Philip said of his difficult childhood: “It’s simply what happened.

“The family broke up. My mother was ill, my sisters were married, my father was in the south of France. I just had to get on with it. You do. One does.”

In 1928, he was sent to the United Kingdom to live with his maternal grandmother, Victoria Mountbatten, Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven, at Kensington Palace and with George Mountbatten at Lynden Manor in Bray, Berkshire.

The Mountbatten family chose Cheam for Philip’s boarding school.

Schoolboy Prince Philip of Greece in costume for his school Gordonstoun's production of Macbeth.
Camera IconSchoolboy Prince Philip of Greece in costume for his school Gordonstoun's production of Macbeth. Credit: Fox Photos/Getty Images

He returned to Germany for the weddings of his sisters who had married German nobility and left France for Germany.

He returned to Germany for a time, too, and in 1933, he was sent to Schule Schloss Salem which, he said in a constant refrain of his early years, had the “advantage of saving school fees” because it was owned by a family member.

His next stop was bleak Gordonstoun in Scotland, founded by the head of the Salem school with a strong focus on physical achievement.

It was a pivotal period in his life which he much enjoyed — an experience not shared by his son Charles when Philip later insisted he be educated there.

While at Gordonstoun he lost three of the most important people in his life.

His sister Cecilie and her husband, with whom he was close, perished in a plane crash and George Mountbatten died of cancer.

Mountbatten’s younger brother, Dickie, later Lord Mountbatten, stepped into the mentor role, a role he maintained throughout the life of both men.

During World War II, there were persistent rumours that the British Royal Family must be pro-German, given their dynastic origins and many German relatives.

After Prince Alice’s release from the Swiss sanatorium into which she had been committed, she devoted herself to charity work in Greece, helping shelter Jewish refugees.

She later founded a nursing order of nuns, known as the Christian Sisterhood of Martha and Mary.

In 1967, she was invited by her son and daughter-in-law to live at Buckingham Palace, where she died two years later.

Philip lived with the Mountbattens for several years following his mother’s institutionalisation.

A rare picture of Prince Philip of Greece at the public school of Gordonstoun.
Camera IconA rare picture of Prince Philip of Greece at the public school of Gordonstoun. Credit: PA Images via Getty Images

There has long been criticism of Mountbatten for his burning ambition and what has been seen as a desire for power and influence in the British royal family, but whatever his reasons, the two men were very close and his descendants — Lord Mountbatten was killed by an Irish Republican Army bomb in 1979 in Ireland — continue to be part of the royal inner circle.

Philip left Gordonstoun in 1939 and joined the Royal Navy as his maternal grandfather, the Marquess, had done.

He served with the Royal Navy during World War II, while two of his brothers-in-law fought on the opposing side in Germany.

His naval career was well recognised, and he served in the Indian Ocean, in Ceylon and the Mediterranean, the Battle of Crete, was mentioned in despatches, was one of the youngest first lieutenants in the navy at the time.

He was also in Tokyo when the Japanese surrender was signed.

Following his marriage to the then-Princess Elizabeth and a period in a desk job in the Admiralty, Philip was stationed with the Royal Navy in Malta for two years.

That came to a sudden end with the death of King George VI as Philip then started the next phase of his life as the Queen’s consort.

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