#queen elizabeth
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip was born in Corfu on June 10, 1921, the only son of Prince Andrew of Greece. His mother was Princess Alice of Battenberg, and he therefore held the title Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark.
When he was 18 months old, Prince Philip and his family had to leave Greece. The country had become politically unstable, and his uncle, the king of Greece, Constantine I, was forced to abdicate.
Fearing for the family’s safety, Prince Philip’s uncle, Britain’s King George V, ordered a Royal Navy ship to collect them, and the young prince was carried to safety in a cot made from an orange box.
During World War I, Prince Louis of Battenberg, Prince Philip’s grandfather, changed the family’s name to Mountbatten. Prince Phillip adopted this name when he became a naturalized British subject and renounced his royal title in order to marry Princess Elizabeth.
Prince Philip joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1939, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Prince Louis, who was admiral of the fleet and First Sea Lord.
After completing his initial training and being recognized as the best cadet of his entry, Prince Philip spent six months in the Indian Ocean as midshipman aboard the battleship HMS Ramillies in 1940.
Prince Philip was subsequently promoted to sublieutenant and appointed to the destroyer HMS Wallace. In 1942, he became the ship’s first lieutenant at the unusually early age of 21.
In July 1947, the engagement of Lt. Philip Mountbatten to Princess Elizabeth was announced. Four months later, on Nov. 20, they were married in Westminster Abbey.
In 1952, he was promoted to commander, but his naval career came to an end upon the death of his father-in-law, King George VI.
The queen and Prince Philip have four children. Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, was born in 1948, and Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, was born two years later. After Elizabeth II ascended the throne, the couple had two more children: Prince Andrew, Duke of York, who was born in 1960, and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, who was born in 1964.
Prince Philip is particularly interested in science, industry and engineering. He has visited research stations and laboratories, coal mines and factories, engineering works and industrial plants — all with the aim of understanding, and contributing to the improvement of, British industrial life. (Royal.uk)
Photo credits: AP, Eddie Worth/AP, Arturo Mari/AP, Ed Reinke/AP, Alastair Grant/AP, Matt Dunham/AP (2)
See more photos on the life of Prince Philip and our other slideshows on Yahoo News.
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