Perils of being one of Philip’s Godchildren (And there’s morethan 50 of them)

A suicide. A bankrupt. An adulterer. As the Duke becomes a godfather again at 97 ...

EVEN at this late stage in the game, Prince Philip takes huge pleasure in defying convention. Who says that at 97 you can’t become a godfather again? Recently, he did just that, hauling himself into a helicopter to make the 200-mile journey from his Sandringham roost to Romsey in Hampshire to stand at the font in Romsey Abbey for six-month-old inigo Hooper, his first cousin three times removed.

The Queen was at Windsor taking tea with President Donald Trump. But for Philip this mission was more important.

inigo, son of Lady Alexandra Hooper, 35, and her husband Tom, will one day inherit Broadlands, Philip’s Hampshire home-from-home since he first came to Britain, and for decades the stately pile of his uncle, Earl Mountbatten.

it’s possible, but by no means certain, that inigo may one day inherit the famous Mountbatten title — thus the journey was doubly important for Philip, so strong are his family ties.

Most likely, the lad will be the last in the very long line of children for whom the Prince has been godfather over the past 75 years.

So who are they — and where are they now?

Among them was a Sixties pop star, one committed suicide in a car in California, there’s a Queen, an adulterer, a used car salesman, a science teacher, a bankrupt, a glass engraver and a university professor. Sadly, several have predeceased their godfather.

There’s no definitive record of how many godchildren Philip has — Buckingham Palace says it’s ‘a private matter’ — but there are probably in excess of 50. Here, then, is just a selection . . .

DUKE’S ‘LOVECHILD’ PROFESSOR MAX BOISOT b. 1943. Died 2011.

MAx took the unprecedented step of issuing a statement in 1996 saying he was not Philip’s son.

His Greek cabaret star mother Helene Cordet’s lifetime closeness to Philip, the mystery over the identity of his father, and the fact that Philip helped pay his school fees at Gordonstoun led successive generations to believe that Max

must have royal blood. His father was Free French pilot Marcel Boisot. At the time, Helene’s husband was an Englishman and she refused to name Max’s father.

Marcel Boisot later became her second husband, but the royal rumours continued after Helene’s death in 1996.

Max set up the first business school in China and wrote a book on the Large Hadron Collider (the world’s largest particle accelerator). He died of cancer aged 67.

SIXTIES POP POPPET LOUISE CORDET b. 1945. Aged 73.

LouiSE is Max Boisot’s sister. A pop star in the Sixties with a single hit, i’m Just A Baby, she toured with The Beatles, Roy orbison and Gerry And The Pacemakers.

Gerry Marsden wrote Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying for her. She appeared in films such as Just For Fun — about teenagers setting up a political party — alongside DJ Jimmy Savile, but her showbiz career was over by the age of 20.

Married to a Greek national, she’s the mother of singer- songwriter Alexi Murdoch.

A TRAGIC SUICIDE NICKY PHILLIPS b. 1947. Died 1991.

AS A young man, Philip was romantically linked with the glamorous aristocrat Gina Wernher, descendant of Russian royalty whose parents owned Luton Hoo, a stately home north of London.

However, she married ‘ Bunnie’ Phillips, a lieutenant colonel in the Coldstream Guards, and asked Philip to be godfather to their first child, Nicky.

Tragically, Nicky committed suicide aged 43 after a failed property venture. Nicky’s sister Sacha, the Duchess of Abercorn, caused headlines after saying that she held hands and had a ‘passionate friendship’ with Philip, who was 25 years older than her. THE grandson of Lord Mountbatten, he left his wife and Philip’s carriage- driving friend Penny Romsey — and the family stately home Broadlands — to run off with his Bahamian fashion designer mistress Jeannie Nuttall in 2010.

He returned home to find Penny had taken control of the estate.

once, his effigy was hanged by Romsey residents opposed to plans to build a supermarket on his estate. His son and heir Nicholas, now Lord Romsey, is an ex-drug addict and unlikely to inherit Broadlands, though he will inherit the earldom.

if he has no children, Philip’s most recent godson, inigo, may become Earl Mountbatten one day.

it’s believed the Broadlands house and estate will be inherited by the 3rd Earl Mountbatten’s daughter, Alexandra. His other daughter, Leonora, died aged five from cancer.

SON OF A WAR HERO PAUL BRANDRAM b. 1948. Aged 70.

PRiNCESS Katherine of Greece was born in the royal palace in Athens shortly after her grandfather, George i of Greece, was assassinated. Her three brothers all became King of Greece in turn and she was Philip’s first cousin.

She married British war hero Major Richard Brandram and took the lesser title of ‘Lady Katherine Brandram’. Their only son, Paul, forged a career in the City. His first wife was a lieutenant colonel’s daughter. He married again in 2009.

When his daughter, Alexandra, married last year, guests included King Constantine of Greece and Queen Sofia of Spain (Paul is uncle by marriage to both).

KINGLY CONNECTIONS COLIN NEVILLE b. 1948. Aged 70.

HiS father, General Sir Robert Neville, was a long-standing friend of Earl Mountbatten. He was sent by postwar Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee to be governor of the Bahamas and was also aidede-camp to George Vi.

BITTER CUSTODY BATTLE JULIE PARKER b. 1948. Aged 70.

DAuGHTER of Philip’s close friend and later equerry, Commander Mike Parker. The two shipmates’ infamous ‘lost weekend’ in the late Fifties lasted five months as they sailed to Australia and back. Later, Parker admitted: ‘of course we had fun, but never anything outrageous . . . There was always armfuls of girls.’ Their antics led to questions being asked in Parliament.

Parker was forced to resign as Philip’s right-hand man when his marriage broke down. His wife fought for custody of Julie, then aged nine, and her elder brother.

in 1972, Julie married Timothy Buxton, at the Church of the immaculate Conception, Knightsbridge. But after having two children, they divorced in 1986.

GORDON BROWN’S ‘EX’ PRINCESS MARGARETA OF ROMANIA. b. 1949. Aged 69.

HER father, King Michael of Romania, was Philip’s cousin. Britisheducated, she was the lover for five years of future Labour PM Gordon Brown. She later went back to Romania and married actor Radu Duda, the son of a professor.

She now claims to be de facto Queen of Romania since her father’s 2017 death, though the country is a republic. She lives in Bucharest.

NOT SO CHURCHILLIAN 5th LORD MOTTISTONE b. 1949. Died 2013.

HiS father had been the godson of Winston Churchill and the Duke of Windsor, but he himself had an unspectacular career in the financial service industry. Married twice, with five children.

USED CAR SALESMAN PHILIP HOWARD-JOHNSTON b. 1950. Aged 67.

GRANDSoN of World War i hero, the 1st Earl Haig. A used car salesman running Howard- Johnston Cars in Edinburgh — ‘established since 1969 and with a strong commitment to customer satisfaction’.

REFLECTS GOD IN GLASS PHILIP LAWSON JOHNSTON b. 1950. Aged 67.

SoN of 2nd Lord Luke, who for a time ran the beef paste Bovril business. Self-taught glass engraver