He shook the world with smiles and a million handshakes...
Full Nelson:
THE Duke of Edinburgh met more stars and shook more celebrities’ hands than anyone else in the world, except the Queen.
The royal couple had more than six decades to meet the world’s great and good.
In those years the Duke was introduced to 13 US presidents, including Herbert Hoover, who was out of office by the time the Queen was crowned.
Prince Philip was on good terms with every serving president from Dwight D Eisenhower to Barack Obama. He and the Queen became firm friends with Ronald and Nancy Reagan, the only First Lady to go carriage driving with the Duke.
Prince Philip also charmed some of the world’s most glamorous First Ladies, from Jackie Kennedy to Carla Bruni, the wife of French president Nicolas Sarkozy.
He met every British PM since Churchill and spent hours chatting to each one, especially at Balmoral, the Queen’s Scottish retreat, and was on first-name terms with many world leaders. He and Nelson Mandela always had a laugh when they met.
The Duke of Edinburgh also met many of the world’s biggest showbiz stars, including Marilyn Monroe, Lauren Bacall, Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope.
He accompanied the Queen to more than 30 Royal Variety performances, where he met all of Britain’s top performers of the day.
The Duke first met the Beatles in 1964 and the following year told the world the Fab Four “were on the wane”.
But one thing that never waned was his love of flirting. In 1964 he made a beeline for Swedish actress Britt Ekland at a film premiere and nearly 50 years later he was photographed in the company of Gwyneth Paltrow and Cameron Diaz.