Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Poignant tributes from far and wide
PERCHED upon the waves, a wreath drifts into the sea as part of a poignant tribute to Prince Philip.
Young sailors from the Duke of Edinburgh’s former school Gordonstoun cast the garland from Ocean Spirit of
Moray, the school’s 80ft training vessel, as he was laid to rest 600 miles away in Windsor.
It was a fitting way to honour the Prince whose passion for life on the waves was nurtured in
Hopeman Harbour in the idyllic north east corner of
Scotland.
He learned to sail on the Moray coast, planting the seed for what would become his distinguished Navy career, while a pupil at the school near Elgin.
On the shore, a lone student piper played while displaying the
Duke of Edinburgh’s
Coat of Arms on a banner. It was presented to the exclusive boarding school’s pipe band by Her
Majesty in 2019.
Gordonstoun’s current principal
Lisa Kerr said: “When he came in 1934 as the school’s 10th pupil, it was a place where he found security and stability and a place where he was able to discover his true self and become the very best version of himself.”
Similar tributes were paid to Prince Philip around the world. In Malta, a nine-gun salute was fired at the Upper Barrakka Saluting Battery in Valletta in memory of his time spent living there with the Queen between 1949 and 1951.
In the southern Ugandan town of Jinja, children celebrated his Duke of Edinburgh Awards. Sweden, Denmark and Monaco all held remembrance services, while in the South Pacific island of Tanna in Vanuatu – where Prince Philip is regarded as a god – a day of dancing, speeches and ceremonial drinking was held.
Here in the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson paid his respects, appearing outside Chequers to take part in a minute’s silence. In Cheshire, Malcolm Clerc, 94, watched the funeral on TV at home in Knutsford. The World War Two veteran was in Tokyo Bay alongside Prince Philip in 1945 for the formal Japanese surrender.
RESPECT Sailors’ wreath
HONOURED In Uganda
SERVICE Funeral on British TV
POWERFUL Nine-gun salute goes off in Malta