Philip has earned our nation’s gratitude

Prince Philip hates having a fuss made about him. No one knows this better than the Queen. At a banquet to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in 1997, she said of her husband: “He is someone who doesn’t take easily to compliments.” Nonetheless, she paid him one, calling him her “strength and stay all these years”. The country, she added, owed him a debt “greater than he would ever claim, or we shall ever know”.

Yesterday, aged 96, he fulfilled his last solo public duty when he braved pouring rain to take the salute at a Buckingham Palace parade of Royal Marines, of which he is Captain General, an appropriate finale given his naval background. The Prince has now retired from stand-alone engagements, but is not disappearing from the public eye and will continue to support the Queen on selected occasions.

The premature death of King George VI and the Queen’s unexpectedly early accession to the throne in 1952 changed both their lives irrevocably. The Prince gave up his naval career to become the first consort to a Queen since Prince Albert and to dedicate himself wholeheartedly to what must sometimes have seemed an onerous role.

Over the past 65 years he has undertaken more than 22,000 engagements and has made 637 solo overseas visits to 143 countries, delivered 5,496 speeches and found time to write 14 books in addition to his patronage of 785 organisations.

He is also known to generations of young people through the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, still going strong after 61 years and which has been adopted as a model by 144 countries. Some six million children in the UK have taken part since the programme started in 1956.

The Prince has developed a reputation over the years for a readiness to express forthright opinions. These are often described as gaffes but they have endeared him to a country that likes its public figures to show character and the occasional foible because it makes them familiar rather than aloof. Prince Philip described himself recently as the world’s most prolific unveiler of plaques; but he does himself a disservice. The monarch is the heart of the nation and it has been our good fortune for the past 65 years that the Queen has been able to rely upon her husband’s strength and companionship in fulfilling her duties. Long may that continue. He may not like it but Prince Philip is entitled to, and deserving of, the nation’s gratitude.