‘MAKE SURE YOU COME BACK ALIVE’
Harry reveals Duke’s words before Prince went off to fight war
PRINCE Harry has told how the Duke of Edinburgh sent him off to war in Afghanistan with the heartfelt plea: “Make sure you come back alive.”
He reveals the moving moment with the Iron Duke, who served with distinction in the Second World War, in a BBC documentary due to air this week.
Harry, among more than a dozen members of the Royal Family sharing their private memories of Prince Philip, spoke with his grandfather before his first front-line tour of duty.
He said: “Going off to Afghanistan, he was very matterof-fact and just said, ‘Make sure you come back alive.’
“Then, when I came back, there wasn’t a deep level of discussion, more a case of, ‘Well, you made it. How was it?’
“That’s how he was. He was very much a listener; he sort of set the scene for you to be able to share as much as you wanted to share. But he would never probe.”
Also in the documentary, Prince William says: “He’s always set a very good example about how we have to look after the welfare of the military and represent them, and be there for them, and understand, you know, the trials and tribulations they all go through.”
Prince Charles also pays tribute to his father’s devotion to Britain’s military, adding: “Well, he took very seriously the fact that he was involved in the three Armed Forces.
“Obviously the Navy was his main service but he took an inordinate interest in everything to do with the other two.
“He read up an awful lot and thought about it and so he certainly put a lot of generals and others through their paces.
“He’d always thought of a better way of doing it.”
Off duty, Prince Philip loved nothing more than to barbecue at family gatherings, and was the undisputed grill master at outdoor picnics and events. Prince Charles reveals: “He adored barbecuing and he turned that into an interesting art form.
“And if ever I tried to do it, I could never get the fire to light or something ghastly, so he’d say, ‘Go away!’”
The Duke of Cambridge adds: “I can safely say there’s never been a case of food poisoning in the family that’s attributed to the Duke of Edinburgh.”
Sophie, Countess of Wessex said Philip learnt many of his culinary skills from TV chefs, especially the Hairy Bikers – Dave Myers and Si King – whose shows he followed avidly. In a scene filmed before Philip’s death in April at the age of 99, she says: “He loves watching cookery programmes. Hairy Bikers, I think, is one of his favourites.”
The documentary was originally intended to be a tribute to Philip on his 100th birthday, a landmark he missed by two months.
It features intimate and poignant interviews with family members before and after his death as well as access to film inside his study, private office and library at Buckingham Palace – all left exactly as they were during his seven decades at the heart of royal life. Members of Philip’s staff, including his archivist and head coachman are also interviewed for the first time, and rare archival footage shows him at play with the Royal children, delighting them as he pedals along on one of their tiny bicycles. Princess Anne’s daughter Zara Tindall says: “You never prepare yourself for losing him, because he’s always there.”
The Prince of Wales tells how he spoke to his father the day before he died about plans for his 100th birthday, and received the quip: “Well, I’ve got to be alive for it, haven’t I?”
Prince Harry praised how his grandfather supported the Queen. “From my grandmother’s perspective, to have someone like that on your shoulder for 73 years of marriage – it doesn’t get better than that,” he said.
And Philip’s granddaughter, Princess Eugenie, reveals he met his great-grandson, August Philip, before he died. “I brought little August to come and meet him. It was such a lovely moment. We were very lucky to do that.”
● Prince Philip: The Royal Family Remembers airs on Wednesday at 9pm, on BBC One.