Book extract: Why Prince Philip deserves his place in history

Britain’s Prince Philip had many admirers but almost as many detractors who tended to focus on his gaffes and crotchety remarks. This does him a disservice, says Robert Jobson. In an exclusive extract from his biography of the Duke of Edinburgh, he recalls his encounters with the prince

England’s Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, Captain General of the Royal Marines during a visit to 1 Assault Group Royal Marines at HM Naval base Devonport in Plymouth; throughout his long and eventful life, the prince had been a stickler for precision and military detail.

THROUGHOUT his long and eventful life, Prince Philip had been a stickler for precision and military detail. The arrangements for his death and funeral, he vowed, would be no different. He could not abide commotion and confusion. He loathed it as much as he did in receiving personal praise. His mantra in life had, after all, always been, ‘Just get on with it’.

Philip was as pragmatic about death as he was practical in life. His first instruction was that he would not die in hospital, but at Windsor Castle, his home. Further detailed instructions for his own funeral, known by the codename ‘Operation Forth Bridge’, were to be carried out to the letter and were incontestable. He ruled that there would be no state service at Westminster Abbey, even though as the Queen’s husband he was entitled to one, nor would his body lie in state. Instead, Prince Philip settled on having a ceremonial military funeral at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, the high-medieval Gothic style Royal Peculiar and the Chapel of the Order of the Garter, located in the Lower Ward of the castle built in 1475.