On 9th April 2021, Her Majesty the Queen announced the death of her beloved husband Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburg. Prince Philip, regarded as the longest-living royal consort and the longest-lived male member of the British Royal family, was a patron, president and member of over 780 organizations. Prince Phillip’s death definitely marks the end of an era. Prince Philip’s cause of death has been cited as old age. Prince Phillip served as the chairman of the Duke of Edinburg’s Award, a self-improvement program, especially for the youth aged 14 to 24. Apart from being a philanthropist, Prince Philip was a sports enthusiast, who also was a founding pillar in the development of equestrian sports carriage driving. Though all men in the Windsor family play Polo, it was Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh who made the sport famous in Britain. Polo and Prince Philip Duke of Edinburg have been intertwined for more than 60 years. The passion for polo was instilled in him by his uncle, Earl Mountbatten of Burma in the ‘40s. It is said that Louis Mountbatten’s love for Polo made him write the most famous book about the sport namely “An Introduction of Polo”.
Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh’s family tree originates in Greece. Prince Philip was born in Greece, into the Greek and Danish royal families; Prince Phillip Duke of Edinburgh’s family was exiled from the country when he was eighteen months old. After being educated in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, Prince Phillip joined the Royal Navy in 1939, when he was 18 years old.
Since his youth, Prince Phillip Duke of Edinburgh had shown prowess by being the captain of both cricket and hockey teams at his school in Scotland. Due to the outbreak of the Second World War, Prince Phillip’s Polo mallet was put on hold. Though much is known of his participation in the sport, Prince Phillips’s siblings haven’t been covered much. The Duke recalled this and said: “I had just got as far as wielding a stick in a polo pit and doing some stick and ball practice on a pony before war broke out.” But after 12 years when he was stationed on the coast of Malta, his passion for polo started for real. And thus, under his uncle, he started playing. By the end of the World War, he was set to bring back the sport to England and thus formed the Windsor Park team and eventually established the Guards Polo Club. On most of his matches, Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth were always out together.
Prince Phillip Duke of Edinburgh continued with polo until in 1971, he had to retire from the game due to arthritis and Prince Phillip’s age. Despite retiring early, the Prince had added his name to some of Polo’s prestigious trophies including the Royal Windsor Cup, the Westbury Cup and the Junior County Cup. Prince Phillip Duke of Edinburgh was not only confined to the tournament played in England; he even reached the finals of the Hurlingham open in Argentina in 1966. And at this time Prince Phillip started the family tradition of playing the game by giving his son Prince Charles the mallet for the first time at the age of fifteen. Prince Charles recalled about his first pony who “was called San Quinina and she was marvellous, knew an awful lot about the game…my father was a very good instructor and he gave me the basic techniques.”
Even after putting aside the polo stick, Prince Philip never opted for a simple and leisurely life; instead, Prince Phillip Duke of Edinburgh took up carriage driving and even competed at the top level. Polo always remained a special sport in his heart because of this he continued to have an active role in the work and the development of his club, the Guards Polo Club. andd it was his dedication and enthusiasm that this club regarded as the most famous in the world. Prince Phillip Duke of Edinburgh legacy is still intact as his grandsons to favour the game of Polo. The tradition started by Prince Philip will forever remain intact!
Prince Philip is the longest-lived male member of the British royal family. He retired from his royal duties on 2 August 2017, aged 96, having completed 22,219 solo engagements and 5,493 speeches from 1952. Philip died in April 2021 at Windsor Castle, at the age of 99. Prince Philip’s grave is now next to his wife’s, Queen Elizabeth.
