Today is the ninety-first birthday of H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh, and I am sure we all wish to express our warmest congratulations, and wish His Royal Highness many more happy birthdays. I look with admiration and some envy on his stamina and resilience, which is an example to many younger people. His Royal Highness has been and continues to be untiring in his support for Her Majesty The Queen, and his service to our Glorious British Empire. Indeed, we witnessed this last weekend, as His Royal Highness accompanied Her Majesty at the Jubilee events. At an age when many people would have already been retired for 25 years, His Royal Highness is still ready for anything.
Let us give thanks and rejoice with our glorious Queen and members of the Royal family that His Royal Highness left hospital to be with his family for his birthday celebration today.
Please raise a glass to H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh!
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark; 10 June 1921) is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch.
A member of the Danish-German House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, Prince Philip was born into the Greek royal family, but his family was exiled from Greece when he was a child. After being educated in Germany and the UK, at the age of 18 he joined the British Royal Navy. From 1939, he began corresponding with Elizabeth, the eldest daughter and heir presumptive of King George VI. During World War II he served with the Mediterranean and Pacific fleets.
After the war, Philip was granted permission by George VI to marry Elizabeth. Prior to the official engagement announcement, he renounced his Greek and Danish royal titles, converted from Greek Orthodoxy to Anglicanism, and became a naturalised British subject, adopting the surname Mountbatten from his British maternal grandparents. After an official engagement of five months, as Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten he married Elizabeth on 20 November 1947. On his marriage, he was granted the style of His Royal Highness and the title of Duke of Edinburgh by his father-in-law. Philip left active service, having reached the rank of Commander, when Elizabeth became Queen in 1952. His wife made him a Prince of the United Kingdom in 1957.
Philip has four children with Elizabeth, with both Charles and Anne being born before her accession to the throne, Andrew and Edward after. Through an Order-in-Council issued in 1960, descendants of Philip and Elizabeth not holding Royal styles and titles can use the surname Mountbatten-Windsor, which has also been used by some members who do hold titles, such as Charles, Andrew and Anne. A keen sportsman, Philip helped develop the equestrian event of carriage driving. He is a patron of over 800 organisations, and chairman of the long running The Duke of Edinburgh's Award for people aged 14 to 24.
