The Duke of Edinburgh: His Childhood and Royal Navy Career

Prince Philip was born in Corfu in 1921 into the Greek and Danish royal families. He joined the British Royal Navy in 1939, aged 18 and from July that year began a correspondence with the thirteen-year-old Princess Elizabeth that would go on to become 74-year marriage. During the Second World War he served with distinction in the Mediterranean and Pacific Fleets. After the war, Philip was granted permission by George VI to marry Elizabeth. He abandoned his Greek and Danish titles and styles, became a naturalised British subject, and adopted his maternal grandparents’ surname Mountbatten. #DukeOfEdinburgh #PrincePhilip #RoyalFamily