I'm Edward Sturtin and in this special program here on the BBC World Service

I'll be considering the life of Prince Philip the husband of Queen Elizabeth whose

death has been announced by Buckingham Palace. Prince Philip was in the business of monarchy. He

joined the firm as it's popularly known in the gloom years of post-war Britain when

the monarchy took for granted public adoration. He left it when those simple days had gone

and the monarchy had created its own celebrity in the era of social media. It was a long life of public service, so long that many of those

you'll hear in this program are themselves dead. Prince Philip was ever at

the Queen's side through her silver, golden and diamond jubilees at the death of her sister

and her mother through the successive courtroom and media debark caused in large part by the

behavior of their own children and the revelations of

certain staff. He was to the ever familiar figure in the royal public

choreography of coaches and carriages, some 300 official visits a year, and the supreme command

performances, the memorable scarlet and gold balcony scenes.

Despite his royal pedigree, not always admired by the British establishment,

constitutionally he didn't exist.

So the popular idea was a handsome penniless prince with no real job. His biographer, Tim

Heeled, thought there was more to it than that.

There are some extraordinary genealogical tables originally compiled by Lord Mark Batten at the palace.

You sort of score points for the number of royal hises he descended from and he rated

eight against the Queen's six. So he was very royal and he always felt that.

People always assumed that he didn't like being

one place behind the Queen all the time and they always do attention to the fact that in public

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