Remembering the 16 local soldiers who died in Afghanistan and Iraq andoveradvertiser.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from andoveradvertiser.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
That s all you need to know about Prince Philip.
For 73 years, this extraordinarily selfless man gave his life to the service of his adoptive country and to his wife, the Queen.
He was the longest-serving royal consort to any sovereign in British history.
And he was tough, uncompromising, fiercely loyal, incredibly hard-working, unapologetically belligerent, and suffered fools as benevolently as a lion suffers a weak-willed gazelle in the African bush.
The news of the Duke of Edinburgh s death hit me hard.
He was a constant presence in my life from the day I was born in 1965, the immovable rock at the side of my Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II.
Since then, the Duke of Edinburgh has visited the county many times for official and unofficial engagements. A Wiltshire Life article to celebrate his 99th birth on June 10 last year remembers that on November 20 2017, the Queen and Prince Philip celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary. Prince Philip, or Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten as he was then, was living in Corsham at the time he proposed and right up to a few days before the wedding. The Duke was playing skittles at the Methuen Arms in Corsham when his engagement to Princess Elizabeth was announced. He also used to play darts with the locals who frequented the public bar.
THE Duke of Edinburgh made several official visits to Swindon during his long life, both with the Queen and in his own right. The first was on February 12, 1960, when he came here to perform two duties and crowds of cheering spectators lined the streets along his toute through the town. The first of those duties was at the Drill Hall in Church Street, where he presented an accolade called the Trophy Challenge Shield to 4th Battalion The Wiltshire Regiment (TA). Later that day, he visited what was then Pressed Steel but is now BMW’s plant in Stratton St Margaret, where he was given a guided tour by managers and frequently paused to speak with production line workers. During this period, the Duke was very active in promoting British industry and encouraging bosses to make their businesses as competitive as possible.
Looking back on Prince Philip s royal visits to Swindon thisiswiltshire.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thisiswiltshire.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.