The Royal Family:

Prince Phil

Prince Philip, the Queen's husband (who is also known as Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich) was also the Prince of Greece and Denmark, but decided to decline this royal title when he became a citizen of Britain in 1947.

He was born on the island of Corfu in Greece in 1921.

Philip joined the Royal Navy in 1939 and served actively throughout the whole of the Second World War.

He reached the rank of a lieutenant.

When Philip married Queen Elizabeth, he chose not to continue with his military career and dedicate all of his time to helping his wife.

Philip was educated in France, Britain and Germany. At school he was very keen on cricket and hockey (he was team captain of both). In his spare time he also did a lot of sailing. Later in life he took up polo and flying. Although he is now in his ninth decade he still competes in carriage driving. His other interest is collecting art and painting in oils. Prince Philip, much like his wife, is an animal lover and a keen bird watcher (a very popular activity in Britain. Some people take it very seriously.)

Philip spends a lot of time helping charitable organizations.

He started something called the Duke of Edinburgh's Award in 1956 (this scheme is still extremely popular). It is a scheme for young people who are both disabled and able bodied. There are three levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold, and the people are assessed in four different areas: physical recreation, service, expeditions and skills. The tasks involve expedition work, orienteering, but mainly - teamwork. The objective of this is to help young people with their self-reliance and self-confidence, to help them find out who they are. The people feel good about themselves when they achieve success in a difficult mission, and it helps them develop a stronger sense of responsibility, new abilities, talents and interests.

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