The Duke at 90

Tomorrow, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, will turn 90.

After standing at the Queen's side for nearly 60 years,

he's recognised the world over,

and has become the longest-serving consort in British history.

But who exactly is the Duke?

On the distant Pacific island of Tanna,

the islanders think he's a god.

A status reinforced by a series of photographs,

some sent by the Duke himself.

Here, at home, his status is rather more down to earth.

He's familiar as the man who always stands two steps behind the Queen,

just occasionally with his foot in his mouth.

'But the true picture of the Duke is more interesting,

'more complex and more surprising.'

I've been observing the Duke at various events over the last six months,

and the mythology surrounding him is extraordinary.

For a start, most people think he's Greek.

He's not.

Most people think his life is limited to shaking hands on official visits.

It isn't.

Most people think he's irascible,

with an unfortunate tendency to say the wrong thing.

Well, maybe some of that's true. But one thing's certain -

he doesn't suffer fools gladly,

and he has a fearsome reputation when it comes to interviews.

I'm on my way now to talk to him about his life and career,

and I must admit, I'm feeling a little bit terrified.

He's formidable.

He's daunting, partly because of his position,

but also because he is a very considerable intellect.

The first time I met him it was absolutely clear

that if you turned up and you hadn't mastered the papers

he would detect it very quickly and you would be in trouble!

Get him on a bad day and it's quite hard work.

Get him on a good day, and you don't want to be with anybody else.

I hope you have a good day.

My father, purely and simply, is very modest about himself

and doesn't believe in talking about himself.

One of his best pieces of advice is,

"Talk about everything else, don't talk about yourself.

"Nobody's interested in you."

Meeting him is rather extraordinary, because you get the impression

of meeting a bird of prey, a hawk or an eagle.

There's something penetrating about the eyes.

You feel you're being sort of scanned.

You raise your game. You rather hope he'll like you.

What I really want to know is whether these perceptions of the Duke are in any way accurate.

'The Duke of Edinburgh has been seen in many roles.

'He was the dashing naval officer who wooed a princess...

'..the moderniser at the heart of the 20th-century monarchy,

'the man who created the Duke of Edinburgh's Award,

'and the champion of the early environmental movement.'

-I present Fiona Bruce.

-Your Royal Highness...

'But as the Duke approaches his milestone birthday,

'what intrigues me is how he shows so little sign of slowing down.

'Still a force of nature.'

-Um... You're 90 this year. Do you...?

-Well done!

I know, I've managed to do my maths!

Could you say there are any things that...

that, above all the things you've done,

that you are particularly proud of

or that you would like people to think of as your greatest achievements?

No, that's asking... No, that's asking too much.

But the role that you have to an extent carved out for yourself...

I think the perception is that you've made a huge success of it, I mean...

-Splendid, if that's what you think.

-Is that what you think?

I couldn't care less! HE CHUCKLES

Who cares what I think about it? I mean, it's ridiculous.

-But of course, of course we care!

-No. It isn't.

There must be few figures in the public eye

who are as reluctant as the Duke

to trumpet their own achievements.

Modest and to the point,

this bird of prey is always alert to what is going on around him.

The Queen and the Duke certainly do seem particularly at ease here,

it was the Duke himself who decided

that they should spend the actual day of their anniversary on Malta.

For this very private of public couples, quite a romantic gesture.

Finished? SHE LAUGHS

How are you, sir?

-Are you well, sir?

-Well, do I look ill?

That rather bittersweet relationship with the media

has become familiar, almost a caricature.

And yet there was a time

when he embraced the power of television with open arms.

In the '50s and '60s, he was a pioneer in the new era

of mass communication, pushing a slightly dusty monarchy into the modern age.

In 1955, an informal Duke was filmed playing "sorcerer's apprentice"

with Tommy Cooper, at the Variety Club.

LAUGHTER

He went on to become the first member of the Royal Family

to give a TV interview...

What you're really out to do is to change the way of thinking.

We know perfectly well that people in this country

have got a remarkable talent for things if they learn how to do them.

..and, in 1957, the first to present his own television show.

40 minutes to get round the world.

Well, it's going to be a bit of a rush.

It may leave you a little bit muddled,

but I don't think it matters very much.

In this programme,

the Duke discussed the highlights of his recent world tour.

It's a dried one. This is the nut, so to speak,

rather like a dried coconut.

A very peculiar shape, as you can see.

And of course people think that's the forbidden fruit.

I tasted one rather like that,

it's a sort of jelly inside,

and I can tell you it's... I'm not surprised it's forbidden.

Later that year, he was asked to present a rather more

scientific film on the geophysics of the planet.

It was called the Restless Sphere.

And now to the most important of all, the atmosphere

and the sun. This inner ring here shows the upper limit of our weather

and the clouds.

'I was the anchorman for the thing, which was fascinating,'

and I had to introduce each little section.

I did, but it was the hottest day of the year

and I managed to get out of the studio while the bits in-between were going on

to cool down, came back, turned over two pages of script

and left somebody out who was at the top of Mont Blanc waiting to be introduced.

Which was a bit awkward.

I suspect... You know, people's memories are short,

and I suspect many people now will either not know

because they'll be too young or they may not remember that you, you know,

you did that kind of thing, that you did a press conference, that television programme,

because I can't imagine you wanting to do anything like that now,

-or even in the last 15, 20 years.

-How very perceptive of you!

-What's changed?

-I didn't want to do this either!

-You didn't want to do this interview?

-No!

-So what made you...

-Since you ask!

-What made you say yes?

Well, I don't know, it was... It was, I don't know,

it was part of the business, I suppose, there was an inevitability about it.

Following his early forays into television in the 1950s,

the Duke saw the potential of using this modern means of communication.

In 1968, his cousin-in-law, Lord Brabourne,

a television producer himself, proposed a documentary which

would show the Royal Family as it had never been seen before.

My husband, John Brabourne,

was certainly very enthusiastic at the idea of being able to show,

er, the Royal Family as being natural and normal

and doing a lot of things that everybody else in the country does

as ordinary people, as Mr and Mrs, and not King, Queen and Prince Philip.

-VOICE ON TV:

-'Naughty or not, they get a lot of experience...'

Prince Philip agreed, and a film simply entitled Royal Family

was made, broadcast on the 21st June, 1969.

It was very much his idea.

I think at the time he was trying to puncture the mystique

and the subservient nonsense that surrounded the Royal Family

and to say, "Look, we're a family, you know, with all the strengths

"and weaknesses of a family, and we're a modern family,"

which they were in the '60s, in that sense.

He did have some very strange habits, your father.

I remember, I used to come up to the lodge, I asked when I arrived

and said, "Where's the King?" They said, "Oh, he's in the garden."

And I went out, and there's nothing to be seen

except for a lot of terribly rude words and language

coming out of a rhododendron bush.

I eventually found him there, hacking away,

wearing a bearskin cap! Getting... LAUGHTER

Although overall control was in the hands of the Palace,

some insiders were said to have considerable reservations,

as did the then-head of BBC Two, David Attenborough.

The whole concept of royalty is a mysterious one

and not a logical one.

It depends on the proposition that the monarch, er,

is different from us.

Now, if you then say, no, no, no, they're exactly like everybody else,

they fry sausages and they get up in the morning

and they're occasionally bad-tempered and, you know,

and do all the rest of the things that the rest of us do, for the moment,

there's a frisson - everybody says, "Oooh, good Lord,

"he's holding a frying pan, how astounding!"

-The salad is ready.

-Good.

But, in the end, if you're not very careful, you diminish

the stature of royalty.

I think the fact that it probably was a division amongst

the Royal Family as to whether it was good or bad is an indication

of the fact that you were on a very sharp knife edge.

This one's fine. Did you mean to do that?

-Oh, Andrew!

-Come round this side.

Did you think it was a good idea once it had gone out?

-Were you pleased with it?

-Well, it... Yes, it went down quite well.

I mean, I think it's achieved a sort of curious status now

which it never had at the time.

Well, there's a certain mythology about it, I think.

Some people have felt that it rather opened the sort of door to the press, in terms of...

We don't belong to a secret society!

I mean, I don't see why people shouldn't know what's going on.

-But presumably...

-Much better that they should know than speculate.

But presumably there also has to be a limit as well as to how intrusive...

Well, yes, we didn't invite them into the bathroom.

I mean...!

People have judgment!

Do you think it's become too intrusive now, though,

the media interest in the... in yourself, in the Royal Family?

It's, it's... It's natural.

I mean...

But, yes, I mean...

The media is a professional intruder, I mean, it wouldn't...

It wouldn't work if it did... That's what it's doing all the time.

So you can't complain about it.

Evidently, the Duke is a man who just gets on with life,

rather than making a fuss.

His enthusiasm for the Royal Family film was the mark of a moderniser,

very much at odds with his public image today.

HE SQUEALS AND SHOUTS

Whatever effect the film may have had later in encouraging

the public's curiosity with the Royal Family, his daring venture was

a huge success, seen by a worldwide audience of 350 million people.

But its cosy portrait of family life was about as far as you can get

from the Duke's own formative years.

Prince Philippos Schleswig Holstein Sonderburg Glucksburg

was born on the kitchen table on the 10th June, 1921,

on the Mediterranean island of Corfu.

How would you describe yourself?

Well, I'm Greek, well, I was born a Greek national.

-But I was Danish by race.

-And how do you think of yourself now?

I don't, I'm just here!

The Greek Royal Family were not Greek.

They had been imported from Denmark in the 19th century,

and their reign was a troubled one.

In 1922, just over a year after Philip was born, his father,

Prince Andrew, was arrested by the Greek military government.

He was charged with treason and narrowly escaped the firing squad.

He and his family were then exiled.

Philip spent his childhood living in France, in England and in Germany.

Where did you call home when you were growing up?

Wherever I happened to be.

I had a very extended family.

You say I went to all these places, it was always with family.

Did it never feel unsettling, the fact that you were moving around so much?

Well, I just lived my life.

I mean... I haven't been trying to psychoanalyse myself all the time.

By the early 1930s, Philip's parents' marriage had broken down.

His mother retreated to a sanatorium in Switzerland

while his father moved away to a small flat in Monte Carlo.

Philip was to have only sporadic contact with either

for the rest of his childhood.

And as if that was not enough,

Philip's four sisters then all married,

within just nine months of each other, and moved to Germany.

Aged just ten years old, Prince Philip was separated

from every member of his immediate family.

What's your memory of that time? Do you...? Was that a difficult...?

Well, I came here and I went to school here

and my grandmother lived here so it was...

I was in with the family, it was no great deal.

I mean, some people might...

Well, some people might - I'm telling you what I felt!

I think one of the reasons that Prince Philip won't talk

about his childhood is that he's spent a lifetime

actually blocking it out.

He lost literally everybody.

He therefore became very self-reliant.

He keeps himself to himself. He protects himself,

and simply says, "What's there to complain about?

"You know, these things happen."

In 1934, Prince Philip, aged 13,

went to Gordonstoun School in Scotland.

The school was founded by the German-Jewish refugee Kurt Hahn.

He was a remarkable character.

He was vaguely eccentric, I suppose, but he was an absolute genius with people,

and he had the extraordinary ability

to comprehend teenagers better than they did themselves, I think.

Hahn had progressive ideas on education,

believing in the power of the great outdoors, in fitness,

self-discipline, and service to the community.

These principles were to be hugely influential on Prince Philip throughout his life.

My old headmaster Hahn said, "My boy, I want you to run an award scheme."

And I said, "Well, yes, sir, but... you know, I can't do it by myself."

and I said, "If you can get a committee of the great and the good together,

"I'll chair it, if you like." That's what happened.

The Duke of Edinburgh's Award, or DofE, was launched in 1956,

and based on Kurt Hahn's philosophy.

Give young people a chance to discover their own abilities for themselves

as an introduction to the responsibilities and interests of the grown-up world.

And, incidentally, to make new friends and have a great deal of fun

and satisfaction in the process.

'Even today, he is as dedicated as ever to the DofE,

'visiting young people all over the country.'

-You climb this?

-Yeah.

Have you done anything else?

I helped out at my swimming club.

-Oh. No-one drown?

-Pardon?

-No-one's drowned?

-No, no-one drowned.

THEY LAUGH Well, good.

'They're invited to choose things which they probably haven't done before.'

HE LAUGHS I don't believe it.

They set their own programme, and I think that in some way encourages them to go on with it,

because they're challenging themselves,

not doing it at somebody else's behest,

and they choose the things they want to do.

Very often they're things which they think might interest them,

but nearly always it's a new experience.

Three years ago, a prisoner at Reading Young Offender's Institution, Jon Watts,

was offered the chance to change his life,

when he was invited to take part in the DofE.

When I was at school I'd heard about the DofE,

but my perception was that it wasn't for people like me,

it was for a higher class of people.

All I knew about the Duke of Edinburgh before I was in prison

was that he was married to the Queen

and he was famous for saying rude things to a lot of foreign people.

But in spite of Jon's early impression of the Duke and his award,

he has, while in prison, completed the bronze, silver and gold awards.

What Jon has done whilst in custody is truly remarkable.

He is an inspiration, not just to his peers, fellow young offenders,

but to staff.

You know, for somebody to actually do the full set, the bronze,

the silver and the gold whilst in custody, it hasn't been done before.

Back in April, a few weeks before his release from prison,

Jon received his gold award at a presentation ceremony

at St James's Palace in London.

While there he met the Duke, who asked him about his community service.

What did you do for your service?

For my service I worked alongside the Samaritans.

-The Samaritans?

-Yeah.

-Oh. You didn't try committing suicide, did you?

I didn't, no.

'It turns out the Duke of Edinburgh is a real inspiration.

'It's because of him that I am able to change my life.'

People say to me that your life in prison is lost.

However, if I can come out of prison with a DofE gold award

I can show them that and say, "It's not lost."

Did you all do your expedition...?

'I think he goes on being amazed by the numbers of young people that want to do it.'

The DofE has continued to grow, and there are young people coming in

from all sorts of backgrounds now

that perhaps would never have been possible when it started.

What did you do?

I was a mentor for young pupils in a school.

Led them astray, did you?

Not quite!

Are you proud of the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme

and the numbers that have gone through it and what it's achieved?

I've got no reason to be proud of it. I mean, I think it's satisfying

that we've set up a formula that works.

Erm...

Yes, I mean, that's it.

Why do say there's no reason to be proud of it?

Well, I don't run it, I mean, I don't, I don't...

I've said it's all fairly second-hand, the whole business.

I mean, I eventually got landed with the responsibility, or the credit for it, but, er...

And of course it has your name.

Well, that was strictly against my better judgment.

I tried to avoid it, but I was eventually overridden.

And did you all...?

There are hundreds and hundreds of people whose lives have been turned around.

I think that this is one of the greatest achievements

of his life, you know,

to set up the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme, because, erm...

This sort of set a benchmark. This is a real gift to the nation.

If the DofE is the Duke's greatest achievement,

it was probably his time on the high seas that made him the man he is today.

In 1939, Prince Philip arrived at Dartmouth Naval College,

set on a career in the Royal Navy.

We're all the sum of our past.

I mean, Prince Philip reflects his childhood, his upbringing,

but most of all, I think, at the heart of Prince Philip,

is his time in the Navy.

From the age of 18, he was a professional sailor.

While at Dartmouth, Philip was also to meet his future wife.

In July 1939, the King and Queen visited the college with their two daughters.

Philip was chosen as the young princesses' escort.

Princess Elizabeth, then only 13 years old,

was said to taken an immediate shine to the handsome prince.

Well, I think it was love at first sight according to her.

And she told her father's authorised biographer

that he was allowed to say so. So that must be so.

Although it wasn't the first time that they'd seen each other,

because Prince Philip used to go and stay with his aunt,

the Duchess of Kent, and so they would be at, you know, parties.

I think that was the first time she really thought, "Goodness,

"I'm really mad about this man."

Two months later came the outbreak of the Second World War,

and soon after, Prince Philip entered active service.

In March 1941, aboard HMS Valiant,

he saw action off the Greek coastline in the Battle of Matapan.

An early indication that Prince Philip had something about him

came during the Battle of Matapan, which was a famous night action,

during which three Italian heavy cruisers were sunk.

And a night action with gunnery is all pretty close.

There was some cruisers coming down on the battleship,

there was a tremendous amount of to-ing and fro-ing

and eventually the battle fleet, the Mediterranean fleet

under Admiral Cunningham set off, and we managed to catch

the three Italian cruisers coming south in the middle of the night,

and they were quite unaware we were there,

and the battleships opened fire and blew them out...

Well, made an awful mess of them, that's for sure.

He was mentioned in dispatches by the commander-in-chief.

He would say, "Anyone would have done that, I'm sure."

But he was the man on the day and it was a noteworthy action, and therefore was recorded.

In 1945, with the war now over, the 24-year-old Prince Philip

returned to Britain, every bit the dashing naval officer -

something not lost on the young Princess Elizabeth.

In 1946, at the wedding of the daughter of his uncle, Lord Mountbatten,

rumours began to spread of a royal romance.

At my wedding, the two princesses were bridesmaids,

and there was a picture taken going into the church,

and it was quite a cool day, and the Princess, and the others,

all had wraps on.

Prince Philip was one of the ushers.

And a photograph was taken of her handing her wrap to him to take,

which seemed a perfectly normal thing to do.

But somehow or other, somewhere, somebody said "Ah-ha",

you know, "What does this mean?"

Unbeknown to most of the wedding guests,

Philip was already privately engaged to his princess,

with the official announcement coming in July 1947.

In preparation for his new life,

Philip also renounced his Greek and Danish royal titles,

and became a British subject, adopting the surname Mountbatten.

But to some, Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten

remained not quite one of us.

There was certainly a sense that he was not considered

to be quite kosher.

You know, he was from a sort of slightly disreputable royal wing

from a country that had gone republican and all the rest of it,

and a troubled family.

He was the first person to really come in from the outside world since Prince Albert,

so a good 100 years had passed.

You came in as an outsider, to a certain extent. Erm...

Well, rather less an outsider than some.

I mean, my father was King George V's first cousin.

I came to the Duchess of Kent's wedding here,

I met the Queen when she was 12 or something. Erm...

Not quite such an outsider as you might think.

'The day of the wedding, and immense crowds.

'Thousands had assembled overnight, others had arrived at dawn,

'all eagerly waiting to see and to cheer the royal processions

'on this day of their own princess's marriage.'

On November 20th 1947 in Westminster Abbey,

Philip Mountbatten married our future Queen.

That morning he was given a new title by his father-in-law,

King George VI.

He was now His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh.

But more importantly, perhaps,

marriage brought Philip a sense of real family life and stability

that had been lacking in his life since he was a ten-year-old boy.

Marrying the Princess gave Prince Philip a centre,

and a feeling of security,

since he'd not had, really, much of a home in his youth and childhood.

He was particularly happy when they were first married.

It was a sort of real family life

and he was always allowed to wear the trousers,

and what he wanted went.

One year later, Prince Philip became a father,

with the birth of Prince Charles.

-NEWSREEL:

-'Now the Duke of Edinburgh takes a fatherly hand,

'his technique being no better and no worse than most fathers.

'A slight remonstrance from Princess Elizabeth

'but not, I think, a real protest.'

By the standards of the time,

Prince Philip was very much a hands-on father, hands and knees,

playing with the children,

but there are also first-hand accounts that I've been told

of Prince Philip not just bathing the children,

playing with the children, but reading to the children.

He was a hands-on dad

in the way that many fathers of that generation weren't.

He was very actively involved in his children's childhood.

But Philip was often away,

fulfilling his duties as a serving officer.

In 1949 he was stationed in Malta,

where he was joined by his young wife.

That period in Malta was probably the most special time they ever had

because they were newly married,

they were naval officer and wife living in Malta.

I know people who were with them in Malta at that time.

They appeared incredibly happy.

That struck me as a relatively carefree time for you both, I presume to say.

You're obsessed with carefree!

Simply because it strikes me that your life after that...

It was a professional life, I was a professional naval officer.

But you weren't having to do the...

I was having to do my duties as a professional naval officer.

You've probably never had a profession, so you don't know what that means.

-Well, I flatter myself, I have one now, but perhaps...

-I see, right.

-..not in your view.

All I mean is that the level of official functions, state visits,

the kind of thing that you then took on,

you weren't doing as much of it then, as I understand it.

No, I wasn't before, no.

-It was a very different life.

-Yes.

And one that you enjoyed.

Yes, I had no grumbles.

Despite the Duke's typical reticence,

the Navy was undeniably important to him.

It gave him a sense of authority and duty that has never left him.

He rose by his own merits from a cadet to the command of a ship.

But in 1951, George VI became seriously ill,

diagnosed with lung cancer.

He was only 55 years old.

Princess Elizabeth and the Duke were now called upon

to take over some of the King's official duties.

The Duke's active naval career was effectively over.

There was a huge demand for visits abroad, for all sorts of things,

and I think there was a general understanding

that it would be more sensible if I didn't go on with the Navy.

Is it something you'd have liked to have continued?

That's hypothetical.

It is, but I'm asking the question! Would you like to have continued?

No answer!

You must have thought about it.

Let me put it another way, then.

Was it difficult to give up?

If I thought of it at all,

I thought I could perfectly well go on with a career.

It didn't seem to...

And it seemed to me it would have been of great value to the Queen,

when she became Queen eventually,

to have somebody who was, in a sense,

professionally qualified in something

and not just traipsing around.

-NEWSREEL:

-'It is with the greatest sorrow

'that we make the following announcement.

'The King passed peacefully away in his sleep earlier this morning.'

When the news came through, the Duke and the Queen were in Kenya,

on their way to Australia for an official tour.

According to the Duke's Private Secretary, Philip looked,

"As if you'd dropped half the world on him."

There was no chance now of him returning to the Navy.

I think the death of the King was a most appalling shock, really,

for both the Princess, who then became Queen, and for Prince Philip.

They should have had at least another five years, really.

And it all obviously changed overnight.

So, I think it must have been very, very difficult for both of them.

On 2nd June 1953, at the Queen's Coronation,

the Duke of Edinburgh stepped forward

and knelt in homage to his sovereign.

He placed his hands between hers and said...

The Queen's accession to the throne

was a turning point in the Duke's life.

He was no longer his wife's equal. He was now her subject.

I think the first year for him

after the Queen became Queen must have been difficult,

when, at the State Opening of Parliament,

your chair is lower than the Queen's.

You're very much pushed into the background.

Prime Minister, Your Majesty.

And while the Queen has access to state papers,

and a weekly meeting with the Prime Minister of the day,

the Duke has no such role.

Instead he was given non-constitutional duties,

the job of overseeing the Royal estates and of running the family.

Something key to remember about Prince Philip

is that his life has been almost unique.

Women are accustomed to their lives being defined by the man they married.

Men of Prince Philip's generation

are not accustomed to having their lives defined by their wives.

Recognising the need to establish a firm position for the Duke,

the Queen announced that the Duke was to have,

"place, pre-eminence and precedence", next to her,

"on all occasions and in all meetings,

"except where otherwise provided by Act of Parliament".

The other thing you've talked about

is the division of labour between yourself and the Queen.

You've said in the past you've achieved a reasonable double act.

What did you mean by that? How does that work?

Well, she has a constitutional role

and has constitutional responsibilities,

which I don't.

Where we join up

is when she goes on visits which are not constitutional.

So, that works out very well.

What was more difficult for the Duke to establish

was what exactly was his role when he was away from the Queen.

The problem, of course, was to recognise what the niche was,

and to try and grow into it, and that was by trial and error.

There was no precedent,

but if I asked somebody, "What do you expect me to do?"

they all looked blank.

They had no idea. Nobody had much idea.

So, not very helpful, then?

Well, it wasn't they weren't helpful,

but nobody had really thought about it.

So, it was really, eventually, trial and error.

And how did you go about finding that niche?

Well, various people suggested things.

I know that it was suggested

that I should take on some sort of charity,

and my uncle, Lord Mountbatten, persuaded me to...

He followed my father-in-law

as president of The National Playing Fields Association,

and he suggested I should take that on

because it would have given me

some connection with recreational life in the country,

and it turned out to be very valuable.

What do you boys want?

ALL: We want to see the boss!

I'm afraid he's very busy.

-It's very important.

-We want to see the boss!

-Please can we see him!

-What do you want to see me about?

-Cos we want a playing field.

-Well, you've come to the right place.

The Playing Fields Association was a huge success,

and one of the first of over 800 different organisations

that came knocking at the Duke's door.

And when you talk about finding a niche, how did you set about doing that?

Wait for invitations.

-Is that right?

-Roughly, yes.

Because one thing after another, people started saying,

"Will you come do this? Will you come do that?"

And that accumulated and snowballed like you wouldn't believe it.

Alongside the Duke of Edinburgh's Award,

the project that has given the Duke the biggest international profile

is the conservation of the natural world.

His importance to conservation worldwide has been absolutely huge.

You can go anywhere in the world

and he will know where you have to make the connection,

where you have to put the pressure, what you have to do.

And he's very practical in those terms.

50 years ago, the Duke was asked to be the first UK president of the World Wildlife Fund.

And then 20 years later, he became the organisation's international president.

He wasn't asked because he was the Duke of Edinburgh.

He was asked because he was the best person in the world

to become the president, and we were very ambitious.

He was much more than a figurehead of WWF

because he would look at programmes

both for fundraising and conservation.

He went on many tours, different parts of the world,

to promote conservation, went into the field, met the workers there,

met the local government officials.

He was just amazing.

If we've got this extraordinary diversity on this globe,

it seems awfully silly for us to destroy it,

because all these other creatures have an equal right to exist here.

We have no prior rights to the Earth than anybody else.

And if they're here, let's give them a chance to survive.

Would you describe yourself as a green?

-As green?

-No. No.

Why not?

Well, because I think that there's a difference

between being concerned for the conservation of nature

and being a bunny hugger.

A bunny hugger. What do you mean by that?

Well, can't you imagine?

-It's not a term I've heard before, I must say.

-Haven't you?

-People who simply love animals.

-What, in a sentimental way?

Yes, well, most people...

When I was president of WWF

I got more letters about the way animals were treated in zoos

than about any concern for the survival of a species.

People can't get their heads round the idea of a species surviving.

They're more concerned about how you treat a donkey in Sicily or something.

In 1986, the Duke combined his practical and unsentimental approach to conservation

with a long-standing interest in religion

and its affects on the world.

We asked leaders of the main faiths to discuss amongst themselves

what their attitude was

to the natural creation, or to the natural environment, with a view to,

if they then thought that they had any responsibility for it,

to try and disseminate that within their communities.

The Duke's initiative was welcomed, and in 1995,

an organisation called ARC,

or the Alliance of Religions and Conservation, was launched.

Prince Philip had the vision to see this could go much bigger

and that it could actually become one of the most powerful forces

in the whole conservation movement.

The fact that the major faiths

own about 8% of the habitable surface of the planet,

they either run or contribute to over 50% of all schools worldwide,

and they're trusted.

In many countries in the world, nobody trusts the government,

nobody trusts international agencies,

they do trust their faiths, and the religious environmental organisations

are the fastest-growing environmental organisations in the world.

What do you see as the biggest challenges in conservation?

The growing human population.

Because from where we are, there's nothing else.

And do you have views about what should be done about that?

Can't you guess?

Well, it could be on a spectrum

from mass sterilisation to...

No, no, no!

..to greater availability of contraception.

I don't know what your views are as to what can be done about it.

I think it might be described as voluntary family limitation.

As we know, he always speaks his mind.

Sometimes not necessarily with a high degree of tact,

but on the other hand, I think that people

have come to expect that of him and they really rather enjoy it.

They think, "How nice to hear somebody actually say what they think."

For decades, often trying to lighten the atmosphere,

the Duke has come up with off-the-cuff remarks

that have been lapped up by the world's press.

Now, he's a man known for his plain speaking

and on his trip to Australia,

the Duke of Edinburgh hasn't disappointed.

He caused something of a furore

when he asked a group of Aboriginal dancers

if they still threw their spears at each other.

During a visit to the new Welsh Assembly in May, he met a group

from the British Deaf Association, standing by a Caribbean band.

"Deaf? If you're near there, no wonder you're deaf," he reportedly told them.

Annoyingly for the Duke, his often rather light-hearted approach

is sometimes misunderstood, with many of his comments seized upon

by journalists waiting, notebook or camera to hand.

Do you feel that the press has been unfair to you?

Has given you a bit of a hard time?

Misrepresented you?

I suppose, yes, occasionally, but, um...

I think the...the... It has its own agenda

and that's it, you just have to live with it.

But it must frustrate you. I mean, certainly, you've said before

that there are things you might have got involved in or wanted to do

and, you know, the press would kind of ruin it.

Well, if you're standing on a railway line

and an express train's coming down,

the sensible thing is to get out of the way, isn't it?

But that's not always been easy for the Duke.

In 1986, on a tour of China,

he was talking to a group of British students off the record

and quipped that if they stayed in China much longer,

they would come back with slitty eyes.

This thing keeps coming up about, "Oh, yes, er, Prince Philip -

"he says this about people having slitty eyes," or whatever it is.

Is that fair or do you think, to some extent,

-you're the author of your own misfortune?

-Who reported it?

-Well, it was reported in the press, but you...

-By whom?

By newspapers.

But who?

Well, the-the...

The Times correspondent.

Right.

Called Mr Hamilton.

But for him, it wouldn't have come out.

I mean, there are two ways of looking at that. You could say,

"For heaven's sake, he was making a joke, lightening the atmosphere, what's the problem?"

Or you could say, "It was a bit un-PC, maybe he shouldn't have said that."

It had no effect in China, if that's what you're worried about.

I'm not worried about it at all, but I wondered what you felt about it?

I'd forgotten about it.

It was meant to be funny

and in the time of when it was made,

I'm willing to bet you they all started laughing.

But the media picked it up,

it was taken out of context.

Now, you can easily say, "Well, a man of his stature

"and his exposure to the media should be aware of the..."

Well, so what? The fact is that he's bigger than all of those things.

Nowhere has the press been more invasive

than in its examination of Royal relationships.

But throughout it all, and usually behind the scenes,

those close to him say that the Duke has acted as patriarch,

providing support and advice for a family sometimes under fire.

I think what he is very good at

is recognising the extraordinary strains

that the Royal Family are under

and that they put the young ones under.

I think first and foremost, he will give a pillar to lean on

in terms of what is right and what is appropriate

and how to deal with some of the real strains and stresses.

I think also, he is, in his own way, very affectionate.

So I think that quietly, privately, he will be a tremendous support.

And yet, there have been internal stresses.

For years, there has been a perception

that the Duke and his eldest son

have not always seen eye to eye.

I think from Prince Charles's side,

there is a hesitation about his father.

His father is quite a strong, authoritarian figure,

there's no question about that.

Erm, and I think that there have been...

There is a real difference of personality there.

In terms of basic affection... No, I think that's strong.

But I think in terms of a sense of respecting each other's spaces,

and sometimes avoiding each other's spaces,

that's there as well.

When it came to the Royal Family's most traumatic event in recent history,

the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales,

the Duke provided much needed support to his son's family.

The plan was that Diana's boys

would walk behind the coffin with Charles Spencer.

There was no plan for the Duke of Edinburgh to do so.

But Prince William wasn't sure - he was a young boy -

that he was comfortable with doing that.

But Prince Philip encouraged him, he said, "I think in years to come,

"you will be pleased that you did walk behind your mother's coffin."

And still Prince William persisted in not being sure about it

and Prince Philip said, "Well, if I walk too, will that help?"

There is a very touching moment, if you look at the film,

where they go through an arch in Horse Guards Parade

and when they, for a brief moment,

are not fully visible to the crowd.

And at that moment,

Prince Philip leant forward and...

touched the boys to reassure them, to strengthen them at that moment.

I think you saw him at his best at that moment.

That was him being...

the father of the family,

holding them and supporting them.

Through several periods of instability in the monarchy in recent times,

one thing has remained rock solid -

the Duke's marriage to the Queen.

I would never dream of commenting on anybody else's marriage!

But I have seen them in a boat,

I've seen them on flight decks together,

I've seen them on those quiet moments -

the rest periods in the middle of an engagement.

They pull each other's leg.

Er, they tell each other off.

Er, you know, they just look a regular couple

who clearly know each other terribly well.

A few years ago, I attended the Royal Variety Performance

with the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh and, during the interval,

we went into one of the reception areas where the Queen, being the Queen, was the centre of attention.

And when the Queen is the centre of attention,

Prince Philip keeps out of the way, he ensures people can see the Queen.

I stood with Prince Philip at the edge of this room, he had a glass in his hand,

and the Queen was there, surrounded by a whole crowd of show-business personalities.

And I noticed across the crowded room that she looked up and caught his eye

and as he caught her eye, he simply raised his glass to her.

And I thought, "Yeah. Something's being going on here for 60 years that we probably can't get at."

Seems all right.

-It's all right, isn't it?

-Yes.

When you were thinking about your role,

-you saw your first duty, first and foremost, to support the Queen?

-Yes.

-That's the right way to describe it?

-Yes.

And what does that involve?

Helping her! I mean, er, supporting her,

doing anything that, er, is valuable to her.

In 1997, the Queen herself

acknowledged the support the Duke had provided over their lifetime.

All too often, I fear Prince Philip has had to listen to me speaking.

Frequently, we have discussed my intended speech beforehand

and as you will imagine,

his views have been expressed in a forthright manner.

He is someone who doesn't take easily to compliments,

but he has quite simply been my strength and stay all these years.

Together, the Queen and the Duke

have undertaken many thousands of engagements

within the United Kingdom and overseas.

So far, they've completed over 300 visits to every corner of the globe.

But there is a sense that, at the age of 90,

he might like to relinquish some of his official duties.

I reckon I've done my bit. I want to enjoy myself a bit now...

um, with less responsibility,

less frantic rushing about,

less preparation, less trying to think of something to say.

On top of that...memory's going, I can't remember names and things.

Yes, I'm just sort of winding down.

-Are you?

-Yes.

Taking on less...less duties, that kind of thing?

I'm not taking on less, I'm getting rid of things.

Quite, er, consciously, quite deliberately,

he is getting rid of a lot of his patronages, he is giving up

the Chancellorship of Cambridge

and of Edinburgh,

two major universities,

and of a number of other charities

that have taken up quite a lot of his time.

A recognition that, quite frankly, the time's come.

And it's being done in an ordered fashion

so that succession can be properly thought through

and his departure can be properly managed.

And yet in 2011, the Duke shows little sign that he is letting up.

In the spring, the Duke was at Westminster Abbey,

reading the lesson at the Maundy service.

"Then the righteous will reply,'

"Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and fed you?

"Or thirsty and gave you drink?

"A stranger and took you home?

"Or naked and clothed you?

"When did we see you ill or in prison and came to visit you?

"And the King will answer, 'I tell you this.

"'Anything you did for one of my brothers here, however humble,

"'you did for me.'"

A week later, he was celebrating his grandson's wedding.

Then came the historic visit to Ireland with the Queen.

Straight after, the Queen and the Duke

welcomed President Obama and his wife to Buckingham Palace.

He keeps on saying he's trying to slow down and take on less,

but I-I haven't...I haven't seen much evidence of that,

he seems to fill the...fill the, um,

the gaps with lots of other things, which is fantastic.

And the fact that he's still got that fascination

and interest and energy is superb.

I followed your schedule a little bit

and it strikes me you do an awful lot, but that's...

Well, you should have been around a few years ago.

But I don't think... you don't really want

nonagenarians as the heads of, er, organisations, you know,

which are trying to do something useful.

There is an ageism in this country, everywhere, and quite rightly too,

because I think you go downhill physically, mentally and everything.

But I don't think any of the charities that I have spoken to

that have your involvement would ever describe you as past your sell-by date.

No, but it's better to get out before you reach the sell-by date.

After months of trying to work out who the Duke actually is

and then interviewing him - not an entirely easy ride, may I say -

I can understand why people see him in turns as reactionary, modern,

charming, bad-tempered,

thoughtful, funny

and more than a little impatient.

But he is not a man who is going to dwell on these apparent contradictions.

It seems to me, from an early age,

the Duke learnt the vital skill of self-reliance

and the ability to get on with the job in hand.

Asking him to talk about himself

is like a red rag to a bull.

He represents a generation, almost gone now,

which doesn't moan about what might have been,

but concentrates on what can be done now.

And despite all he has achieved,

he is, I think, genuinely bewildered by all the interest in him.

"I'm 90," he says, "so what?"

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