Horses and polo. Gaffes

Horses and polo

The Duke himself spoke of his own struggles to find a purpose within the royal family, saying he took on patronages out of duty rather than passion.  

" I didn't want to be president of the World Wildlife Fund, " he said in an interview in 1992. " I was asked to do it. I'd much rather have stayed in the navy, frankly. "  

But it is for his charitable work that many will remember him. As of 2016, more than 2. 4 million people had achieved a Duke of Edinburgh Award in the United Kingdom alone. As of May 2017, Buckingham Palace said Philip had carried out 22, 191 solo engagements since becoming Prince Consort in 1952. He made 637 solo overseas visits, more than a third of them to Commonwealth countries. He also gave 5, 493 speeches and authored 14 books.  

Yet he found time to pursue his own interests: over the years these have included polo, barbecues, competitive horse carriage driving (a sport in which he has represented Britain) and practical jokes. He even trained to be a pilot, being awarded his " wings" in 1953.

Gaffes

Over the years Philip also cultivated a reputation for numerous racist comments and gaffes, which helped shape some of his public persona.  

In 1986, Philip made a number of remarks that offended many Chinese people.  

Notoriously, on an official visit to China, he told a group of British exchange students: " If you stay here much longer you'll all be slitty-eyed. " His verdict on the Chinese capital? " Ghastly. "  

The same year, he told a World Wildlife Fund meeting that " if it has got four legs and it is not a chair, if it has got two wings and flies but is not an aeroplane and if it swims and it is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it. "  

In 1998, he asked a British student who had been trekking in Papua New Guinea: " You managed not to get eaten then? "  

Later life

Philip finally retired from public life in the fall of 2017 but continued to make some public appearances. He attended the wedding of his grandson Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in May 2018, followed by the wedding of granddaughter Princess Eugenie to Jack Brooksbank in October that year.

Joanna Lumley, the British actress, who knew Philip for years, labeled him an " extraordinary character. "  

" He rides, sails, drives horses, fishes and swims and does stuff, " Lumley told ITV. " He really could have been James Bond, actually. "  

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