Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark was born on the island of Corfu on June 10, 1921, to Prince Andrew of Greece and his wife Princess Alice, the eldest daughter of Louis Alexander Mountbatten. He inherited his titles from his father, who was a grandson of the Danish monarch Christian IX.

When the blond toddler was just one-and-a-half, the family left Greece, and Philip spent the first years of his life in France where he attended school in Paris, before being sent to Cheam Preparatory School. From Cheam, he went on to Gordonstoun, where he was Head of the School, going on to attend the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth.

When war broke out in 1939, Philip was with his mother in Athens, but the King of Greece, George II, decided the young man should return to Britain to serve in the Royal Navy. Joining up as a cadet, the 18-year-old rose up through the ranks, eventually becoming second in command of the Fleet Destroyer HMS Whelp.

Returning home in January 1946, Philip began courting the young Princess Elizabeth, a distant cousin whom he had first met when she was just 13 years old. Their engagement was announced 18 months later. By this time, the young naval officer had become a British subject and renounced his right to the Greek and Danish thrones. He had also discarded his father's family name of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg, taking instead his mother's surname - Mountbatten.

On the eve of his wedding, which took place in Westminster Abbey on Nov 20, 1947, Philip was designated a royal highness, created a Knight of the Garter and awarded the title Duke of Edinburgh. Ten years later, the Queen granted him the dignity of Prince of the United Kingdom.