Prince Philip’s naval career, from ‘best cadet’ to World War 2 service: A look back

“As far as I am concerned, there has never been an ‘if only’ except, perhaps, that I regret not having been able to continue a career in the navy,” Prince Phillip once said, while being candid about the loss of his naval calling to marry the young Princess Elizabeth. 

The Duke of Edinburgh, who died on April 9 at the age of 99, had a love of the sea and for the Royal Navy despite not being able to serve after becoming consort. Had the Duke of Edinburgh not married the young Princess Elizabeth, some believe he would have become First Sea Lord, according to reports by Independent.

Prince Philip's wartime heroics

Prince Philip's first encounter with the Royal Navy was when he was 18-month-old. Son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Princess Alice of Battenberg, Prince Phillip was born on the idyllic island of Corfu in 1921. Later that year, baby Philip and his parents fled to Paris in a Royal Navy ship when his uncle King Constantine I was forced to abdicate. A year later, the family settled in St Cloud, before moving to the UK. 

Sixteen-and-a-half years later, just before the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Philip Mountbatten joined the Navy as a cadet. Philip started at the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, where he was named “best cadet”. He eventually took command of a frigate, HMS Magpie and was posted for six months at the Indian Ocean. At the age of 17 Prince Philip, joined the battleship HMS VALIANT, which fought in the Battle of Cape Matapan. His name was later mentioned in despatches for his actions during the Battle of Cape Matapan. As reported by Independent, speaking about Philip's feat, his commanding officer had said, "Thanks to his alertness and appreciation of the situation, we were able to sink in five minutes two 8in gun Italian cruisers." He was also awarded the Greek War Cross of Valour.

In 1942, at the age of 21, Philip became one of the youngest officers in the Royal Navy to be made First Lieutenant and second in command of a ship, – the destroyer escort HMS Wallace of the Rosyth Escort Force that sailed to the Indian Ocean, reported Independent. Philip also served as First Lieutenant on the destroyer HMS Whelp in the Pacific, where he helped to rescue two airmen in 1945. Philip returned to the UK in 1946. Prince Philip attended the Royal Naval Staff College at Greenwich. In 1949, Philip was appointed First Lieutenant and second in command of HMS Chequers.

Navy career cut short

Two years after the end of World War II, the royal wedding took place. He was still a serving Naval officer when he married Princess Elizabeth in 1947. As reported by BBC, Prince Philip was progressing rapidly through the ranks of the navy. However, his promising naval career was cut short with the premature death of King George VI on 6 February 1952. For Prince Philip, Elizabeth's accession to the throne meant giving up a career in the seas and Royal Navy to devote his life to royal duty

Despite an end to his naval career, Prince Philip "remained closely connected to, and actively interested in, every branch of Service life", as per royal.uk. In 1952, he was appointed Admiral of the Sea Cadet Corps, Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Cadet Force and Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Air Training Corps. The following year he was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet and appointed Captain General in the Royal Marines.

(Image Credit: AP)