HRH Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh
On 17 April 2021 at 4 PM Danish time, the funeral of His Royal Highness Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, takes place in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. The Prince, who for more than 73 years was married to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, was born Prince of Greece and Denmark. At the funeral, Prince Philip's Danish and Greek decorations will be placed in the church together with The Prince's medals and decorations from Great Britain and the Commonwealth countries.
His Royal Highness Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, was bestowed with the Danish Order of the Elephant on 16 November 1947. As a Knight of the Order of the Elephant, Prince Philip’s coat of arms was displayed on an armorial plate in the Chapel of the Royal Orders of Knighthood in Frederiksborg Palace Church, Denmark. Prince Philip was born Prince of Greece and Denmark and bore the Greek royal coat of arms until 1947. From 1947-1949, Prince Philip used the coat of arms shown here. It is the Greek royal coat of arms with a shield inset at the top left containing the coat of arms of his maternal great-grandmother, Princess Alice, daughter of Queen Victoria. The shield is held by two supporters. To the left Hercules from the Greek royal coat of arms and to the right a lion, which originates from the coat of arms of Prince Philip’s maternal grandfather, Prince Louis of Battenberg, later Mountbatten. A so-called naval crown is added around the neck of the lion as a reference to Prince Philip’s military career in the British Navy.
The shield is crowned with a special crown, and, above this, a royal helmet. From the helmet hangs the mantling in gold and ermine. The mantling and the royal helmet are otherwise used exclusively by the British monarch and the heir to the throne. On the helmet is a so-called crest, which consists of black and white ostrich feathers. The crest is also inspired by the Mountbatten coat of arms The shield is encircled by the Order of the Garter with the order’s motto HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE. Prince Philip’s personal motto was “God is my help”.
In 1949, Prince Philip received a new coat of arms, in which the shield contained the arms of Denmark, Greece, Mountbatten and Edinburgh. The other elements of the coat of arms remained unchanged. As is the tradition for Knights of the Order of the Elephant, the original armorial plate in the chapel was not altered on that occasion.
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