GREEK PRINCE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22201, 11 December 1946, Page 5

GREEK PRINCE

RECORD JN NAVY ROYAL FAMILY LINKS NATURALISATION SOUGHT (Special Correspondent.) (10 a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 10. It is pointed out in London that the application for naturalisation made by Prince Philip of Greece considerably antedates the recent rumours of his pending engagement to Princess Elizabeth—rumours which have been subsequently ' denied from Buckingham Palace, but which still persist. Prince Philip, who is 25. formally renounced his right to the Greek Throne in 1944. He has spent nearly all his life in Britain, where he made his home with Lord Louis Mountbatten. His father was Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, one of the younger sons of George I of the Hellenes and a brother of Queen Alexandra of Britain. His mother was Princess Alice of Battenberg, the eldest daughter of Prince Louis of Battenberg, who became a naturalised British subiect and entered the Royal Navy in 1868. Second Cousin of King. Prince Louis, in 1917, in common with all other members of the Royal Family, relinquished his German name and assumed that of- Mountbatten. He was granted the titles of Marquis of Milfordhaven, Earl of Medina and Viscount Alderney. Prince Philip is thus a great grandson of Queen Victoria, a second cousin of the King and a nephew of Lord Louis Mountbatten. Prince Philip entered the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1939 on the understanding that he would have to be naturalised before he could take a commission. The question did not arise during his tjme as a cadet and midshipman, but in 1941 he applied for naturalisation, only to be told that the regulations were suspended for the duration of the war.

When he renounced his right to the Greek Throne in 1944, he asked that his application for naturalisation should be considered as soon as the process was resumed and it is this application which has now gone forward. Naval College Honours.

Prince Philip was awarded the King's Dirk for the finest all-round cadet during his term at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, and also the Eardly Crockett Prize for the best cadet.

When the war broke out. he served first in the Ramillies as a midshipman and subsequently in the cruisers Kent and Shropshire and battlecruiser Valiant.

While serving in the Valiant during the Battle of Matapan, he won mention in despatches for his work in charge of a searchlight patrol. In his sublieutenant’s course he gained four firsts and one second and was awarded nine months’ seniority out of a possible 10. In February, 1944, he was appointed first lieutenant of the .Whelp, one of the largest of modern British destroyers and served in her until the end of the war. He was present at the Sicily landing and at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay. When appointed to the Whelp he was one of the youngest officers in the navy to hold a second-in-command’s appointment in that class of ship. Cannot Speak Greek.

On his return to Britain at the end of the way, he was selected for a course at the Royal “naval training establishment in North Wales, an appointment given only to officers who had shown outstanding qualities of leadership. Prince Philip left Greece when he was only 12 months old and cannot speak Greek He was educated at an English preparatory school at Cheam and a Scottish public school at Gordonstoun. Those who know him, describe him as tall, fair complexioned, good looking and typically English in manner. He speaks English without a trace of a foreign accent and the men who served under him thought their legs were being pulled when they were first told he was a Greek Prince.