Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh will carry on with his public engagements as normal for his 90th birthday.
But despite him not wanting a fuss to be made, well-wishers have sent more than 2000 birthday cards to Buckingham Palace – 10 times the amount received for his other birthdays.
MPs pay tribute to Prince Philip’s gaffes, er, “unique turns of phrase”
David Cameron has led the nation’s tributes to Prince Philip this week, speaking of the country’s gratitude for the work undertaken by the Duke who supports or holds the patronage of more than 800 charities.
The Prime Minister described the Prince Philip as a “remarkable man who has given years of his service to our country, someone who has defended his nation in time of war, a man who has stood alongside Her Majesty the Queen for over six decades, a man who has given his time and effort and passion to so many great causes up and down the country, across the Commonwealth and indeed the world”.
Other tributes have been paid to Philip, with the Royal Mail producing a £5 commemorative coin in his honour, featuring for the first time an image of a consort on one side and a reigning monarch on the other.
To mark the milestone birthday, a 62-gun salute will be fired at 1pm from Gun Wharf at the Tower of London by the Honourable Artillery Company, the City of London’s Territorial Army regiment.
Prince Philip has spoken about what the future holds for him in a BBC interview describing how he is reducing his workload before he reaches his “sell-by date”.
He said: “I reckon I’ve done my bit, I want to enjoy myself for a bit now. With less responsibility, less rushing about, less preparation, less trying to think of something to say.
“On top of that your memory’s going, I can’t remember names. Yes, I’m just sort of winding down.”
This week, MPs paid tribute to Prince Philip’s unique turn of phrase. Cameron. Labour leader Ed Miliband said “His unique turn of phrase has become a much-loved feature of modern British life.”
Some of the Duke’s gaffes are: “How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test?’ To a Scottish driving instructor in 1995; and “It looks as though it was put in by an Indian.” The Prince on a fuse box given during a tour of a Scottish factory in August 1999. He later clarified: “I meant to say cowboys. I just got my cowboys and Indians mixed up.”
