London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Nov 21, 2025

Prince Philip: William and Harry pay tribute to grandfather

Prince Philip: William and Harry pay tribute to grandfather

The Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex have paid tribute to their grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh.

In separate statements, Prince William described him as an "extraordinary man", while Prince Harry said he was "a man of service, honour and great humour" and the "legend of banter".

"I will miss my Grandpa, but I know he would want us to get on with the job," Prince William added.

Prince Philip died at Windsor Castle on Friday aged 99.

It comes as parliaments across the UK were recalled to remember the duke.

"My grandfather's century of life was defined by service - to his country and Commonwealth, to his wife and Queen, and to our family," Prince William said in a statement.

"I feel lucky to have not just had his example to guide me, but his enduring presence well into my own adult life - both through good times and the hardest days.

"I will always be grateful that my wife had so many years to get to know my grandfather and for the kindness he showed her.

"I will never take for granted the special memories my children will always have of their great-grandpa coming to collect them in his carriage and seeing for themselves his infectious sense of adventure as well as his mischievous sense of humour!"

He added that he and his wife, Catherine, would "continue to do what he would have wanted and will support the Queen in the years ahead".

Kensington Palace shared a photograph of Prince George with his great-grandfather Philip, taken by the Duchess of Cambridge, alongside the message from William

Paying tribute to his grandfather, Prince Harry said: "He was authentically himself, with a seriously sharp wit, and could hold the attention of any room due to his charm - and also because you never knew what he might say next.

"He will be remembered as the longest reigning consort to the monarch, a decorated serviceman, a prince and a duke.

"But to me, like many of you who have lost a loved one or grandparent over the pain of this past year, he was my grandpa: master of the barbecue, legend of banter, and cheeky right 'til the end."

There was clearly a lot of fun

By Jonny Dymond, Royal correspondent

He walked next to them on the hardest public day of their lives, in the public procession behind their mother's coffin. And now the brothers pay tribute in their own style, with tenderness and with love.

Harry, you may have noticed, now lives in California. His message is more informal, with memories of family outings, the back and forth of conversation, of a grandfather never short of a quip or an impatient snort.

William writes as a grandson who has lost a guide and support; but also as a father who saw the mutual delight of grandfather and son together.

Both men flesh out in the few words they write the man they, and the nation, have said farewell to. There was clearly a lot of laughter. There was clearly a lot of fun.

Once more the gruff caricature we were left with of the duke is re-drawn, and filled out.

Prince Harry described Prince Philip as "a rock" for the Queen "with unparalleled devotion".

"While I could go on, I know that right now he would say to all of us, beer in hand, 'Oh do get on with it!'" he said.

"So, on that note, Grandpa, thank you for your service, your dedication to Granny, and for always being yourself."

Prince Harry signed off his message with the words "Per Mare, Per Terram", meaning "By Sea, By Land" in Latin - the motto of the Royal Marines, of which Prince Philip and Prince Harry were both Captain General.

Philip held the role for 64 years before retiring in 2017. Harry succeeded him briefly before stepping down as a working royal last year when he moved to the US.

Prince Harry and Prince Philip were both Captain General of the Royal Marines

Meanwhile, MPs began proceedings in the House of Commons by observing a minute's silence to remember the duke's life.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Prince Philip had "touched the lives of millions", including through the Duke of Edinburgh's Award schemes.

"By his tireless, unstinting service to the Queen, the Commonwealth, the armed forces, the environment, to millions of young people and not-so-young people around the world, and to countless other causes, he gave us and he gives us all a model of selflessness and of putting others before ourselves," he said.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the duke's life "shaped modern Britain and provided much-needed stability to our national story".

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon led the tributes in Holyrood, describing the duke and the Queen as a "true partnership".

In the Welsh Senedd, First Minister Mark Drakeford said Prince Philip led a "remarkable" life and had championed a "broad diversity" of causes in Wales.

And in the Northern Ireland Assembly, First Minister Arlene Foster described the duke as a "true intergenerational legacy to our youth, our United Kingdom and the world's environment".

Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill said there had been "significant interventions" by the Royal Family to "assist in the building of relationships between Britain and Ireland", which should be recognised.

In the Lords, former children's television presenter Baroness Benjamin said Prince Philip had made a "gigantic contribution" to Britain and the Commonwealth and they had kept up a correspondence over the years, including him writing to congratulate her on receiving her OBE and damehood.

A ceremonial royal funeral, which will be televised, will be held for the duke at St George's Chapel, in the grounds of Windsor Castle, at 15:00 BST on 17 April.

His children and grandchildren are expected to attend and Prince Harry has arrived in the UK from the US for the service. His wife, Meghan, who is pregnant, will remain at home in California on the advice of doctors.

A spokesman for the Duke of Sussex said he was at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, his former residence, observing coronavirus regulations.

It will be the first time Prince William and Prince Harry will meet face to face since the Sussexes aired criticisms of the Royal Family in an interview to US broadcaster Oprah Winfrey last month.

On Sunday, former prime minister Sir John Major, who was appointed a special guardian to the brothers after their mother, Diana, Princess of Wales died in 1997, said the "shared grief" over the death of Prince Philip is an "ideal opportunity" to mend any rifts in the Royal Family.

Over the weekend, Prince Philip's children - the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal, the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex - also paid tribute to their father, with Prince Andrew saying the Queen had described his death as "having left a huge void in her life".

Funeral preparations under way at Windsor

by Duncan Kennedy, BBC News

Windsor is now a town with twin-sided attentions: the crowd-less castle side, sealed-off and busy preparing for a royal funeral, alongside the energised shop side, resurfacing from lockdown.

At the entrance to the castle, the glistening steel barriers of the media enclosure are packed with cameras trained on the ancient grey walls. They look out on a scene of perpetual preparation: forklift trucks, catering vans and council vehicles enter, leave, turn and reverse.

Scaffolding, chairs, flowers and boxes are disgorged. And miles of cables are being unfurled from vast drums like never-ending electrical snakes by the television, radio and lighting professionals who will bring the funeral to the world.

Police have replaced pedestrians in this cordoned-off unit of determined workflows: on foot, on bicycles and in their cars, their blacked-out windows gliding past the castle's famous black-cloaked wardens, lined up across the entrance.

The paper plans of countless committees across endless decades are coming to a melancholy fruition, to give His Royal Highness, the Duke of Edinburgh, a fitting send-off.


"A huge void in her life": Prince Andrew describes the Queen's feelings of loss


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
ASU Launches ASU London, Extending Its Innovation Brand to the UK Education Market
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to Visit China in January as Diplomatic Reset Accelerates
Google Launches Voluntary Buyouts for UK Staff Amid AI-Driven Company Realignment
UK braces for freezing snap as snow and ice warnings escalate
Majority of UK Novelists Fear AI Could Displace Their Work, Cambridge Study Finds
UK's Carrier Strike Group Achieves Full Operational Capability During NATO Drill in Mediterranean
Trump and Mamdani to Meet at the White House: “The Communist Asked”
Nvidia Again Beats Forecasts, Shares Jump in After-Hours Trading
Wintry Conditions Persist Along UK Coasts After Up to Seven Centimetres of Snow
UK Inflation Eases to 3.6 % in October, Opening Door for Rate Cut
UK Accelerates Munitions Factory Build-Out to Reinforce Warfighting Readiness
UK Consumer Optimism Plunges Ahead of November Budget
A Decade of Innovation Stagnation at Apple: The Cook Era Critique
Caribbean Reparations Commission Seeks ‘Mutually Beneficial’ Justice from UK
EU Insists UK Must Contribute Financially for Access to Electricity Market and Broader Ties
UK to Outlaw Live-Event Ticket Resales Above Face Value
President Donald Trump Hosts Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at White House to Seal Major Defence and Investment Deals
German Entertainment Icons Alice and Ellen Kessler Die Together at Age 89
UK Unveils Sweeping Asylum Reforms with 20-Year Settlement Wait and Conditional Status
UK Orders Twitter Hacker to Repay £4.1 Million Following 2020 High-Profile Breach
Popeyes UK Eyes Century Mark as Fried-Chicken Chain Accelerates Roll-out
Two-thirds of UK nurses report working while unwell amid staffing crisis
Britain to Reform Human-Rights Laws in Sweeping Asylum Policy Overhaul
Nearly Half of Job Losses Under Labour Government Affect UK Youth
UK Chancellor Reeves Eyes High-Value Home Levy in Budget to Raise Tens of Billions
UK Urges Poland to Choose Swedish Submarines in Multi-Billion € Defence Bid
US Border Czar Tom Homan Declares UK No Longer a ‘Friend’ Amid Intelligence Rift
UK Announces Reversal of Income Tax Hike Plans Ahead of Budget
Starmer Faces Mounting Turmoil as Leaked Briefings Ignite Leadership Plot Rumours
UK Commentator Sami Hamdi Returns Home After US Visa Revocation and Detention
UK Eyes Denmark-Style Asylum Rules in Major Migration Shift
UK Signals Intelligence Freeze Amid US Maritime Drug-Strike Campaign
TikTok Awards UK & Ireland 2025 Celebrates Top Creators Including Max Klymenko as Creator of the Year
UK Growth Nearly Stalls at 0.1% in Q3 as Cyberattack Halts Car Production
Apple Denied Permission to Appeal UK App Store Ruling, Faces Over £1bn Liability
UK Chooses Wylfa for First Small Modular Reactors, Drawing Sharp U.S. Objection
Starmer Faces Growing Labour Backlash as Briefing Sparks Authority Crisis
Reform UK Withdraws from BBC Documentary Amid Legal Storm Over Trump Speech Edit
UK Prime Minister Attempts to Reassert Authority Amid Internal Labour Leadership Drama
UK Upholds Firm Rules on Stablecoins to Shield Financial System
Brussels Divided as UK-EU Reset Stalls Over Budget Access
Prince Harry’s Remembrance Day Essay Expresses Strong Regret at Leaving Britain
UK Unemployment Hits 5% as Wage Growth Slows, Paving Way for Bank of England Rate Cut
Starmer Warns of Resurgent Racism in UK Politics as He Vows Child-Poverty Reforms
UK Grocery Inflation Slows to 4.7% as Supermarkets Launch Pre-Christmas Promotions
UK Government Backs the BBC amid Editing Scandal and Trump Threat of Legal Action
UK Assessment Mis-Estimated Fallout From Palestine Action Ban, Records Reveal
UK Halts Intelligence Sharing with US Amid Lethal Boat-Strike Concerns
King Charles III Leads Britain in Remembrance Sunday Tribute to War Dead
UK Retail Sales Growth Slows as Households Hold Back Ahead of Black Friday and Budget
×