Supporting the Queen
As consort, Philip supported his wife in her duties as sovereign, accompanying her to ceremonies such as the State Opening of Parliament in various countries, state dinners, and tours abroad. As chairman of the Coronation Commission, he became the first member of the royal family to fly in a helicopter, visiting the troops that were to take part in the ceremony. Philip was not himself crowned in the coronation service, but knelt before Elizabeth, with her hands enclosing his, and swore to be her "liege man of life and limb". For six months, spanning 1953 and 1954, they toured the Commonwealth; as was customary during previous tours, the children remained in Britain.
In the early 1950s, Philip's sister-in-law, Margaret, considered marrying a divorced older man, Peter Townsend. The press accused Philip of being hostile to the match, to which he replied: "I haven't done anything." Eventually, Margaret and Townsend parted. In 1960, Margaret married Antony Armstrong-Jones, who was created Earl of Snowdon the following year. They divorced in 1978; Margaret did not remarry.
In 1956, Philip and Kurt Hahn founded The Duke of Edinburgh's Award to give young people "a sense of responsibility to themselves and their communities". In the same year, he also established the Commonwealth Study Conferences. From 1956 to 1957, he travelled around the world aboard the newly commissioned HMY Britannia, during which he opened the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne and visited the Antarctic, becoming the first royal to cross the Antarctic Circle. Elizabeth and the children remained in Britain. On the return leg of the journey, Philip's private secretary, Mike Parker, was sued for divorce by his wife. As with Townsend, the press still portrayed divorce as a scandal, and Parker eventually resigned. He later said that Philip had been very supportive and "the Queen was wonderful throughout. She regarded divorce as a sadness, not a hanging offence." In a public show of support, Elizabeth created Parker a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.
Further press reports claimed that the royal couple were drifting apart, which enraged Philip and dismayed Elizabeth, who issued a strongly worded denial. She granted him the style and title of a Prince of the United Kingdom by Letters Patent on 22 February 1957; it was gazetted that Philip was to be known as "His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh". Philip was appointed to the Queen's Privy Council for Canada on 14 October 1957, taking his Oath of Allegiance before the Queen in person at her Canadian residence, Rideau Hall. Remarks he made two years later to the Canadian Medical Association on the subject of youth and sport were taken as a suggestion that Canadian children were out of shape. This was at first considered "tactless", but Philip was later admired for his encouragement of physical fitness.
While in Canada in 1969, he spoke about his views on republicanism:
It is a complete misconception to imagine that the monarchy exists in the interests of the monarch. It doesn't. It exists in the interests of the people. If at any time any nation decides that the system is unacceptable, then it is up to them to change it.
In 1960, Philip attended the National Eisteddfod of Wales wearing a long green robe, where he was initiated as an Honorary Ovate by the Archdruid of Wales, Edgar Phillips, through his bardic name Philip Meirionnydd, reflecting his title of Earl of Merioneth. In 1961, he became the first member of the royal family to be interviewed on television, appearing on Panorama to answer questions by Richard Dimbleby about the Commonwealth Technical Training Week, an initiative of which he was patron. In 1969, he made a similar appearance on Meet the Press during a tour of North America.
When, in 1965, the prime minister of Southern Rhodesia, Ian Smith, enacted his illegal Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom, the British diplomat Michael Palliser suggested to Foreign Office Minister George Thomson that Elizabeth appoint Philip as governor-general of Rhodesia and have him arrive with a detachment of Coldstream Guards to dismiss Smith and the Rhodesian Front government. Palliser and Thomson decided the plan was not feasible, both because it would draw the royal family into politics and because of the risk to Philip's safety.
In October 1994, Philip became the first member of the British royal family to visit Israel. He travelled to Jerusalem to attend a ceremony at Yad Vashem honouring his mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, who had been recognised as one of the Righteous Among the Nations for sheltering members of a Jewish family during the Nazi occupation of Greece.
