Prince Philip is a remarkable man

All the papers have been filled with stories from people who have met the Duke of Edinburgh. I can now tell mine. Early on during my time at the Treasury, I was announced to the receiving line at the state banquet in Buckingham Palace for the President of Indonesia as ‘Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer’. The President looked a little bemused, so the Duke turned to him and explained: ‘He’s the man in charge of all the money.’ He then paused, and added helpfully: ‘Except we haven’t got any money left.’

On another occasion, I found myself answering engineering questions from him about why we had chosen a pressurised water reactor design for the new Hinkley Point nuclear plant. The interrogation I faced from this remarkable nonagenarian, covered in medals and gold braid, was considerably more taxing than any I got on the issue from any parliamentary committee — or journalist.