The truth about Prince Philip’s ‘gaffes’

However impressive Prince Philip was in photographs, it didn’t compare to his imposing bearing in the flesh. 

When I met him in 2015 – at a lunch at the Cavalry and Guards Club for the Gallipoli Association to commemorate the centenary of the Gallipoli campaign – he was 93. He looked 20 years younger in his immaculate, navy-blue suit, with not an ounce of fat on his lean figure. At the pre-lunch drinks, he’d shaken off his assistants, and was roaming the drawing room at will, hands tucked behind his back, hawk-like visage searching the room for – not quite prey, but some kind of interesting diversion.

I was there because my great-grandfather, Lord Longford, father of the prison reformer, had been killed at Gallipoli. I was chatting to a more robust friend, whose ancestor had also served in the campaign. My friend suggested we approach the roaming Duke – something I wouldn’t have dared on my own.