Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes the death of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh;

(2) remembers his extraordinary life of service and sacrifice on behalf of the Commonwealth;

(3) acknowledges his important contribution to Australia, through his visits, patronage of numerous organisations and establishment of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards; and

(4) offers condolences to Her Majesty The Queen and members of the Royal Family.

In mourning the death of His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, we mourn not just the death of one extraordinary man but the end of a generation. Because of Prince Philip's very long life of 99 years, he represented the values of a generation of heroic men who served our country and its allies in World War II and who have now largely passed away. Prince Philip represented those manly virtues of service, duty, physical activity, steadfastness and, as he would have said, 'just getting on with it'. He was not just Prince Consort; he was an extraordinary man in his own right.

Born the year before the crown was toppled in Greece, he fled to England as a baby in an orange crate. His mother, Princess Alice, hid a Jewish family in Greece, saving them from extermination, and in Israel, where she is buried, is honoured with Israel's highest honour, named one of the Righteous among the Nations. Prince Philip was raised by his cousins, the Mountbattens; and the wonderful influence of Gordonstoun and its principal, the extraordinary Kurt Hahn. He was sent to Dartmouth naval college, where he topped his graduating class, and at 21 was the youngest first lieutenant in the Royal Navy. Prince Philip served as a naval officer in the Second World War, seeing action in Greece and Crete, the Pacific and the Indian Ocean. When war broke out, Prince Philip joined the battleship HMS Ramillies in Ceylon. On this vessel, Prince Philip first visited Australia, taking part in the escort of ANZAC troop convoys to the Suez. He was mentioned in dispatches for his actions at the Battle of Cape Matapan, and saved his ship from German aerial bombardment at the invasion of Sicily. Under fire, he demonstrated he was a great leader of men. He was present at the Japanese surrender on board the USS Missouri.

This was the distinguished naval career he put aside when he married Princess Elizabeth in 1947. How unusual a choice it would have been, especially in his generation, for a man of such promise to choose to serve in such a different capacity as Prince Consort to the Queen. Like Prince Albert to Queen Victoria, he was both a figure of stability and an innovator. Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip were married on 20 November 1947 at Westminster Abbey. Because the British economy hadn't recovered from the war, the Queen required ration coupons to buy the material for her gown. Queen Elizabeth gave birth to Prince Charles on 14 November 1948, Princess Anne in 1950, Prince Andrew in 1960 and Prince Edward in 1964. Prince Philip and the Queen had eight grandchildren and nine, now 10, great-grandchildren.

Serving with Australians during the war, Prince Philip took a special interest in Australia and its people. Prince Philip visited Australia 26 times, more than any other member of the royal family, including to open the Melbourne Olympics. Prince Philip and the Queen stopped briefly in my electorate on 9 February 1954, and the Sydney Morning Herald records that at Hornsby Station, 'the Queen and the Duke came onto the observation platform to wave to the crowds'.

Prince Philip loved nature and was deeply committed to conservation. He was president of the World Wildlife Fund. It's perhaps now forgotten that Prince Philip also served as the second president of Australian Conservation Foundation, succeeding Garfield Barwick, from 1971 to 1976. He was Field Marshal of the Australian Army, Marshal of the RAAF and Admiral of the Fleet of the RAN. He was patron, life member, honorary member, colonel in chief or commodore in chief of over 50 Australian organisations. These reflected his many interests, including carriage driving, building, engineering, medicine, agriculture, ornithology, sailing, polo, surf lifesaving, military service and, strangely, the Sydney University Tiddlywinks Society, which perhaps demonstrates his sense of humour.

Undoubtedly, his greatest legacy, though, is the Duke of Edinburgh's Award. Founded in 1956, and based on the values of his own education at Gordonstoun, the Duke of Edinburgh's Award encourages young people to participate in physical activity, volunteering, skills development and leadership. What was a good idea in the fifties is such a vital one in an age where screen addiction, mental health issues and obesity rates among young people are on the rise. Since its inception, over eight million people in 130 countries have participated in the award, including 775,000 Australians. Presently, from high schools in my electorate alone, 1,013 people have undertaken the Duke of Edinburgh's Award.

Today, we salute the Duke of Edinburgh and acknowledges his memory, and our thoughts remain with the Queen in her time of grief. That they had a marriage of 73 years is remarkable. To lose a spouse at any age, especially when you've been in such an interdependent partnership, is difficult, but it is so much more so for the Queen at 95. As she sat by herself at the funeral in April, a staid figure in her time of mourning, the hearts of people around the world were with Her Majesty.

Prince Philip's service as Prince Consort made him a global figure, his war service made him a hero and his work with the Duke of Edinburgh's Award made him a visionary. May his memory be a blessing and a comfort to the Queen and an inspiration to people everywhere.

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