The unexpected consort

He is easily the longest serving consort in British history and among the most long lived of all British royals. Today, the Duke of Edinburgh turns 93 and is marking his birthday in much the same manner as he marks every day of his historic tenure as the Queen's consort - by working.  There is a garden party at Buckingham Palace for the duke today - beginning a week of engagements that will take him to Windsor, Sussex and Germany.  Philip's role continues to grow, 62 years after he became just the third man to be consort of Great Britain.

Prince Philip, consort of Elizabeth II, is 93 today

Philip, Prince of Greece and Denmark was born on Corfu, at a house called Mon Repos, on June 10th 1921.  The youngest child of Prince Andrew of Greece and his wife, Alice of Battenburg, he made his first visit to London as a baby for a memorial service for his grandfather, Louis Mountbatten.  But his return to his native country was brief - in September 1922, his father was banished from Greece for life and the family fled with the legend saying that the man who would sit on a throne next to the Queen of England was carried to safety from his homeland in a cot made of a fruit box.  He ended up in Paris where he began his education and later attended schools in England, Germany and Scotland.  By the time the Second World War began, Philip was 18 and joined the Royal Navy where he saw active service.  By then he had met Princess Elizabeth, heiress to the British throne.  After the war, the couple's marriage was announced and their wedding took place in November 1947.  Born a prince of Greece and nephew of that country's reigning king, in 26 tumultuous years Philip had travelled thousands of miles and ended up as consort in waiting of one of the world's oldest monarchies, itself still recovering from the shockwaves of the abdication of Edward VIII in 1936.

Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip on their wedding day in November 1947

For on the day he was born, 93 years ago today, Prince Philip's destiny was far from clear.  The throne of England, of which he would become such a fundamental part, belonged to George V whose heir was one of the most famous and feted men in the world - a film star of a prince who the whole world believed would become a dream of a king.  Philip's family, in 1921, still clung precariously to the throne of Greece and their other royal connections - with Germany - seemed to point in the direction of the young prince becoming part of a very different world from the one he would inhabit.  But the rise of Nazism, the fall of the Greek monarchy and the love affair between Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson changed everything.  And the decision of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip to marry was an unexpected turning point for the British monarchy.  The couple, devoted to one another across seven decades, have given the Crown a strong and secure base which has allowed it to weather other storms and remain one of the most popular monarchies in the world.  The baby boy born in the sweltering heat of Corfu this day in 1921 has enjoyed an action packed life but his greatest legacy is the stability he has helped build around the British Crown.