The funeral service of His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh took place on Saturday at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. He died on the morning of 9 April 2021 at Windsor Castle, aged 99.
The Duke of Edinburgh contributed to The Ditchley Foundation several times over the years as part of his extensive public service work and his passion for improving education, especially for young people. His knowledge of Commonwealth relations is also evident in his interactions with Ditchley.
In May 1967 he chaired a conference on The training of young people for rescue, relief and service. The aim of the conference was to develop thinking about the provision for and by youth, “for young men and women in the present world of conflict, instability and delinquency”.
Prince Phillip began the conference by suggesting:
" that all the rescue and first aid organisations should make more use of young people in responsible duties, provided of course they are properly qualified ... There is no quicker way to develop a sense of responsibility than to offer young people the chance to under take a responsible duty and to combine this with some activity which demands careful training and experience, skill and endurance."
The conference discussed the concept of service and volunteering and Prince Philip expressed a commitment to develop these as part of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme (founded in 1956 with German educationist Kurt Hahn). Since 1956 over 3 million Awards have been achieved by young people in the UK and the Scheme is now operative in more than 140 countries. It has fulfilled many of the aims discussed in 1967 at Ditchley: giving young people the opportunity to teach themselves new skills regardless of any instability in the world around them.
In December 1975 the Duke chaired a further conference The changing relationship between Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and the United States and Britain as part of Europe no doubt guiding discussions with his expert knowledge of the Commonwealth nations. According to Ditchley records, the Duke drove himself to Ditchley Park for the conference.
The Duke of Edinburgh was also involved with The Ditchley Foundation in 1976 as the patron of bicentenary discussions with the US. In commemoration of the bicentennial year of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence two conferences were held:
- Britain and America: problems and opportunities, Conference I (June 1976)
- Britain and America: problems and opportunities, Conference II (September 1976)
The Ditchley Foundation Annual Lecture took place on the 23 July 1976 and reflected Ditchley’s focus on Anglo-American relations throughout the year. Delivered by congresswoman Barbara Jordan, the first Southern African-American woman elected to the United States House of Representatives, the speech was titled America’s Imports Revalued: the Tributaries of American Culture. Congresswoman Jordan, quoting the novelist William Thackeray at the conclusion of her speech, captured both the spirit of US-UK relations at the time and the inspiration that the Duke of Edinburgh’s patronage brought to them:
“Speaking of the British character — perhaps with tongue in cheek — he wrote ‘for a steady self-esteem, and indomitable confidence in our own courage, greatness and magnanimity, who can compare with the Britons except their children across the Atlantic?’”
Picture reproduced courtesy of the Oxford Mail