He seemed as British as they come: a leading figure in the navy, the royal family and one of the most recognizable men in the world. But do you know what Prince Philip’s REAL name was?

Today he is one of the best-remembered figures in the royal family, a commanding presence in the second half of the 20th century and beyond.

But although he seemed quintessentially British – a wry naval veteran with a practical outlook – Prince Philip was much more than that, as the name he was given at birth might indicate.

For Philip, Duke of Edinbrugh, was actually born Prince Philippos Andreou of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderberg-Glücksburg, a Prince of Greece and Denmark, on the Greek island of Corfu.

He was born on June 10, 1921 in a house called Mon Repos, delivered on a dining room table, it is said.

Prince Philip took photographs as a little boy with his mother, Princess Andrew of Greece, formerly Princess Alice of Battenberg

As a little boy with his father, Prince Andrew of Greece, and his mother, Princess Alice, on an unknown beach around 1925

Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark with his wife in a portrait from around 1915

Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten pose at Buckingham Palace after announcing their engagement, London, July 10, 1947

Philippos was already royal in his own right and descended from the Danish royal family via Greece.

Europe, however, was ravaged by war and revolution, and despite all the theoretical advantages he enjoyed, an itinerant life soon followed.

Philippos would change his name not once but twice by the time he met Princess Elizabeth.

The Greek Philippos went first, replaced by Philp. When the long Danish/German surname was abolished, he adopted his mother’s name, Alice of Battenburg, which was itself translated into English Mountbatten, in keeping with the anti-German sentiment.

Philip was the only son of Prince Andrew, the younger brother of King Constantine I of Greece.

However, his paternal family was of Danish rather than Mediterranean descent, as Prince Andrew was the grandson of King Christian IX of Denmark – hence the much hyphenated surname.

Philip’s mother was Princess Alice of Battenberg, sister of Count Mountbatten of Burma, and the eldest child of Prince Louis of Battenberg.

And it was through his mother’s side that he was already a member of the British royal family – a great-grandson of Queen Victoria through Victoria and Albert’s daughter, Princess Alice.

Prince Louis – Prince Philip’s grandfather – had become a naturalized British subject. He joined the Royal Navy in 1868 and rose to Admiral of the Fleet and, in 1914, to First Sea Lord.

During the First World War, Prince Louis changed the family name to Mountbatten and was appointed Marquess of Milford Haven.

Prince Philip adopted the name Mountbatten when he became a naturalized British subject and relinquished his Greek and Danish royal titles in 1947.

In the early 1920s, Greece was politically unstable and in 1922 the King of Greece, Constantine I, was forced to abdicate the throne.

Prince Andrew was court-martialled and imprisoned, but was pardoned on condition of perpetual banishment.

Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark checks the tips of his running shoes before taking part in an inter-school sports day in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1935

Philip Mountbatten, centre, newly titled Duke of Edinburgh, sitting with his fellow Royal Navy officers at his stag party at the Dorchester Hotel in 1947. To his right is his uncle, Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma

Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, left, and his cousin Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, attend a National Playing Fields Association dinner at the Mansion House in 1948

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh attends the wedding of Prince Tomislav of Yugoslavia to Princess Margarita of Baden at Salem Castle in Lake Constance, Germany, accompanied by his mother, Princess Andrew of Greece, formerly Princess Alice of Battenberg

King George V ordered a Royal Navy ship to evacuate the family from Corfu, and Philip was taken to safety in December 1922 in a bed made from an orange coffin. He was only 18 months old.

The family settled in Paris, first in the Bois de Boulogne and then in the St-Cloud district, where they lived in a house lent to them by a wealthy aunt.

The Duke of Edinburgh kept his own counsel in such matters – unlike his son Charles – and had no intention of explaining the effect this turbulence had produced on his own, rather peculiar, state of mind.

And by the time he finally passed away on April 9, 2021, baby Philippos, the orange box and the dining table in Corfu had largely disappeared into the mists of time.