Last modified: 2021-09-18 by rob raeside
Keywords: royal standard | prince philip | duke of edinburgh | queen elizabeth ii |
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Source: World Flag Database
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Prince Philip was consort to Queen Elizabeth. His standard was quartered Denmark, Greece, Mountbatten, and
Edinburgh: the two royal families the prince descends from, his surname, and his title.
Denmark: three blue lions passant on a yellow field strewn with nine sea-leaves,
depicted as red hearts. Greece: a white centered cross on a blue field.
Mountbatten: 5 vertical stripes of white and black. Edinburgh: on a white field, a black
three-towered castle, with white details except for red roof, banners, and gate, on a rocky grey base with a stairway leading up to the
gate (usually 1:2, rarely 2:3).
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 24 April 2002
Prince Philip adopted the surname Mountbatten prior to his marriage as a
compromise because of the difficulties attached to his own ancestral surname.
For one thing, the Houses of Denmark and of Greece did not use a surname. For
another, the surname they were entitled to use was Oldenburg. However, following
the two World Wars there was considerable anti-German feeling in Britain, so
that also was not deemed suitable. Its English translation, Oldcastle, recalled
a comic character from Shakespeare.
His personal flag is a banner of arms,
and was flown when he was present aboard ship. I am not certain what rules related
to its use on land, since it would possibly have been superseded by the royal banner
(Royal Standard) when the Queen was present.
Mike Oettle, 30 May 2007
A drawing in "Simple Heraldry
(subtitle Cheerfully Illustrated)" by Iain Moncreiffe and Don Pottinger (Thomas
Nelson and Sons) shows the derivation of the Duke of Edinburgh's coat of arms,
with it whimsically used as a longboat sail. The reference mentions instances
where the arms of places derive from people, and this is an instance of where
the arms of a place became part of a personal coat of arms - so you have
Edinburgh's arms showing a castle, and that same castle as the fourth quarter in
Philip's arms.
Mike Oettle, 25 September 2002
image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 20 October 2010
Flag of the Duke of Edinburgh (1951-1952)
According to
Carr (1953) the design
of the Duke’s standard, approved by His late Majesty King George VI in November
1951, consisted of the arms of the Duke impaled with those borne by Her Majesty
Queen Elizabeth II, when she was the Heiress Presumptive. However since Queen
Elizabeth came to the Throne the Duke has used the standard consisting of his
arms only.
Source: Carr (1953), p.26
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 20
October 2010
Before his marriage, Prince Philip bore arms as a prince of Greece (Greece
with an inescutcheon of Denmark – the full royal Danish arms with all the
quarterings and inescutcheons) – with no representation of
Battenberg/Mountbatten at all, since that was his mother's family, and she was
not an heiress. I do not know whether he had an armorial banner at that stage.
Oldenburg appears in the arms of Denmark as an inescutcheon (in the earlier
version of the Danish arms, the Oldenburg arms formed an inescutcheon on an
inescutcheon). After his marriage he was (1947-52) husband of the Heir
Presumptive, not initially consort.
Mike Oettle, 30 May 2007
image located by Peter Edwards, 18 March 2019
Racing Flag: Rectangle 4:5 (web image). Green field charged with a black
stylized image of Edinburgh Castle on a white disk fimbriated black.
Source:
accessed 1 March 2019,
https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/151574343682736971/
"Bluebottle’s [Dragon
Class] racing career got off to a credible start on 10 July 1948 when she
finished third out of ten starters at the hands of Lt Cdr Crichton. Despite the
absence of her Royal owners, Bluebottle flew the Royal couple’s racing flag
which, for the first season, consisted of Princess Elizabeth and
Prince Philip’s
cypher in gold on a dark blue background. Prince Philip decided to replace this
design during the winter of 1948/49 because he thought the detail was too
complicated to see at a distance. Therefore, he opted for a dark green flag with
a black heraldic Edinburgh Castle within a white circle."
Source: Johnstone-Bryden,
Richard. The Royal Yacht Britannia: the official history. London: Conway
Maritime Press, 2003.
Peter Edwards, 18 March 2019