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Viewers praise the ‘extraordinary’ life of Prince Philip as new BBC documentary airs

 (Clarence House)
(Clarence House)

Viewers praised the “extraordinary” life of Prince Philip and remarked how “normal” the Duke of Edinburgh was as a new BBC One documentary about the royal was aired.

Prince Philip: The Royal Family Remembers was broadcast on Wednesday night. His children Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward all appeared in the documentary - as did Prince Harry, Prince William and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

Viewers took to social media to praise the documentary after it was aired.

Martin Sansom wrote: “Tonight’s show on #PrincePhilip is a brilliant insight into what is essentially just a ‘normal’ family and their affection for what appears to wonderfully fun and engaging man.”

Stephen Williams wrote: “The film about #princephilip on BBC1 is interesting both about its subject’s remarkable life and for the unusually relaxed contributions from his family. But shame the Queen isn’t speaking too.”

Kirsty Masters added: “Watching Prince Charles talk about his Dad and stories from went he was young is so lovely.”

Richard Fitzwilliams said: “An absolutely fascinating insight into Prince Philip, especially as a family man, with members of ⁦@RoyalFamily⁩ sharing reminiscences on BBC1. Some wonderful and hilarious stories but also showing his truly amazing variety of activities. He is very much missed.”

The documentary was full of anecdotes and memories from the royal family.

Among the highlights was the Duke of Sussex describing the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh as the “most adorable couple.”

Speaking about his grandparents’ 73-year marriage, Prince Harry says: “The two of them together were just the most adorable couple, and I don’t know if anyone’s ever described them as adorable, but to me, knowing the cheekiness of him and knowing that behind what the world sees, you have two individuals who were very much in love and both who at a very young age, dedicated their life to service.

“The places that these two travelled, the things that they saw, the experiences they went through, that is an incredible bond between two people.”

The then-Princess Elizabeth met naval officer Philip when the pair were teenagers - with the couple getting engaged on 9 July 1947 and married on 20 November that year.

Prince Philip’s sense of humour was also a theme of the documentary.

He would get into trouble with the Queen for playing practical jokes on his grandchildren which involved squirting mustard on the ceiling, the Duke of Cambridge revealed.

Prince William said Prince Philip loved to play a game at family barbeques using a squeezy mustard tube.

The duke said: “He used to take the lid off and put it in your hands… and then he’d squish your hands together to fire the mustard onto the ceiling.”

He added: “He used to get in a lot of trouble from my grandmother for covering most of the places we had lunch and things with mustard on the ceiling.”

Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall also told of the mustard escapades, with Zara saying: “I can’t remember exactly what he says but he ends up slamming your hands together…. It goes all over the ceiling.”

Mr Phillips added: “I actually think the marks are still there.”

Both Prince William and Prince Harry said the Queen and Philip looked forward to unexpected events while carrying out their official duties together over the decades.

Prince William said: “My grandfather loved things when they go wrong.

“Both my grandparents love that because you can imagine, they’ve lived a life where everything has to go right the whole time and so when things go wrong, they both chuckle an awful lot.

“Everyone else gets mortally embarrassed. They love it.”

Prince Harry, who was filmed separately said: “The two of them are going ‘Well I wonder if something’s gonna go wrong this year? How exciting’.”

Prince William described his grandfather as “the heart of the family” and expressed his admiration for Philip giving up his very successful career in the Navy to support a woman – the Queen – in the 1950s.

“It was very much a man’s world back then. And so for a man to give up his career to support a woman, albeit the Queen, was still quite a big step,” the duke said.

Prince Philip’s love of cooking, and in particular a BBQ, was also detailed - as was his love of television chefs The Hairy Bikers.

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