Metropolitan Hilarion: Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, has kept his love for Orthodoxy for the rest of his life

On April 9, 2021, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, died at the age of 100. In a comment to RIA Novosti, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations, spoke about the deceased's attitude to the Orthodox faith and shared his memories of meeting with Duke Philip.

Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, the son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, who died today, was baptized in the Orthodox faith. After the forced departure of his parents fr om Greece, he ended up in the UK, wh ere he took the British surname Mountbatten and converted to Anglicanism. However, he retained his love for Orthodoxy for the rest of his life.When I met him at his Buckingham Palace apartment on May 25, 2011, he told me literally the following: "I became an Anglican, but I remained Orthodox."

In total, we talked for about an hour. He was keenly interested in the revival of the Church in Russia and other countries of the canonical presence of the Russian Orthodox Church, and asked about the life of Orthodox monasteries, parishes, and religious educational institutions. With great warmth, he recalled his visits to the Holy Mount Athos. He told me about his Orthodox roots and about his family ties with the Russian royal house.

In memory of the meeting, I gave him an icon of the Holy Martyr Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna, whose great-nephew he was.

I sincerely express my condolences to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth on the loss of a loved one with whom she has lived together for almost three quarters of a century.

Eternal memory to him.

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Metropolitan Hilarion: Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, has kept his love for Orthodoxy for the rest of his life

Patriarch

Department Chairman

Sermons

Patriarch

Department Chairman

Sermons