The Duke of Edinburgh roared with laughter at the response to a question he asked during one of his many visits with the Queen to Oxford.
“What are you doing here – what’s your function in life?”, the Duke inquired as he shook hands with Edmund Gibbs, husband of the Lord Mayor, Olive Gibbs.
He might have answered that he was a much-respected chartered accountant in the city.
The Duke presents a Young Achiever of the Year award to Lisa Boyer, 15, of Burford School, in 1995
Instead, without even saying ‘Sir’, he replied: “My function in life is the same as yours – following my wife about!”
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The Duke enjoyed the joke, helping as always to put at ease those who had gathered to welcome the Royal visitors.
He was also in good form when he and the Queen visited Oxford to open Oxfordshire County Council’s £1.5m building at the corner of New Road and Castle Street in 1976.
Schoolgirls chat to the Duke as he admires their cakes and pastries during a visit to North Oxfordshire in 1972
During a tour of the offices, he was introduced to staff members responsible for collecting money and was overheard to make one of his famous quips.
“I see you grind the faces of the poor in the dust – and the rich as well,” he told them. Everyone laughed.
County council leader Ian Hudspeth recalled meeting Prince Philip at a Duke of Edinburgh’s Award ceremony.
“When I was introduced as the leader of the council, he immediately said: ‘Ah, so you’re the person I come to about my potholes’.
Judo enthusiasts are introduced to the Duke at the Old Gaol, Abingdon, in 1975
“He was very quick-witted and I’ll always remember that because it was something that was special for me.”
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David Richards, chairman of motorsport group Prodrive in Banbury, called the Duke an “extraordinary character”.
He gave Prince Philip a tour of the facility in 2008 and “had a thoroughly enjoyable time with him”.
He added: “The Queen was doing a local visit and I seem to remember he said he’d managed to escape and come round to play with the boys instead. He had a sharp wit and was very down to earth. No arrogance about him. He was just very matter of fact, and chatted away, and was very interested in everything we were doing.”
The Duke shakes hands with cricketers at Combe, near Woodstock, in 1949
In his younger days, the Duke was pictured meeting the village cricket team and bowling the first ball in a match at Combe, in 1949, after he had opened the village’s new sports ground. He presented the club with an autographed bat, which later went missing for about 25 years before suddenly reappearing in 1980. Another early recollection was a chaotic lunch which the Queen and the Duke attended at Trinity College during a visit to Oxford in 1961.
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Two guests fainted, a waiter tripped and dropped a tray of crockery and one of the speakers went to sit down, missed his chair and crashed to the floor.
The Duke meets boys from St Birinus School, Didcot, in 1974
Asked afterwards if she had enjoyed the lunch, the Queen said: “We’ve had a wonderful time – we’ve had bodies all over the place.”
The Duke’s reaction was unrecorded.
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