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Princess Anne recalls fond holiday memories with Prince Philip on his 100th birthday

The Duke of Edinburgh passed away aged 99 in April


princess anne prince philip© Photo: Getty Images
Danielle Stacey
Online Royal CorrespondentLondon
June 10, 2021
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The Princess Royal has recalled fond memories of holidays with her late father as she paid tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh on what would have been his 100th birthday.

Princess Anne, 70, spoke to ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship about Prince Philip's passions, saying: "There were not many people who understood just how broad his interests were and how supportive he was to an astonishingly wide range of organisations. His perspective was really important."

READ: Prince William and Kate Middleton mark Prince Philip's 100th birthday with emotional message

WATCH: Princess Anne pays tribute to Prince Philip on 100th birthday

Her father's love of how things worked even shaped royal family life on holiday. Prince Philip's famous barbeque kit in the back of the Land Rover trailer in Balmoral was something Princess Anne remembered fondly.

She said: "The trailer was designed specifically for that role. It was actually made by the engineer at Sandringham but it was designed entirely for that purpose and everything had a place and you needed to know where that was…and then it worked, really well!"

The Duke passed away at the age of 99 at Windsor Castle on 9 April, with his funeral taking place eight days later at St George's Chapel.

Princess Anne wrote a heartfelt statement just days after her father's death, saying: "you know it’s going to happen but you are never really ready".

MORE: The Queen receives incredibly poignant gift to mark Prince Philip's 100th birthday

MORE: Princess Eugenie shares bittersweet photo on what would have been Prince Philip's 100th birthday

royal family balmoral 1960© Photo: Getty Images

The royal family on holiday in Balmoral in 1960

The Queen's only daughter spoke to ITV News from her home at Gatcombe Park in Gloucestershire as she presented an award for engineering which bears her father's name and reflects his passion for the subject.

The Royal Academy of Engineering had always planned to issue a special centenary award of The Prince Philip Medal - to mark the occasion of his birthday. Anne is also a Royal Fellow of the Academy.

The medal, which recognises an individual's special contribution to the field of engineering, was awarded to a female engineer for the first time in its history – Dr Gladys West – to recognise her role in modelling the earth's surface which led to the development of GPS satellite positioning.

After previously saying she would have become an engineer had she not been born a Princess, Anne reflected on how similar she is to her father: "I think that's probably true because I think if anything broke, there was always 'have a look at this, see if you can mend it'.  We didn't throw things away, I'm that old. We have to re-educate ourselves on the basis of not throwing quite so much away. That often comes from your own family background."

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