Philip’s coat of arms featured bare-chested man in lion-skin loincloth
The coat of arms was granted in a royal warrant to Philip by George VI in 1948.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s coat of arms featured a bare-chested man holding a club and clad in a loincloth made from a lion’s skin.
The figure is described by the College of Arms as a “savage” who is “crowned with a chaplet of oak leaves”.
It has also been suggested that the figure depicts the Greek god Hercules.
On the other side is a Battenberg/Mountbatten lion “queue force” – with a split tail – and “gorged” – meaning around its neck – with a blue Naval Crown to represent Philip’s naval career.
The coat of arms, granted by George VI in 1948, bore the motto “God is my help” as well as the motto of the Order of the Garter, “Honi soit qui mal y pense”, which translates as “Evil to him who evil thinks”.
His standard pays tribute to his birth heritage as a Prince of Greece and Denmark, his family name and the title he was given just before his marriage to Princess Elizabeth in 1947.
The first three quarters show his lineage – with lions and hearts on a yellow background representing Denmark, a white cross on blue representing Greece, and his anglicised family name Mountbatten represented with two black “pales” or stripes on white.
The fourth quarter contains the arms of the City of Edinburgh.
Philip was made the Duke of Edinburgh shortly before his wedding, by his future father-in-law George VI.
