Helen although that's a fact this is only an honorary rank in the ADF given to him after he was made a Field Marshall in the Brittish Army because he was the Queen's consort. It is totally ceremonial, he is not actually part of the Australian army command structure. The only true Australian born Field Marshall was Sir Thomas Blamey who fought in the trenches of WW1 and later commanded the 2nd AIF in WW2. Blamey's appointment was opposed by the then Governor General as he believed that no one from a dominion force should be able to achieve the rank. For me there is a fair bit of difference between someone who actually earned the rank of Field Marshall and someone who was given it as the result of being married to the Queen of England.
Mike I'm not suggesting that Prince Philip didn't serve with distinction in the British navy in WW2. There were many thousands of other serviceman who also served with a similar level of distinction during that war so other than being married to the Queen of England how did he actually achieve the rank of Field Marshal in the British, Canadian, New Zealand and Australian armies ? Helen highlighted that he was the only surviving Australian Field Marshall and I pointed out that although that maybe his title he is not Australian and his rank of Field Marshal in the ADF is an honorary position that mainly used during ceremonial occasions.
I seem to have some strange memories of people talking about Prince Philip being a bit of a naughty boy when his boat was tied up at Fremantle in the early days before he married the Queen. Can anybody elaborate, just to satisfy my curiosity? Mind you I am talking about gossip back in the 1950s-60s.
Ahh, Royal gossip, love the bleeding lot of them! Phil the Greek, no disrespect, toy boy to the Queen, is getting old, in days gone by, he would have died a natural death of poisoning! Me being of Scot ancestry, there is no real love loss. I wish the old codger a comfortable existence and wonder what we will get when Liz does the same thing?
