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Prince Philip, who will have celebrated
his 93rd birthday just two days before the trip, has been royal
colonel of the battalion since 2006 when the regiment known as
the Highlanders was amalgamated into the Royal Regiment of
Scotland – within the Armed Forces, the battalion known more
commonly by the abbreviation ‘4 SCOTS’.
His Royal Highness’s last trip to Germany was in May 2012 when he
presented medals to The Queen’s Royal Hussars
in Sennelager.
Whilst Buckingham Palace say overseas travel for the Duke and The
Queen is being reduced year-on-year, there seems to be little
evidence of a complete halt to it. Her Majesty and the Duke are
also set to embark on a State Visit to France on 5th-7th June which
will be The Queen’s first state visit since 2011 when she visited
Ireland.
Both The Queen and Prince Philip made a one-day visit to Rome last
month where they met the President of Italy and also Pope
Francis.
Despite his age, the Duke of Edinburgh himself still occasionally
carries out one-day engagements overseas on his own including a
visit to Belgium in November as part of remembrance day
commemorations in Ypres. Joined by Prince Laurent of Belgium,
Prince Philip laid a wreath and watched over the transporting of
soil from Flanders fields, a region which saw a lot of action
during the First World War, which was later taken back to the UK to
create a memorial garden in London.
Last year, the Duke performed almost 200 engagement, around 100
down on previous years largely due to his convalescence period
after undergoing exploratory surgery on his abdomen in June.
Tomorrow, Prince Philip will join The Queen at the Royal Maundy
service this year in Blackburn Cathedral where Her Majesty will
hand out the traditional maundy money to local pensioners at the
service, one man and one woman for every year of Her Majesty’s
age.
photo credit: UK in Italy via photopin
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