Named for the royal title held by Prince Philip – a figure of remarkable duty, dry wit, and a scheme that shaped millions of young lives
The Duke of Edinburgh in Clapham holds sixteen hundred and sixty-six reviews and a 4.2 – a large, fair sample – and it is named after one of the most familiar of royal titles, most recently and famously held by Prince Philip, a figure of remarkable duty, famously dry wit, and a youth scheme that has shaped millions of young lives.
The royal title
“Duke of Edinburgh” is a royal title, taking its name from the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, and traditionally granted to a son or close male relative of the monarch. It has been held by several royal figures over the centuries, but in modern times it is inseparably associated with one man: Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, who held the title from 1947 until his death in 2021, making it his for nearly three-quarters of a century.
A great many pubs across the country are named “The Duke of Edinburgh,” most of them honouring Prince Philip or his predecessors in the title – part of the great tradition of royal pub names this survey has traced throughout, alongside the Prince of Wales, the King’s Head, the Alexandra and the rest. The title itself, tied to the great Scottish city, carries a dignified, royal resonance.
Prince Philip
Prince Philip was a genuinely remarkable figure. Born a prince of Greece and Denmark, he had a difficult and rootless early life before a distinguished career in the Royal Navy, serving with real courage in the Second World War. On marrying the future Queen, he gave up his naval career to support her through her long reign, becoming the longest-serving royal consort in British history and a constant presence at the Queen’s side for over seventy years.
He was known for his unwavering sense of duty, his no-nonsense practicality, his genuine intelligence and curiosity (he was a keen supporter of science, technology, engineering and conservation), and – famously – his dry, blunt, sometimes startlingly undiplomatic wit. His “gaffes” became legendary, a running feature of his public life, delivered with a mischievous disregard for royal blandness. Behind the jokes was a man of formidable character, genuine achievement, and deep, lifelong commitment to duty.
The Award
Prince Philip’s greatest and most lasting legacy is the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award – “the D of E” – the youth achievement scheme he founded in 1956, which has become one of the most successful and widespread programmes of its kind in the world. The Award challenges young people to develop themselves through four areas: volunteering, physical activity, developing a skill, and an “expedition” (the famous hikes, carrying heavy rucksacks across the countryside, that generations of British teenagers remember, fondly or otherwise).
Millions of young people, in Britain and in scores of countries around the world, have completed their Bronze, Silver or Gold D of E Award over the decades since, and the scheme has genuinely shaped countless young lives – building confidence, resilience, skills and a sense of achievement in generations of teenagers. It is a remarkable legacy for one man to leave, and for many Britons “the Duke of Edinburgh” means, as much as the prince himself, the Award and its character-building challenges – the muddy expeditions, the earned badges, the genuine accomplishment. The pub name carries all of this.
The pub
A large, popular pub doing a fair 4.2 across a large and real sample, named after the Duke of Edinburgh – the royal title held for nearly seventy-five years by Prince Philip, dutiful consort, dry wit, and founder of the famous Award.
Verdict
Large, popular, and named after the Duke of Edinburgh – Prince Philip, the dutiful, sharp-witted consort whose youth Award has shaped millions of young lives.
Have a pint at the Duke of Edinburgh, and raise it to Prince Philip – seventy years of duty, a lifetime of famously blunt jokes, and an Award that sent generations of teenagers hiking across the hills.
Alan Nafzger was born in Lubbock, Texas, the son Swiss immigrants. He grew up on a dairy in Windthorst, north central Texas. He earned degrees from Midwestern State University (B.A. 1985) and Texas State University (M.A. 1987). University College Dublin (Ph.D. 1991). Dr. Nafzger has entertained and educated young people in Texas colleges for 37 years. Nafzger is best known for his dark novels and experimental screenwriting. His best know scripts to date are Lenin’s Body, produced in Russia by A-Media and Sea and Sky produced in The Philippines in the Tagalog language. In 1986, Nafzger wrote the iconic feminist western novel, Gina of Quitaque. He currently lives in Holloway, North London. Contact: [email protected]
Moving answer. No.