Prince Philip's great niece Princess Xenia of Hohenlohe-Langenburg: 'He was an idol to us'
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The Duke of Edinburgh's great niece, whose brother is in Windsor for his funeral on Saturday, has remembered Prince Philip as an "idol" for the younger generation of their family.
Speaking from Munich, Princess Xenia of Hohenlohe-Langenburg said the Duke was a powerful role model to her and his "selflessness, lack of ego and sense of humour" will never be forgotten.
Her tribute comes as the Queen prepares to say farewell to her husband of 73 years at Windsor Castle.
"To all of us, he was an idol, he was somebody to look up to, we had enormous respect for him and it was always very exciting when he came to visit, and he came often," said Princess Xenia of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.
"And this has become clear to me in the week since he's died - the way he lived his life, his motto, which was an unwritten motto for us, this discipline, this selflessness, this lack of ego, but also his sense of humour always underlying all of that.
"His hard work and the philosophy that the Duke of Edinburgh Awards have given so many young people is something that is constantly underlying our lives, and it's certainly something that I've always aspired to live up to."
She described the Duke as the family's "glue".
"He's been like a glue for the family, because sadly a lot of our grandmothers passed away much too early," she said.
"But he was always there, he was the link, so he brought all of us cousins, even though we were in Germany - a lot of us but not all of us - he brought us all together on a lot of family occasions, the last one having been his 90th birthday celebrations 10 years ago at Windsor.
"We were all there, there was a huge bunch of us, and it was lovely."
Speaking about her brother's attendance at the funeral, she added: "It's a huge honour, obviously, and having spoken to my brother yesterday, he's just saying it's a very special time for the cousins to be together and to be representing what is a huge part of the Duke of Edinburgh's family.
"You just have to think that there were 16 direct cousins of the Prince of Wales... that's a huge number of people, and there's three descendants that are able to be there to represent us is a huge honour and is deeply felt."
