Prince Philip's Funeral: 'We're Celebrating A Great Life', CDS Says

The head of the Armed Forces has said he will remember the Duke of Edinburgh's "sense of humour" and "amusing conversations" from when the Prince would recall stories from his Royal Navy career.

Paying tribute to the Duke ahead of his funeral at Windsor Castle, General Sir Nick Carter, Chief of the Defence Staff, said: "We're celebrating a great life and a long life and a life that was properly lived."

More than 730 members of the military took part in the funeral, including troops from the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery who fired a round to mark the start of the national one-minute silence. 

Gen Sir Nick told Forces News: "For the Armed Forces, this is a very special moment. It's a moment when we get the chance to pay our respects to the Duke of Edinburgh. 

"So, it's not an arduous task for anybody to turn their hand to at all.

"I don't think there'll be a serviceman or servicewoman on parade today whose chest won't be swelling with pride at the prospect of having the privilege of paying those respects to the Duke of Edinburgh."

He added the personnel would "not want to let him [Prince Philip] down", adding the Duke had "great attention to detail".

When asked what he thought the Duke would think of the ceremony put on by the Armed Forces, Gen Carter said: "I think he'd wait and see until he'd seen it through, and then I suspect we'd get a good debriefing."

The military chief said the Duke of Edinburgh was a "tremendous man" and was someone he had "the utmost respect for" and that he shared common values with the Armed Forces. 

"The values and standards that he espoused are absolutely the values and standards that we try to live up to on a daily basis," Gen Sir Nick said. 

The Duke served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War and was even mentioned in dispatches for his role in the Battle of Cape Matapan. 

As well as an active military career of his own, which came to an end in 1951, Prince Philip maintained a close association with the Armed Forces in the decades after.