I am 75, born with a twin-brother in December 1945. Some of my earliest Royal memories are in 1953 - Coronation year - when my ex RAF engineer father built our 8" TV from a kit to enable the family and our neighbours in Salford to watch the service described in Richard Dimbleby's well-modulated tones, and to do it all day. My mother invited in the neighbours as many in 1953 had no access to TV, but she tempted them with ham sandwiches, parkin and gallons of tea . Of course, the Duke of Edinburgh was an imposing presence in his robes, ermine and coronet. My father had been an active Boy Scout, pre-WW2 so his twin boys joined the cubs first and then the 1st Crowborough (East Sussex) Boy Scout troop and earned the necessary badges to become Queen's Scouts in 1963, when we were 17. As early as 1961-62 I had been encouraged to commence The Duke of Edinburgh's Award at the Silver Standard, because I was over 15 and held the First Class Badge which also included several hikes and other challenges. The Silver (16.4.62) and Gold (20.5.64) Awards were both completed by the time I was still 18, and I received the Gold Award from Prince Philip himself on 26 November 1964 at Buckingham Palace. The most challenging aspect of the Gold Award was the expedition undertaken on Dartmoor in summer 1963. I still have my logbook, and was a school friend of one of our team of 3 (Robin Snook) who sadly died in July 2019. The most enjoyable life-long was volunteering to help others - which I still do on a wide front. I am of the firm opinion that the Duke of Edinburgh was a life-long inspiration to many young people, myself included. For the whole country he is an extremely hard act to follow, a most talented man. In 1965 I read Classics at Fitzwilliam Cambridge where the Duke was Chancellor. I was Head of Finance to the Crown Estate where the DofE was Ranger , so I ran across him from time during his (and my) long career. RIP to the Duke of Edinburgh.