In a telegram sent by the Vatican's secretary of state and made public on Saturday, Francis said he was "saddened" to learn of Philip's death at the age of 99.

"Recalling Prince Philip's devotion to his marriage and family, his distinguished record of public service and his commitment to the education and advancement of future generations, His Holiness commends him to the merciful love of Christ our Redeemer," read the telegram sent in the pontiff's name.

"Upon you and upon all who grieve his loss in the sure hope of the resurrection, the Holy Father invokes the Lord's blessings of consolation and peace," the message concluded. Continue reading

Some are convinced the cyclone that ravaged their country in March was nature's dramatic curtain-raiser to his arrival in 2016.

They believe Prince Philip will, at least, visit them and, at best, take up residence among them.

During a Royal Visit in 1974, a man named Chief Jack Naiva, was one of the paddlers of a war canoe that greeted the royal yacht Britannia at Port Vila.

He became convinced that Prince Philip was the descendant of a Tanna spiritual ancestor.

"I saw him standing on the deck in his white uniform," Chief Jack is on record as saying. "I knew then that he was the true messiah."

Prince Philip has exchanged gifts with the islanders, including sending them a signed portrait of himself.

Anthropologists say it is easy to mock the islanders' beliefs, which have commonly come to be called cargo cults.

Some scholars say is the people's way of coping the intrusion of colonisers on what for centuries was an undisturbed, traditional way of life.

Source

• telegraph.co.uk
• Image: express.co.uk

Matthew Baylis recently chronicled that visit and the religion, which thrives even 40 years later, in his new book "Man Belong Mrs. Queen: Adventures with the Philip Worshippers."

"They had a jolly old time. They wore hawaiian shirts, they swam in lagoons, they took part in rituals. They sat on plastic chairs with 'throne' chalked on them. They rubbed noses with Tahitian lovelies," Baylis said.

Baylis grew up in the Liverpool area, some 9,800 miles away from Vanuatu. But he, too, was fascinated by the Duke of Edinburgh, even hanging up a poster of the Prince on his bedroom wall.

When he was an anthropology student, he traveled to the South Pacific island nation to find out why the prince generated so much interest.

"In general, they [Prince Philip and Lord Montbatten] showed themselves to be very, very different from the colonial officials of which the people of that area had had the most experience," he said.

"They showed themselves to be easy going, rough and ready, all-action guys and that's exactly the kind of man who they most admire in that part of the South Pacific."

Why Prince Philip? Baylis said the prince's visit coincided with the island's preparation for independence from the French and the British. Continue reading.

Source: Pri

Image: Richard Shears