Prince Phillip, the Duke Of Edinburgh was an accomplished all-around sportsman, who had a particular passion for both polo and carriage driving.
BBC News reports that tributes have flooded in from all around the world after the Duke, who died aged 99 on Friday 9 April. A skilled equestrian, his love for horses remained a steadfast and lifelong passion for Prince Philip.
Even after he retired from the sport, he continued to accompany the Queen to the Royal Windsor Polo Cup at Egham.
Prince Philip loved polo and played into his 50s, but having “watched and played with several elderly gentlemen who seemed determined to go on playing until they dropped dead in the saddle”, he decided that the best ploy would be to retire gracefully from the game.
However, Prince Phillip’s love of horses ran deep, and he developed a new passion for carriage driving, and his enthusiasm for the sport shone through own every page of the book he wrote on the subject, 30 Years On and Off the Box Seat, published in 2004.
In the book, he said: “I am getting old, my reactions are getting slower, and my memory is unreliable, but I have never lost the sheer pleasure of driving a team through the British countryside.
“I have been fortunate to have had a longer innings than most, and I have no intention of giving up while I have a team of willing ponies and dedicated staff and while I can still cope with the challenges which carriage driving presents me with. What happens next is anyone’s guess.”
He was still competing eight years later at the age of 90.
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