Prince Harry has paid tribute to Prince Philip's blunt manner, revealing how his grandfather created space for him to talk about serving in Afghanistan.
The Duke of Sussex told BBC documentary Prince Philip: The Royal Family Remembers "what you see is what you got with my grandfather" as he and other royals shared their memories.
Philip, Queen Elizabeth II's husband of 73 years, died on April 9, almost exactly two months off his 100th birthday.
The Duke of Edinburgh himself saw active service in the Royal Navy during World War Two when he saved the lives of the crew of his ship while under attack from a German bomber.
Harry said: "Going off to Afghanistan he was very matter-of-fact and just said, 'Make sure you come back alive'... then when I came back, there wasn't a deep level of discussion, more a case of, 'Well you made it. How was it?' That's how he was.
"He was very much a listener, he sort of set the scene for you to be able to share as much as you wanted to share but he would never probe."
Harry served two tours of Afghanistan. During his second manned the guns of an Apache helicopter.
He acknowledged he had fired on the enemy during an interview at the end of his service, saying: "Take a life to save a life. That's what we revolve around, I suppose."
He also recently told the Armchair Expert podcast how he felt helpless during his time on the front line.
He said: "Helplessness, that is my biggest Achilles' heel.
"There were three major times that I felt completely helpless, one when I was a kid in the back of a car with my mum being chased by paparazzi, two was in Afghanistan in an Apache helicopter and then the third one was with my wife."
Philip was the youngest first lieutenant in the Second World War and helped save his crew from a German bomber during a nighttime attack by devising a plan to launch two rafts with decoy smoke.
The duke was also present in Tokyo Bay in September 1945 when Japan formally surrendered, according to the U.K. Ministry of Defence website.
Harry told the BBC documentary, to be broadcast on Wednesday: "What you see is what you got with my grandfather, he was unapologetically him."
Prince William also pays tribute to his grandfather in the show, saying: "Every barbecue that I've ever been on, the Duke of Edinburgh has been there cooking... he's definitely a dab hand at the barbecue.
"I can safely say there's never been a case of food poisoning in the family that's attributed to the Duke of Edinburgh."
And Prince Charles, Philip's son, added: "He adored barbecuing and he turned that into an interesting art form. And if I ever tried to do it he... I could never get the fire to light or something ghastly so [he'd say]: 'Go away!'"
Sophie, Countess of Wessex, married to Prince Edward, revealed Philip liked to watch cooking shows, including BBC food series The Hairy Bikers.
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About the writer
Jack Royston is Newsweek's Chief Royal Correspondent based in London, U.K. He reports on the British royal family—including King Charles ... Read more
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