Prince Philip, through the years, honoured with a poem montage

Philip was well-known for his love of horses and the equestrian activities of polo and carriage driving, a sport in which he competed for Britain. He is also a writer and a pilot.

However, the prince's passion for painting was more private.

Perhaps his most famous work is a 1965 image showing his wife at breakfast reading the morning papers and titled: "The Queen at Breakfast, Windsor Castle".

Britain's Prince Philip made several memorable royal visits to India in his long years of accompanying the 94-year-old monarch during her nearly 69-year reign. The UK's longest-serving royal consort joined the Queen in India in 1959, 1961, 1983 and 1997 – during which he made quite an impression with his sense of humour, which often also got him into some controversy.

During his 1961 visit to India, he was pictured with the Queen and the Maharaja and Maharani of Jaipur with a dead eight-foot tiger he had shot while on a hunt. It happened to be the same year he became president of the World Wildlife Fund UK.

He also shot a crocodile and mountain sheep on that trip but it was the photograph of the tiger that caused ripples around the world. Later in life, he went on to reinvent himself as an environmentalist and “champion of the natural world” as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson referred to him in his tribute on Friday.

Philip, born in 1921 on the Greek island of Corfu where he lived until he was 18 months old, made major sacrifices to marry Princess Elizabeth in 1947. He had to renounce his title of Prince of Greece and Denmark to take up British nationality, in return becoming Duke of Edinburgh just before his marriage, and Prince of the United Kingdom in 1957.

Philip also had to give up active duty as a naval commander after his wife was brought to the throne on the death of her father, King George VI, in 1952.

He was obliged to convert from Greek Orthodoxy to Anglicanism to marry, and reportedly stopped smoking just before the wedding to please his bride.

Philip was forced to give up his naval career when his wife became Queen Elizabeth II. Instead, he devoted himself to supporting her. He traveled the globe with her and took over management of the royal estates.

But he also found his own causes to support, including setting up a non-competitive activity program that encourages young people to recognize their abilities.

He painted, collected modern art and was interested in industrial design. But, he once said, "the arts world thinks of me as an uncultured, polo-playing clot."