Prince Philip has a long association with Wiltshire

Since then, the Duke of Edinburgh has visited the county many times for official and unofficial engagements.

A Wiltshire Life article to celebrate his 99th birth on June 10 last year remembers that on November 20 2017, the Queen and Prince Philip celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary.

Prince Philip, or Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten as he was then, was living in Corsham at the time he proposed and right up to a few days before the wedding.

The Duke was playing skittles at the Methuen Arms in Corsham when his engagement to Princess Elizabeth was announced. He also used to play darts with the locals who frequented the public bar.

He had been serving as a junior officer with the British Pacific fleet during the war, but for a year before the wedding he had been stationed at HMS Royal Arthur, a training base near Corsham.

In 1947 he unveiled the memorial wall at the Garden of Remembrance built in Stokes Road, Corsham.

In later life, the Duke also practised his carriage driving at Farleigh Hungerford Manor near Bradford on Avon, and he and the Queen visited the Fox Talbot Museum at Lacock.

Georgie Green, from Salisbury and the editor of Carriage Driving magazine, recalls: "He had a subscription to the magazine, which was delivered to him. If it was ever late, we would always get a call."

On March 11 2016, the Duke, then aged 94, paid his last official visit to Wiltshire to open the newly-refurbished The Prince Philip Barracks at MOD Lyneham near Chippenham.

MOD Lyneham is the new home for the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, of which the Duke has been Colonel-in-Chief since 1969.

The naming of the barracks marked a significant milestone for the Corps, which had bid farewell to sites in Arborfield and Bordon to move to new headquarters at MOD Lyneham as part of a £230 million redevelopment to transform it into a military training facility.

As he opened the barracks, he said: "I hope you realise what you're about to see now is the world's most experienced plaque unveiler in action."

Prince Philip toured a truck engine simulator, a remote-controlled bomb disposal robot and saw a classic Land Rover once owned by the late Queen Mother.

Major Rebecca Macklin, of the newly-formed 8 Training Battalion REME, said: "He had a lot of interest in our training programme and the facilities we have."

The REME Museum at MOD Lyneham said: "We are deeply saddened to learn that HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, passed away at Windsor Castle this morning.

"Prince Philip was the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Colonel-in-Chief and he will be greatly missed."

On May 7, 2015, the then 93-year-old Prince Philip visited Devizes to open a new care facility at Hayward Care Centre in Corn Croft Lane.

While visiting the care centre, Prince Philip shared plenty of information about his fourth great-granddaughter, Princess Charlotte, who had just been born, with its oldest resident.

He told Lillian Brader – at 103, she was then nine years older than the Duke – that he hadn’t yet met Charlotte but he had already seen lots of photographs of her.

The centre is named after Reginald Hayward of the 1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. The Colonel-in-Chief’s Bugler from The Rifles took the lead in showing the Prince around the new centre.

Hayward, who served in both World Wars, won the Victoria Cross and two Military Crosses. The Regiment is now part of The Rifles and some of its members were there to greet the royal visitor.

The Duke of Edinburgh was also Colonel-in-Chief of The Wiltshire Regiment, whose name was changed in 1921 to the Wiltshire Regiment (Duke of Edinburgh's).

In 1982, the Duke officially opened The Rifles (Berkshire and Wiltshire) Museum in Salisbury and he visited the museum again with the Queen on May 1 2012 during her Diamond Jubilee tour, when they also visited Salisbury Cathedral.

Her Majesty attended a reception and luncheon at the museum and was greeted on her arrival in the building by the Chairman of the Trustees Terry Daly, Manager/Curator Simon Cook, Assistant Curator Jackie Dryden and The Rifles County Secretary Salisbury Lieutenant Colonel Tim Lerwill.

During her visit, Simon Cook showed Her Majesty a small exhibition about the Second Afghan War, which included ‘Bobbie of the Berkshires’ who had been presented to the Queen’s great great grandmother, Queen Victoria.

Bobbie was one of many dogs which accompanied the soldiers of the (66th) Berkshire Regiment during that war and was present at the Battle of Maiwand in 1880.

Queen Victoria was so impressed by his exploits that in June 1881, Bobbie was presented to her at Osborne House, on the Isle of Wight, on the occasion when the Queen presented Distinguished Conduct Medals to soldiers from the Regiment who had shown great courage during the battle.

Her Majesty and Prince Philip then went into the grounds of the museum (housed in the Wardrobe) to attend a reception, followed by a luncheon hosted by the Lord Lieutenant Mrs Sarah Troughton. Afterwards, the Queen and Prince Philip attended a Service in Salisbury Cathedral, followed by a tour of The Close.

The Wiltshire Regiment's cap badge remained unchanged until 1954 when Prince Philip became the Regiment's Colonel-in-Chief, at which time the monogram was replaced with a 'P' and a reversed 'P' and the Royal Ducal pattern of coronet was adopted.

In 1958 The Regiment merged with the Royal Berkshire Regiment to form the Duke of Edinburgh's Regiment, Berkshire and Wiltshire, in the Wessex Brigade, adopting the Wessex Brigade badge.

In 1968 the Wessex Brigade was broken up and the Regiment re-emerged as the Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment (Berkshire and Wiltshire).

In 1994 there was a further amalgamation, this time with the Gloucestershire Regiment, to form the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment.

In 2005 this Regiment was designated as Light Infantry. In 2007 the Regiment amalgamated again, this time with the Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry, which had also been designated Light Infantry in 2005. The amalgamated unit joined the newly-formed The Rifles as its 1st Battalion.

On March 31, 2011, the Prince visited the REME Battalions at Tidworth Garrison, and on July 22 2009 he attended The Rifles Regimental Family Day at Tidworth Polo Club.

On July 8, 2006, the Duke attended a reception at Lackham College near Chippenham.

On October 16 2004, the Prince accepted the Freedom of the City of Salisbury on behalf of the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment as its Colonel-in-Chief.

The 1st Battalion RGBW then exercised its right to march through the city centre with bands playing, bayonets fixed and colours flying.

The ceremony starts began at 11.30am on Choristers Green, in the Cathedral Close, where the Duke and the Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire received the royal salute.

On May 4, 2004, the Prince visited Crammer Court and the historic Wadworth Brewery in Devizes where he was invited to drive one of its traditional brewery drays pulled by magnificent Shire horses.

To commemorate his first visit to the town since he reviewed the troops at Le Marchant Barracks on the bicentenary of the Wiltshire Regiment on July 24, 1956, he received a limited edition statuette of The Cooper, a piece of sculpture developed by Peter Hicks Associates of Littleton Panell, near Devizes, for the brewery.

The statuette depicts Wadworth's cooper, Alastair Simms, trimming the joints of a barrel. At the time, Mr Simms was one of only eight master coopers in the country working exclusively on oak casks.

On February 28, 2003, he visited Swindon, where the town's mayor, Cllr Stan Pajack, guided Prince Philip through the town centre.

At Jubilee Square the Duke met the Swindon Council leader, Cllr Kevin Small.

Prince Philip was shown the new jubilee clock and met some of the team behind its creation.

Before the town centre tour, Prince Philip visited Swindon's new Great Western Hospital and Swindon's New College.

On December 7, 2001 he visited North Wiltshire with the Queen. She and the Duke of Edinburgh were due to visit in March but were forced postponed the trip until December because of the foot and mouth outbreak.

At around 11am, the Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh were set to arrive at Chippenham Station by scheduled train, to be met by The Lord-Lieutenant of Wiltshire.

The Queen's schedule involved a visit to Calne's Town Hall and library as well as the John Bentley School.

The Duke of Edinburgh visited Wiltshire College as well as Abbeyfield School and the Heritage Centre and Town Hall in Chippenham.