His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh 1921 - 2021

It is with great sadness that we heard of the death of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. A true countryman with a love of the countryside, he combined a commitment to conservation with a love of field sports, especially shooting and fishing. It was partly through his experience of shooting at Sandringham that his view of shooting, and how that can sit comfortably alongside conservation, was formed. When it came to the management of birds such as corvids and raptors that predate both gamebirds and threatened songbirds, his view was that if one is interested in species then one wants to see corvids and raptors, but not so many that they have an adverse effect on another population. The need to be able to manage populations was therefore necessary, and there should be no conflict between country sports and the conservation of wildlife provided that no species are put at risk. Thanks to the Duke of Edinburgh, Sandringham became one of the premier wild bird shoots in the country, and a model of conservation. Between 1952 and his death, he oversaw the planting of 2 million trees, the creation of 45 new woodlands, the establishment of 160 hectares of wild bird cover; and the protection of 200 hectares of wild and uncultivated land.

Prince Philip was patron of more than 800 organisations. These included the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) where he was a passionate voice, advocate and champion for the organization's work. On its creation in 1961, he served as the WWF's first UK president, and in 1970, its highest conservation award, eponymously named the Duke of Edinburgh Conservation Award, was established. He was WWF International's president from 1981 – 1996, and its president emeritus at the time of his death. The Duke of Edinburgh was also Chancellor of the University of Cambridge from December 1976 to June 2011. His love of nature and an intuitive understanding of animals and their habitats, combined with his extensive involvement in the conservation of animal populations led to an acute interest in the ecological principles on which management and conservation practices needed to be based. He played an active and perceptive role in encouraging scholarship on these issues, and to mark the 30th anniversary of his Chancellorship in 2007, the Prince Philip Professorship of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology was created by the University.

A knowledgeable and passionate countryman, we are indebted to His Royal Highness for all that he has done for the countryside and field sports. He will be sorely missed, and our thoughts are with Her Majesty the Queen, and members of the Royal Family.