THE death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, will have saddened many people across Scotland, a country he knew well and dearly loved.

In many ways it was Scotland that formed him. Following a disrupted childhood he was educated at Schule Schloss Salem in Germany from 1933, but after only two terms he moved to Scotland, following the Schule’s Jewish founder Kurt Hahn, who had fled Nazi Germany and founded Gordonstoun School – its original name was the British Salem School of Gordonstoun – near Duffus in Moray.

Philip arrived at Gordonstoun School in 1934, and Hahn became a lifelong mentor. The School in those days prized physical and sporting attributes as well as intellectual achievements – Hahn believed in a rounded education for teenagers, and himself taught history and ancient Greek. He also encouraged his pupils in drama – the Duke once starred in a school production of The Scottish Play, as actors call Macbeth.

He excelled at sport and the other outdoor adventures, such as sailing yachts, that Hahn encouraged. He did not, however, build a wall as depicted in The Crown. In his final year he was head boy, a position known as the Guardian. Hahn later founded the Moray Badge initiative which encouraged youngsters to become self-sufficient and serve their communities – the duke would adapt it to become the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme, which has enriched the lives of tens of thousands of young Scots.

Assessed as an all-rounder with great self-reliance and leadership skills, he left Gordonstoun in 1939 and joined the Royal Navy. His education in Scotland had obviously done him a power of good as he was named best cadet at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth.

During the war he served on board HMS Wallace – named after Sir William Wallace – a destroyer that first performed escort duties off the east coast of Scotland. It was on board Wallace that he achieved the rank of lieutenant at the very young age of 21.

Prince Philip was to gain a much grander rank on his marriage to the future Queen, becoming the Duke of Edinburgh, only the third man to have that title. He had a long association with Scotland’s capital, serving no less than 57 years as chancellor of Edinburgh University.

As president of the Commonwealth Games Federation, he was a ubiquitous figure at the Edinburgh Games of 1986, and he and the Queen attended the other two Commonwealth Games in Scotland – Edinburgh in 1970 and Glasgow in 2014.

After his marriage to Princess Elizabeth in 1947, the couple spent part of their honeymoon at Birkhall Lodge on the Balmoral estate which had been purchased for the royal family by the previous male consort, Prince Albert. When his wife became Queen in 1952, Prince Philip soon set about refurbishing Balmoral, which became their holiday home where he could relax and indulge his loves of shooting and fishing – he also cooked many holiday barbecues on the estate.

Through his great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, Prince Philip was descended from Scottish royalty, ultimately Mary, Queen of Scots as mother of King James VI and I, as is the Queen.

The Duke’s many associations with Scotland included being the Colonel-in-Chief and then Royal Colonel of the Highlanders, 4th battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

He was honoured with numerous honorary doctorates and was also made a Freeman of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Perth.

In his role as consort, the Duke of Edinburgh visited Scotland many times with the Queen for opening ceremonies and other royal engagements, but he was never happier than at Balmoral.