Prince Philip Is Being Memorialized by Having a Lifeboat Named After Him

It's been almost half a year since Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, passed away at the age of 99. The late duke was the patriarch of the royal family and the longtime husband to Queen Elizabeth II, and he was honored by his family back in April with a special service that recognized his contributions as a royal.

Now, the late duke is being commemorated by a surprising new group: The Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

It was just announced that the RNLI will be naming a lifeboat after the royal, in honor of his love for the sea and his time in the royal navy. “The @rnli have announced that their new state-of-the-art lifeboat will be named after His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh,” they wrote on the royal family Instagram. They added, “With the naming of ‘Duke of Edinburgh’, the RNLI honour HRH’s lifelong commitment to maritime services and his @royalnavy career. Having trained at Dartmouth, The Duke went on to become one of @royalnavy youngest First Lieutenants, and saw active service in WWII. It was in 1950, 71 years today, The Duke assumed command of HMS Magpie.”

The announcement came with a special black-and-white throwback of the duke, along with a newer photo of his oldest son, Prince Charles.

They explained in the caption, “Swipe to see The Prince of Wales @clarencehouse installing a silver magpie onto the new lifeboat in Poole earlier this year. The lifeboat will go into service at Wells-next-the-Sea in late 2022.”

RNLI shared the news on their own account as well, with a special video that included other throwbacks of the duke. They said, “We're excited to reveal that Wells-next-the-Sea's new Shannon class lifeboat will be named Duke of Edinburgh, in honour of his maritime service.”