Prince Philip: The Duke of Edinburgh and Wales in light and dark times

And with that old age, the more robust side of the duke’s character had perhaps taken on a gentler nature.

“I think he mellowed in his old age,” Dame Shan said. “He was still impatient, but not so impatient as he used to be.

“Irascible? Yes, that’s a very good word. You needed to watch your ‘Ps and Qs’ and if you brought up a subject or talked to him about something – if you got it wrong – he would say ‘you’re completely wrong on that’ and explain exactly why you were wrong. He was incredibly well-informed.”

There is perhaps one anecdote, told by Sir Norman, that more than any other sums up the duke’s down-to-earth, inquisitive, informed and, at times, mischievous character.

Sir Norman had been escorting the Queen and Prince Philip for the first opening of the Welsh Assembly on 26 May 1999.

“There was so much happening that day, a big concert, cocktail party in St David’s Hotel which was followed by a very select dinner party,” he explained.

“At the dinner party there were four tables, with about eight people or so on each. The Queen sat on one, the Duke of Edinburgh on the other, Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas as presiding officer on the third and I was on the fourth.

“A lady sitting next to me said ‘anyone know what’s happening to the soccer?’

“I said I didn’t have the foggiest idea. ‘Oh’, she said, ‘there’s a big match tonight – Man U against Bayern Munich in the Champions League final’.

“I summoned a young waiter and asked him if he could find out the score. He came back and said the Germans are leading 1-0. A short while later he came back out and said Manchester United had equalised. Then five minutes later, Man U had scored again, the game was over and they’d won.

“I said ‘are you sure?’ He was only a young chap, maybe his first job as a waiter. He looked worried but said yes he was sure.