Cambridge University 'fortunate beyond measure' to have Duke as Chancellor
Professor Stephen Toope, Cambridge's current vice-chancellor pays tribute to the Duke and says everyone at the university is thinking of the Queen and her family.
Cambridge University was "fortunate beyond measure" to have the Duke of Edinburgh as its chancellor for 35 years, a former vice-chancellor has said.
Philip, who has died aged 99, was Cambridge University's chancellor from 1976 to 2011.
He would confer honorary degrees in a grand annual ceremony and visited Cambridge several times a year to talk to students and researchers and to discuss university business with the vice-chancellor.
The university tweeted its sadness at his passing and passed its condolences to the Queen.
The duke was particularly interested in engineering and in conservation, with the university creating the Prince Philip Professorship of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology to mark the 30th anniversary of his chancellorship in 2007.
Speaking at an event in 2007 to celebrate 30 years of his chancellorship, the duke told those present that he was prevented from going to university himself by the Second World War.
He said that the result was that he began his university career "at the wrong end", becoming a chancellor without ever having been a student.
He also told listeners that his connection with Cambridge had been "fascinating, and the greatest pleasure for me ever since (my election)".
Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, who was vice-chancellor from 2010 to 2017, said: "The university was fortunate beyond measure to have the Duke of Edinburgh as our chancellor for three and a half decades.
"Prince Philip was held in the greatest respect and affection here: There is hardly a corner of the university and its colleges that he had not visited, always showing the keenest interest in our students, our teaching and our research across all disciplines."
Professor Stephen Toope, Cambridge's current vice-chancellor, said: "It is a great sadness to hear of the death of His Royal Highness, the Duke of Edinburgh.
"On behalf of the duke's many friends and well-wishers at the university, I extend my most sincere condolences to Her Majesty the Queen and the royal family."
Philip was a strong advocate for the establishment of the Regius Professorship in Engineering at Cambridge in 2011, which commemorated the end of his chancellorship.
There was also praise for his interest and commitment from the Fitzwilliam Museum.
Dame Ann Dowling, former head of Cambridge's Department of Engineering, recalled that Philip "had much to contribute to conversations on aircraft noise, my own area of research, not only because he was a pilot, but because Windsor Castle is right under the approach to Heathrow".
Professor Tim Clutton-Brock, the first Prince Philip Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, said: "Prince Philip had a countryman's love of nature and an intuitive understanding of animals and their habitats.
"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 and he played an active and perceptive role in encouraging scholarship on these issues.
"No one who was quizzed by the duke is likely to forget the experience. "He had a keen intellect that rapidly focused on the kernel of important issues, paring away unnecessary details, and his probing questions quickly identified the strengths and weaknesses of arguments that interested him."
Dame Alison Richard, who was vice-chancellor from 2003 to 2010, described Philip as "a chancellor of vision and perspicacity", and remembered his "insatiable, passionate interest in the work of the university".