Prince Philip's 73-year association with Northern Ireland

The Royal couple visited Northern Ireland on the Queen's 1953 Coronation tour

In 1949, in the days before mass television ownership and celebrity magazines, thousands turned out to greet the new Royal couple on their first visit to Northern Ireland.

Four years later, the Duke of Edinburgh accompanied the Queen on her Coronation tour.

Again thousands came to greet them, as a special train brought them to many parts of Northern Ireland.

They returned once more in 1955 when the crowds were even bigger.

Prince Philip is greeted by Mr William Hall, Lord Lieutenant of County Down as he arrives at a snowy Hillsborough Castle in 2005

But the world, and Northern Ireland, was changing and, in 1966, as the Royal couple was being driven along Great Victoria Street in Belfast, a concrete block was thrown at the Royal limousine to the duke's obvious concern.

It was 11 years before the duke and the Queen returned for her silver jubilee by which time the Troubles were dominating life in Northern Ireland.

Security was tight. A bomb exploded at the University of Ulster in Coleraine a week before they were due to visit there.

The Royal couple visited the set of the Game of Thrones television series in Belfast in June 2014

Two years later, the duke's uncle and friend Lord Mountbatten was murdered by the IRA when they exploded a bomb on his boat at Mullaghmore in County Sligo.

The Royals continued to visit Northern Ireland, however, and in 1994, the Duke of Edinburgh represented the Queen at a memorial service for victims of the Chinook helicopter crash in Scotland.

Through the years, thousands of young people from Northern Ireland have also taken part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme.

The Royal couple during a visit to Crumlin Road Gaol in 2014

The Royal couple were back in 1995 to open the new M3 road bridge in Belfast and restore city status on Armagh. The following year the duke agreed to become patron of the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society, which was marking its centenary.

In 2007, he attended the enthronement of the new head of the Church of Ireland, Archbishop Alan Harper.

And, of course, the duke accompanied the Queen on her historic visit to the Republic of Ireland in 2011.

But it is in Northern Ireland that he will be best remembered. He returned for the Jubilee visit of 2012 and watched the historic handshake between the Queen and former IRA commander Martin McGuinness.

If the duke felt uneasy, he did not say so although, at one point during the tour of the Lyric Theatre in Belfast, he seemed reluctant to delay and chat to Mr McGuinness, then Northern Ireland's deputy first minister.

Prince Philip at Hillsborough Castle during his last official visit to Northern Ireland in 2017

The couple returned in 2014 for a three-day visit and again in 2016, when they undertook a two-day visit.

The duke's final visit to Northern Ireland came in May 2017, when he met 115 young people who completed the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme.

He retired from public duties later that year.

Prince Philip signs the visitors book at Hillsborough Castle on the final day of a visit to Northern Ireland in 2014

In all, the Duke of Edinburgh visited Ireland nearly 60 times - more than twice as often as the Queen.

As many of the people who met him over a period of more than 60 years will probably remember, he was very much his own man.