Prince Philip: 'Even at 96, young people thought he was cool'

Floral tributes have been left at Hillsborough Castle

People from across Northern Ireland have been sharing their memories of Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II's husband, following his death.

One of his major achievements was the establishment of the Duke of Edinburgh Award in 1956, an initiative many people from Northern Ireland have participated in.

"I think one of my memories of him, one of his last presentations, was to a young person who - I think at that stage the Duke was either 95 or 96 - and the young person described him as cool," said Kate Thompson, the director of the Duke of Edinburgh Award in Northern Ireland.

"I just thought, isn't that just lovely that a young person felt that he was cool because he was absolutely interested in what they had done?"

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Firefighter Zoe Taylor, who also volunteers with the Duke of Edinburgh Award, said what stood out to her was that "he was actually really funny".

"He had a great personality, he was very vocational and his ability to grab a spark within the group was amazing."

Zoe Taylor was impressed with the Duke of Edinburgh's sense of humour when she met him

Robin Adams, formerly the librarian and college archivist at Trinity College Dublin, met Prince Philip during the Queen's visit to Ireland in 2011.

"He shook every single hand and there must have been more than a hundred people," he said.

"It wasn't part of the protocol, he was just meant to say hello and have a conversation, but he did shake hands with every single person."

Robin Adams met the Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen during their visit to Ireland in 2011

"I think that really, people thought that was a very nice touch," Mr Adams added.

Lady Mary Peters, Northern Ireland's Olympic gold medallist, spoke about meeting the Duke of Edinburgh for the first time when she was 18, at the Commonwealth Games in Cardiff in 1958.

"We always had fun together," she said.

"And then when I was Lord Lieutenant, he was always very kind and welcoming."

'Incredibly sharp'

Northern Ireland peer Viscount Brookeborough, a former Lord Lieutenant, who holds office in the Royal Household, said Prince Philip was "incredibly sharp and obviously highly intelligent".

"He was a leader in his own life and one has to remember that possibly if he'd stayed in the Navy, he might have become head of the Navy or whatever," he said.

"Whenever you were with him, you always felt his presence, you always knew he was in the room, but he had that magical ability that he didn't stifle people or paralyse the room by being there, because he was so friendly to everybody.

"It marks an end of an era for all of us."

The Stormont Assembly will hold a sitting on Monday to allow assembly members to pay tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh.