Some day my prince will come, say Vanuatu worshippers of royal Philip

Legend says son of mountain god ventured across seas to look for rich and powerful woman to marry

The retirement of Britain’s Prince Philip from public life led world headlines on Thursday, but his most devout and remote followers have only just heard the news.

A tribe in Vanuatu was shocked and dismayed to discover on Saturday that the man they pray to as the son of an ancestral local mountain god will likely never return to their Pacific Island home.

The British royal, who said he would no longer take part in public engagements, alone or alongside his wife, Queen Elizabeth II, is part of the fabric of life in the village of Younanen on Tanna Island. 

Villagers pray to