Prince Philip: the unlikely but willing Pacific deity

Cargo-worshipping sect on Tanna in Vanuatu revered Duke of Edinburgh as the pale-skinned son of an ancient spirit

Of the many honours and titles bestowed on the Duke of Edinburgh, the strangest was his status as a deity to a remote south-west Pacific people.

The Prince Philip Movement, a sect followed by the Yaohnanen tribe on the southern island of Tanna in Vanuatu, believed him to be the pale-skinned son of an ancient mountain spirit.