Tributes pour in for Prince Philip

The Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA) in Trinidad and Tobago has paid respects to UK’s Prince Philip, who died on Friday at 99.

A statement on Friday from its chairman, Dennis TE Olivier, said the officers and membership of RAFA (branch 1075) expressed their deepest condolences and sincerest sympathies to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, and the Royal Family.

Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and Queen Elizabeth II's husband, would have turned 100 on June 10.

The release said Prince Philip served as RAFA’s president on three occasions. The first was from 1954-1956, then 1967-1969 and 1993.

"The branch had the pleasure of meeting him during the queen’s visit to Trinidad and Tobago in 2012. May he rest in peace," the release said.

The Pointe-a-Pierre Wildfowl Trust team, via e-mail, said it was deeply sorrowed to learn of the passing. The team also expressed its deepest condolences to the Queen and the royal family.

Molly Gaskin, an environmental activist, is the president of the NGO.

In November 2015, the chief clerk to the queen Christopher Sandomas wrote a letter to Gaskin on the 50th anniversary of the Wildfowl Trust. The letter said the queen sent her "best wishes" for the anniversary celebrations.

Since the death, several past and present world leaders have extended condolences to the queen, the　head　of the　Commonwealth, and the royal family.

The Prime Minister, who is in quarantine, spoke with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) World Service and extended condolences on TT and Caricom's behalf.

Dr Keith Rowley said the Duke was an environmentalist "before it was fashionable."

Rowley remembered the prince as the person who drove the Duke of Edinburgh Awards which helped build character in generations of young people.

"That was the closest we have been to him. His representation in the Commonwealth was always along the lines of youth development and the environment. So, we do have that memory, and we feel saddened by his loss," Rowley said.

"For us the real benefit we got, and the involvement with him, was his emphasis on building the next generation and building character."

On the Duke of Edinburgh Awards programme in TT, the Prime Minister said thousands of people, who are now adults in TT, knew of Prince Philip and the role he was playing during their formative years.

Many of them got to meet him because he did travel "quite a bit around the Commonwealth" advancing the benefit of this programme which was so valuable.

Meeting him was a memory that many people would cherish, Rowley said.