Pictures of Prince Philip in Glasgow through the years

It was summer 1955, and our photographers captured the Duke striding across the turf to shake hands with John F Wilson, Rangers chairman and other dignitaries.

Then, the Duke was driven under police escort to Clyde Place Quay, for the naming of the Outward Bound Trust’s Moray Sea School’s new, Danish-built schooner.

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Ibrox, 1955

His visit evidently recalled his own experiences.

“It is not so long ago that I cannot remember what it was like to go sailing in those ships,” he said.

“In fact I remember only too well the times when I was wet, cold, miserable, probably sick, and often scared stiff, but I would not have missed that experience for anything.”

This was one of many visits the Duke of Edinburgh enjoyed in Glasgow. Usually photographed a few steps behind Her Majesty, on this occasion, he and his helicopter were definitely the main attraction.

His first visit to the city was back in 1947, when his engagement to the Princess Elizabeth was less than two weeks old.

It was July, 1947 and the princess had turned 21 a few months earlier; he was 26. The wedding took place on November 20 that year, at Westminster Abbey.

The Duke on board the Glen Lee

On July 21, around 3000 people waited at Central Station and, in pouring rain, in the adjacent streets for a glimpse of the Princess and her fiancé, the King, the Queen and Princess Margaret. In Jamaica Street, the crowd surged forward in spite of a strong police cordon, leaving barely enough room for the royal car to pass. The young couple smiled their acknowledgement of the numerous cries of “congratulations” and “good luck to you both”.

At Crookston Homes for Aged Residents, the visitors chatted with residents and staff. Sitting in a bath-chair in one of the day wards was Mrs Mary Foggo, who congratulated the princess on her engagement and said how much she was looking forward to reading about the wedding.

Prince Philip at the Anchor Mills in Paisley.

In March 1960, the Duke of Edinburgh visited the Possil factory of Fibreglass Ltd where he met some old shipmates of his – they had served on the cruiser, HMS Kent, in 1940 – and on a seperate occasion, at the Rootes factory in Linwood, he got behind the wheel of its famous Hillman Imp.

In 1974, the Queen and the Duke visited the city on a royal tour that also took in Erskine and the Anchor Thread Mills in Paisley.

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At Erskine hospital, the Duke, in the words of one of its officials, “threw formality to the winds” as he toured the wards and chatted to veterans whose service included the Boer War to the Troubles in Northern Ireland. He spoke to a house steward he had last met at Erskine 16 years earlier, and discussed a copper beech he had planted in the hospital grounds. “This will never grow,” the Duke had remarked at the time, but he was now told that it was “alive and flourishing”.

The Queen signing the visitor's book as Prince Philip looks on, at the opening of Glasgow Airport.

In June 1966, low cloud and a steady drizzle in gusting wind delayed by 10 minutes the arrival of the Queen’s plane at the new £5 million Glasgow Airport.

Several thousand sightseers, travellers and airport staff watched as her plane taxied to within a few yards of the international pier. As onlookers gazed through the glass, many of them taking photographs, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh passed through gaily decorated corridors from Gate 12, lined by children from Renfrewshire schools.

In July 2001, Prince Philip and the Queen visited the Glasgow Times and Herald offices.

Airport director Ronald Read hinted to the Duke that expansion might be in the offing for the airport. “Already?” the Duke replied with a laugh.

Whether visiting factories or ships - we caught up with him on a visit to Glasgow’s Tall Ship, the Glen Lee, and he even came to the Glasgow Times offices in 2001 - the Duke seemed to enjoy his city trips.

Accompanying the Queen on a much-publicised visit to the Gorbals in late June, 1961, he ventured into the close at 65 Sandyfaulds Street, and called upon one of the residents there, having spoken to her through her kitchen window from the back green.

In the Gorbals, 1960s

1961 Royal visit Gorbals

“I told him the floorboards were giving way,” the householder, a Mrs Meek, later told reporters, “and warned him to be careful. The Duke said that was awful and that we would have to watch where we were walking.”

In new flats on Commercial Row, the Duke went out onto one balcony, and admired the decorations and the furnishings inside. “Is this all on the never-never?” he asked the householder. “Not at all,” she replied with pride. “Everything’s paid for.”