Philip may be a duke, but to some he's a god

Jack Naiva, the Union Jack draped over his shoulder, holds one of the revered portraits of the Duke of Edinburgh. Photo / Nick Squires

YAOHNANEN - Squatting at the base of an enormous banyan tree, an elderly village chief holds his most prized possession between bony fingers. "Philip sent this to us," he said. "Now we have three of them."

A signed portrait of HRH the Duke of Edinburgh is an incongruous sight in the middle of a South Pacific jungle, but for this remote village in Vanuatu it is a revered part of their daily lives.

As unlikely as it sounds, the people of Yaohnanen and surrounding villages worship 85-year-old Prince Philip as a god.

They believe him to be the son of an ancient spirit who inhabits a nearby mountain on the island of Tanna.

Determining exactly how these people came to believe that the Prince is a god is complicated by almost impenetrable spiritual beliefs and language difficulties - villagers speak no English, let alone the Bislama pidgin which is Vanuatu's lingua franca.

But it appears that at some point in the 1950s they melded the Christian conviction of a messiah with the respect accorded Philip by the British colonial authorities of what was then the New Hebrides.

Their veneration of the Duke of Edinburgh fitted comfortably with an ancient prophecy that a Tanna man would venture far away in search of a powerful woman to marry.

The Prince's cult-like status received a big boost when he came to the New Hebrides on a state visit in March 1971, resplendent in a white naval uniform as he and the Queen steamed into the capital, Port Vila.

The Prince is well aware that he is the subject of such distant adoration and has allowed his framed portraits to be sent to Chief Jack Naiva and his little band of believers.

The first, a black and white print now badly damaged by damp, dates from the early 1960s. The second, which shows the Prince in a smart suit holding a traditional pig-killing club, is dated 1980, while the most recent was sent in 2000.

Correspondence from Buckingham Palace was also highly prized by the tribe, but humidity and nibbling mice have long since destroyed it.

Despite worshipping the Prince as a god for half a century, the villagers - none of whom can read or write - learned only recently that his birthday falls on June 10.

Great plans are now under way to celebrate the occasion this year with dancing and a feast. Chief Jack has even managed to acquire an immaculate new Union Jack, which will be run up a flagpole and saluted.