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  I have never met the Duke of Edinburgh or even glimpsed him in person, though, as many are saying since his recent death, he has been there for all of my life and his name cropped up in conversation many times. My father met him, one day in 1963, working as a draughtsman in Sunderland at J L Thompsons and the Prince visited  Doxfords , the largest shipyard in the area.  The Duke of Edinburgh (as my family always gave him his full title) had walked down the line of office workers who were waiting to meet him and stopped beside my father, put out his hand to shake his and asked him his name and if he was going on holiday this year and where.  My Dad, being a shy, reticent person, immediately had a memory block and couldn't remember where he was going. This was strange as my parents and we three children almost always went  to Keswick in the Lake District for one week's holiday, during the annual "Shipyard Fortnight".  However, my Dad recovered himself enoug...