Gordon Brown shares Queen’s reaction after he asked about Prince Philip’s health

Prince Philip: Gordon Brown discusses Queen’s ‘bond’ with Duke

As many across the country pay tribute to Prince Philip, Gordon Brown joined Kate Garraway and Susanna Reid on Good Morning Britain to recall his own interaction with the Duke. He explained he was supported by Prince Philip when he was younger as he helped save his job as the Rector of Edinburgh University. However, it was his interaction with the Queen which thrilled Kate and Susanna.

Mr Brown commented: “I think the Queen would allow me to say this.

“When I’ve met the queen in recent years and I ask her first of all, because he had become frail over a number of months and years, how is the Duke of Edinburgh?

“You could see her eyes light up and how much this partnership mattered to her and how much this bond was strong.

“Just to ask about the welfare of the Duke of Edinburgh was something she responded to in that way.

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Gordon Brown shares Queen’s reaction after he asked about Prince Philip’s health (Image: ITV • GETTY)

Gordon Brown said the Queen’s eyes lit up when he asked about Prince Philip (Image: GETTY)

“These are two great public servants who the country must be very grateful for, the service they have given over 70-80 years in public life.”

Recalling his first interaction with the Duke, Mr Brown told the hosts: “I was a student at Edinburgh University very near here when I was a teenager.

“I had just graduated and had become the Rector of the university and he was the Chancellor and of course, the university establishment didn’t like the fact that a student had been chosen as the Rector to chair the university court.

“They tried to change the rules and would like to have gotten rid of me.”

Gordon Brown detailed how Prince Philip saved his job when he was a teen (Image: ITV) Gordon Brown recalls time Prince Philip ‘saved him’

He continued: “But who stepped in to save me? The Duke of Edinburgh.

“He wasn’t a traditionalist, he wasn’t an establishment figure. He was a person who had a very independent mind.

“You know, your feature a few minutes about the numbers of young people including my own family who have been helped by the Duke of Edinburgh’s award scheme, this is in 140 countries around the world.

“It’s fantastic that so many young people, 400,000 in Africa at the moment on the Duke of Edinburgh scheme and it’s lasted for years.

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“This has lasted and continued to change and you saw the affect on young people’s lives in that marvellous film you showed a few moments ago.

“That’s what makes him one of our great public servants of our time and he will be ling remembered for that.”

“Did he tell you why he took a fancy to you and defended you?” Garraway asked.

Mr Brown replied: “I think he had a strong sense of what was fair and unfair.

“I had been elected as the Rector and usually they elected famous personalities as Rectors and they had elected me as a student.

“I think he saw it was unfair for the university establishment to pick on me just because I was a student.

“I was very grateful because he stepped in at that time.”

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays on ITV at 6am.