Tribe who worship Prince Philip pray for his second coming

Prince Philip ’s retirement has devastated a remote Pacific island tribe who worship him like a god.

The faith of elders in the Vanuatu village has been shattered because they believed the man they pray to would one day return to heal the land.

Tribal chief Jack Malia said: “If he comes, the people will not be poor, there will be no sickness, no debt and the garden will be growing very well.”

He was speaking at the village nakamal, a kind of pub, where the men drink intoxicating kava at night.

Locals revere photos of the Duke, including one dated 1980. Dressed in a suit, he is holding a club they had made for him and sent to London.

Malia added: “We still believe he will come but if he doesn’t, the pictures I am holding... they mean nothing.”

According to legend in the village of Younanen on Tanna Island, the prince, 95, is the pale-skinned son of a mountain god who ventured across seas to look for a rich and powerful bride.

Tribe experts believe Philip became a deity in the 1960s when villagers gazed in awe at portraits of him and the Queen in government offices.

Their belief was reinforced in 1974 when Philip and the Queen visited what was then the New Hebrides, a joint Anglo-French colony.

“Prince Philip is important because ancestors told us part of our custom is in England,” said Malia. He added Philip told villagers to never accept money from visitors, just food to share.