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The Prince Philip Movement is a religious sect followed by the Kastom people around Yaohnanen village on the southern island of Tanna in Vanuatu. It is a cargo cult of the Yaohnanen tribe, who believe that Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the consort to Queen Elizabeth II, is a divine being.
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Origins
According to ancient Yaohnanen tales, the son of a mountain spirit travelled over the seas to a distant land. There, he married a powerful woman and in time would return to them. He was sometimes said to be a brother to John Frum of another local cargo cult.
The people of the Yaohnanen area believe that Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the consort to Queen Elizabeth II, is a divine being. They had seen the respect accorded to Queen Elizabeth II by the colonial officials and concluded that her husband, Prince Philip, must be the son referred to in their legends.
It is unclear just when this belief came about, but it was probably some time in the 1950s or 1960s. It was strengthened by the royal couple's official visit to Vanuatu in 1974, when a few villagers had the opportunity to actually see Prince Philip from a distance. The Prince was not then aware of the cult, but it was brought to his attention several years later by John Champion, the British Resident Commissioner in the New Hebrides.
Champion suggested that Prince Philip send them a portrait of himself. He agreed and sent a signed official photograph. The villagers responded by sending him a traditional pig-killing club called a nal-nal. In compliance with their request, the Prince sent a photograph of himself posing with the club. Another photograph was sent in 2000. All three photographs were kept by Chief Jack Naiva, who died in 2009.
Anne, Princess Royal, visited Tanna in October 2014. She is the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. She had visited Vanuatu in 1974, but had not previously travelled to the island.
The cult in the news
On 27 September 2007, British television station Channel 4 broadcast Meet the Natives, a reality show about five Tanna men from the Prince Philip Movement on a visit to Britain. Their visit culminated in an off-screen audience with Philip, where gifts were exchanged, including a new photograph of the Prince.
In 2010 Australian journalist Amos Roberts visited Tanna and reported on the locals' celebration of Philip's 89th birthday, for SBS's magazine program Dateline.
In 2011 the people of Yaohnanen village were featured in an episode of the second series of An Idiot Abroad with Karl Pilkington.
In 2013, Man Belong Mrs Queen, a book by British writer Matthew Baylis, investigated the historical and anthropological origins of the movement and provided an account of the author's own stay on the island of Tanna.
An interview about the movement featured in a programme about Mount Yasur made by Kate Humble for BBC and broadcast in 2015.