Prince belong Vanuatu

Heart and Soul

Villagers believe Prince Philip is returning to his ancestral home on their Pacific island. In a handful of villages on the island of Tanna, in Vanuatu, he has been revered as an ancestral spirit and son of their mountain god, and they have been waiting for him to return to them, either in person during his lifetime or in spirit form after his death.

The prince never visited the island of Tanna, but letters, photographs and gifts were exchanged over the years and the prince met a delegation of islanders at Windsor Castle in 2007. Tanna elders sent Prince Philip a "nal nal" pig hunting club. He sent them back a picture of himself holding the club, which the villagers cherish. It is thought the religious movement started after the 1974 royal tour of the Pacific, during which the Queen and Prince Philip visited Vanuatu, then known as the New Hebrides.

Presenter: Jo Dwyer

(Photo: Sikor Natuan holds a water damaged portrait of Britain's Prince Philip in a partially built monument to the British royal near the remote village of Yaohnanen. Credit: Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images)