The Duke of Edinburgh's Award: Prince Philip's Lasting Legacy

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, left behind many roles and titles across his long life of service, but ask which one he considered most important, and the answer was consistently the same: the youth award that bears his name. Founded in 1956, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award has quietly become one of the most significant youth-development programmes in the world, helping millions of young people build confidence, resilience and character. It is, by any measure, his most lasting and personal legacy.

What makes the DofE Award remarkable is not just its scale but its philosophy: rather than handing young people achievement, it asks them to earn it, through sustained effort across months rather than a single test. That idea, formed nearly seventy years ago, has aged remarkably well.

Here is the story of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award: how Prince Philip built it, what it asks of young people, and why it endures as such a fitting tribute to him.

Founded in 1956

Prince Philip established the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in 1956, drawing on ideas developed by the educationalist Kurt Hahn, whose thinking on the “six declines of modern youth” (a loss of physical fitness, initiative, memory and imagination, self-discipline, skill and craftsmanship, and compassion) shaped the award’s founding structure. Philip believed young people needed structured challenges to build character, not simply academic achievement.

The original award was aimed at boys aged fourteen to eighteen, but it expanded steadily over the following decades, to girls, to different age groups, and eventually across the world, becoming one of the most enduring institutions Prince Philip ever created.

How the award works

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award asks participants to commit to sustained activity across four sections: volunteering, physical activity, developing a new skill, and an expedition on foot, bike or by other non-motorised means, undertaken over months rather than days. At the Gold level, an additional residential section is required, involving a shared activity away from home.

The structure is deliberately demanding. Rather than a single test of aptitude, it rewards persistence, self-discipline and the willingness to see something difficult through to completion. These are precisely the qualities Philip believed modern life too often failed to cultivate in the young.

A global legacy

What began as a British scheme has grown, remarkably, into a genuinely global movement, now operating in 144 nations under various names, from the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award to national variants around the Commonwealth and beyond. Millions of young people have completed it since 1956, each carrying the same core philosophy of earned achievement wherever in the world they took part.

That scale shows how well the original idea has travelled: a distinctly British programme, rooted in one man’s convictions about youth development, that found relevance across dramatically different cultures and circumstances.

Why it mattered to Philip

Of all his patronages and pursuits, Prince Philip repeatedly named the DofE Award among his proudest achievements, a programme he championed personally for over six decades until his death in 2021. It reflected a genuine, deeply held belief: that young people, given the right structure and encouragement, were capable of far more than they, or society, often assumed.

That conviction sits alongside a broader family tradition of investing in the young: it echoes in his son King Charles’s founding of The King’s Trust, and in his grandson William’s Earthshot Prize, each in its own way built on the same faith that young people, properly supported, can achieve remarkable things. Our piece on King Charles & The King’s Trust explores that parallel legacy in full.

An enduring tribute

Nearly seventy years after its founding, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award remains one of the clearest, most concrete expressions of Prince Philip’s character: practical rather than sentimental, demanding rather than indulgent, and built to outlast him by generations. It continues to induct new participants every year, entirely unaffected by his passing, exactly as he would have wanted.

That continuity is itself the tribute: not a monument or a plaque, but a living programme still changing young lives, decades after its founder’s death.

Why it endures

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award endures because it addressed a real and permanent need with a simple, demanding structure that has never gone out of date: young people, given a genuine challenge and the encouragement to complete it, rise to meet it. Philip’s insight, formed in 1956, remains exactly as relevant today.

That is his lasting legacy: not a title, but a working system that has quietly shaped millions of lives across 144 nations. Browse more of our Royal Figures stories to explore the causes and convictions that have shaped the royal family.

Frequently asked questions

When did Prince Philip found the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award?

Prince Philip founded the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in 1956, drawing on the educational ideas of Kurt Hahn to build character and resilience in young people through structured challenges.

What are the four sections of the DofE Award?

The award requires volunteering, physical activity, developing a new skill, and an expedition on foot, bike or similar non-motorised means, each undertaken over a sustained period. The Gold level adds a residential section away from home.

How many countries run the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award?

The award, or its international equivalents, now operates in 144 nations, having grown from a British scheme in 1956 into one of the largest youth-development programmes in the world.

Why did Prince Philip create the award?

Philip believed young people needed structured challenges to build character, discipline and resilience, drawing on educationalist Kurt Hahn’s concerns about declines in youth fitness, initiative and compassion in modern society.

Did Prince Philip consider the DofE Award his greatest achievement?

Prince Philip repeatedly named the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award among his proudest achievements, championing it personally for over six decades until his death in 2021.

How does the DofE Award compare to The King’s Trust?

Both reflect a similar royal conviction in the potential of young people: the DofE Award, founded by Prince Philip in 1956, builds character through structured challenges, while The King’s Trust, founded by King Charles in 1976, supports disadvantaged young people into education, training and work.

Details of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award are drawn from royal.uk, dofe.org and widely published sources; described as of 2026.