After World War II, some women of the boat-dwelling Tanka people took on a job to repair a British naval ship docked in Hong Kong. Little did they know that a “friendly, young officer” they met on board was to marry Britain’s future queen.

Prince Philip, who died last week, was serving on the destroyer HMS Whelp in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese surrendered in 1945. He traveled to Hong Kong to assist the city’s recovery, and it was there that he met the women who would come to remember him fondly, according to Miriam, a Tanka descendant chronicling stories of the ancient fishing community.

Several of Miriam’s aunts were working on the HMS Whelp at the British naval base for a few months, helping repaint the vessel and weave ropes on board.

“Prince Philip would always treat them with candies. They remember him as a very nice officer,” Miriam said. “Even before he left, he made it a point to ask them if there was anything they needed, I remember my elders telling me.”

Fourteen years later, Prince Philip requested to reunite with the women during an official visit to Hong Kong in 1959.

“They were quite surprised. I don’t think they knew until they met him, that the officer who had chatted with them and treated them to food had become a prince.”

Miriam herself also had an encounter with the Duke of Edinburgh in 2009, when she was invited as a journalist by the British Tourist Authority for a media tour in the United Kingdom.

She reminded Prince Philip of his time with the Tanka women at the British naval base. “Thank you for your visit [to Hong Kong]. My grandma and other relatives told me they met you at Tamar,” she said.

Prince Philip, who was almost 90 years old at the time, replied: “Yes, I was there after the war. At the time there were some young women who had helped with the work.”

Miriam remembered how her relatives would talk nonchalantly about meeting Prince Philip and how they “used to see him all the time.”

She was saddened to hear of his death. “There were many shared experiences we had, and with my family, it’s quite sad.”

Prince Philip died on April 9, aged 99, at Windsor Castle in England.

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