Duke of Edinburgh quips as he receives honorary doctorate from Plymouth

The Duke of Edinburgh has received an honorary doctorate of marine science from Plymouth University in recognition of his decorated career in the Royal Navy.

Accepting his award Prince Philip joked about the length of his university career and how he approached it from a different direction from most, quipping:

It's now quite a long time since I started my university career, but unlike most people I started at the wrong end. I became Chancellor of the University of Wales in 1947 and I've been going downhill ever since.

The Duke also publicly unveiled the university's £19 million marine building, which contains state-of-the-art equipment used to train the next generation of mariners.

With the opening of our marine building, we are heralding a new dawn, not just in the development of Plymouth as a leading higher education institution, but for the city, the region and the marine renewable sector, who will be able to use the building's research and development facilities to catalyse technological breakthroughs.

It will be an honour to welcome HRH The Duke of Edinburgh on this special day, and to pay tribute to his distinguished and decorated career with the award of an honorary doctorate of marine science

The visit comes during a year dogged by health scares for the royal. In August, he spent five nights in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary where he was treated for a recurrence of a bladder infection.

It came less than three months after he spent five nights in hospital with a bladder infection following the Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the River Thames.