On the island of Tanna in Vanuatu, the Kastom people of the Yaohnanen and Yakel villages hold an unwavering belief that the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was a divine being born from their own ancient legend. This episode traces how an old prophecy about a mountain spirit's son who crossed the seas to marry a powerful woman collided with British colonial rule, transforming a glimpsed royal into the center of a genuine religious movement. We explore why anthropologists call this a cargo cult and what the belief reveals about how the human mind absorbs new information into ancient frameworks.

From the 1974 royal visit and the surreal exchange of signed photographs and a nail nail pig-killing club, to the media circus of reality TV and the death of Prince Philip in 2021, the story follows a faith that bent rather than broke. We examin ...