“It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen
announces the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince
Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this
morning at Windsor Castle,” …“Further announcements will be made in due course. The
Royal Family join with people around the world in mourning his loss.”
Just two months shy of his 100th birthday, HRH Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, Baron Greenwich of Greenwich in the Country of London. Knights of the Garter, quietly passed away at Windsor CastleThough his death was hardly a surprise, yet it still came as a shock for the Royal Family, the nation, and the commonwealth. After all, this was the man who had been a constant in the life of the Queen and for all her realms for over seven decades. He was so strong, robust, and consistent, it was as if he would be here forever. When his mortality finally took hold, the shock and sorrow followed quickly thereafter.
Prince Philip’s Life
By any measure, Prince Philip was a remarkable man.
Though he married royalty, he was also royal by birth himself. He was part of
the Greek and Danish royal families, though exiled from his native Greece at
the age of 18 months. He did not live a stable two-parent family. Philip went
to school in the UK, Germany, and France. At the age of 17, he joined the Royal
Navy in 1939 and had a distinguished career.
He served on a variety of ships, either protecting
Australian convoys in the Indian Ocean, or serving on the Mediterranean fleet.
He fought in the battles of Crete and Cape Matapan. For his efforts he received
the Greek War Cross. Appointed to the HMS Wallace, he was involved in the
Allied invasion of Sicily. As the second-in-command, he saved this ship from a
night bomber attack. Philip moved to the HMS Whelp and the British Pacific
fleet. To top off his war-time military career, he was present at Tokyo Bay
when Japan surrendered in September 1945.
Philip Mountbatten first met Princess Elizabeth when
she was eight years old in 1934. Their correspondence began five years later.
The dashing naval officer asked her father, King George VI, for her hand in
marriage, which occurred on November 20, 1947, at Westminster Abbey. The
wedding service was broadcast by radio worldwide as 200 million people listened
in. Philip and Elizabeth had four children, eight grandchildren, and nine
great-grandchildren.
Philip had hoped to pursue a naval career well until
his middle age. His goal may have been to follow his uncle Lord Louis
Mountbatten and become First Sea Lord. However, his chain-smoking father-in-law
died at the age of 56 and his 25 year old wife became Queen. Thus, at the age
of 30, Philip Mountbatten had to immediately resign from the Navy and became
the ‘consort-for-life.’ Though no longer in the military, he was given honorary
roles like Marshall of the Royal Air Force, Field Marshal, and
Admiral of the Fleet.
For over 70 years Prince Philip dedicated his life to
public service. In 1956, he opened the Melbourne Olympics - the friendly games
- and also established the Duke of Edinburgh Award, seeking to help young
people to foster a sense of responsibility to self and community. He was a
founder of the World Wildlife Fund. Patron to 800 organisations, president to
many others, and chancellor of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Salford and Wales
university, Prince Philip plunged himself into a life of extensive and
exemplary public service. Solo engagements over the decades totalled 22,219 -
an extraordinary record.
The duke was a talented man in his own right who could
command a ship, fly a plane, play sport, paint with excellence, and engage in
deep thinking. Science was one of his great loves.
In 2011, at his 90th birthday, Prince Philip announced
that he would scale back his royal duties since he had already ‘done his bit.’
At the age of 96 in 2017, he fully retired from royal work.
Regarding death, HRH got two of his wishes. He did not
want ‘any fuss’ with his funeral arrangements; thanks to Covid
restrictions, his televised funeral will be small. Nor did he want to live to
be 100 - he had ‘no desire whatsoever’ to cross that milestone and
quipped that, ‘bits of me are falling off already.’
Of course, like everyone, the prince had his faults:
at times impatient, abrupt, and could be gaffe-prone. Yet, in his own way, he
knew people often were intimidated by meeting a royal and wanted to help them
relax by being jocular and natural. There was talk about how he, in his younger
days as a handsome man, was in the company of beautiful younger women.
Historian A.N. Nelson said: ’Not once in his life did any woman claim to
have slept with him. There was never any scandal.’ Nelson concludes that
either the Prince remained totally faithful to the Queen or if there was an
affair, it was discreet enough to cause no harm to family life or the monarchy.[1]
Prince Philip’s Legacy
While the nation, commonwealth, and world will miss
seeing him as the ever-present companion at the side of the Queen, there is
more. Prince Philip connected the Victorian era with our time. A living link to
history, here is a man who knew Churchill, Eisenhower, Menzies, and dozens of
world leaders throughout the decades. He embodied cherished values which are in
serious decline today. These include courtesy, devotion to duty, good manners,
self-sacrifice, unpretentiousness, charm, and kindness. Endued with rock solid
fortitude, Prince Philip maintained unswerving dedication to Queen, family, and
country. His longevity and resilience, in life, marriage, family, duty, and
service, will be sorely missed. Part of our sorrow and is this: Will we ever
see the likes of the Duke of Edinburgh again?
• Though
a sailor and fighter, he also knew how to submit and flow with royal life;
• A
leader in his own right, Prince Philip became a model servant in a supporting
role.
• By
being the ‘strength and stay’ of his wife, the Queen, this alpha male
inadvertently became a great, ‘unintended feminist’ - in the best sense of the
word.
• Though
squeezed into regimented royal protocol, he never lost his robust sense of life
and adventure.
• The
father of four became the unofficial father, grandfather, and great-grandfather
of the nation and commonwealth.
• A
highly gifted man, Philip, in partnership with the Queen, accomplished far more
together than either of them could have done alone.
The ‘Consort-for-life’ lived a grand life and left a
grander legacy.
Photo courtesy of Allan Warren, GFDL, CC BY-SA 3.0
<https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Comments
Post a Comment