Outsider shaped role for stoic duty

Before the funeral of Princess Diana, the Duke of Edinburgh reportedly gave some advice to 15-year-old Prince William, who was concerned about walking behind his mother’s casket.

“If you don’t walk, I think you’ll regret it,” he told the prince, according to Channel Four. “If I walk, will you walk with me?”

His Royal Highness Prince Philip, who died on Friday just two months short of his 100th birthday, had decades of duty behind him. That made him a fixture of British life and a key link within the Commonwealth. He visited New Zealand many times.

He was also known for the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme, established in 1956 to encourage young people. Its emphasis on the outdoors seems even more in tune with life today. Philip was an early advocate for conservation.

He will also be remembered as a family man, the pillar of support for the Queen through her reign. They had celebrated their 73rd wedding anniversary. He was a husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather.

For the Queen, his death means the loss of her lifelong companion and source of support during difficult times.

Part of the Queen’s ability to speak with moral authority stems from that joint legacy, as a couple, of longevity and resilience and being part of the generation with an understanding of World War II.

As former United States President Barack Obama wrote: “Prince Philip showed the world what it means to be a supportive husband to a powerful woman.

“Yet he also found a way to lead without demanding the spotlight — serving in combat in World War II, commanding a frigate in the Royal Navy, and tirelessly touring the world to champion British industry.”

Philip, like Diana and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, was an outsider when he joined the royal family and went through a period of adjustment.

His death comes at an unstable time for the family and Britain.

Prince Harry is set on a separate course, there is uncertainty over the royals’ longer-term place in the country and whether the kingdom can stay united after Brexit. Despite all the change over his lifetime, Prince Philip was able to be himself in public. He could be candid, blunt, funny, gaffe-prone, and sometimes offensive. Once asked about his reputation for not suffering fools gladly, he replied: “I have suffered fools with patience.”

He was a man of a remarkable era. That era is nearly gone as well.