Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Queen’s rock who rocked propriety dies
FLAGS across the UK are flying at half mast this weekend as the country mourns the death of the Queen’s “rock”, Prince Philip.
His death was announced by the royal family yesterday morning and with this Operation Forth Bridge was set in motion, the master plan for the prince’s funeral, which he helped draw up.
Part of this plan includes an eightday mourning period for the Queen.
Already yesterday, flowers have been piling up outside Buckingham Palace, and tributes to the prince, who would have been 100 in two months’ time, have been coming in from around the world.
He died at Windsor Castle following weeks in hospital after feeling unwell since February 17. The prince was only released from hospital last month.
His long life does, however, make him the longest-serving consort in the history of the British monarchy.
He is likely to be remembered for his steadfast support for his wife and could be relied on for the odd gaffe.
As royal consort, Prince Philip has been at his wife's side – actually two paces behind in public, as required by protocol – since she became queen on her father's death in 1952.
He would retire from public life in 2017.
His journey to the British monarchy was a sad and long one.
He was born into the Greek royal family and he traced his ancestry to the royalty of Denmark, Germany, Russia and Britain. He and Queen Elizabeth were cousins, two great-great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria.
Philip of Schleswi g-Holstein Son de rb ur g-Glücks bur g was born on June 10, 1921, on the dining room table – deemed the most manageable location by the doctor – of his parents’ home on the Greek island of Corfu.
A year later, he would leave Greece, and spend his early years as a displaced child – first in Paris, before being sent to boarding school in England, aged 8.
With war looming, the young prince joined the British naval academy in Dartmouth in 1938. He would go on to serve with distinction in the Royal Naval during World War II.
It was during a visit to the naval college by the royal family, less than two months before war broke out, that Philip, then 18, entertained Princess Elizabeth, who was just 13 and was soon smitten by the lissome, blue-eyed cadet. They would marry in 1947.
But it is over the years that the prince has become known for his foot-in -mouth moments, that could at times be racist and draw the glare of the media.
To the Paraguayan despot Alfredo Stroessner in 1963, he said: “It’s a pleasure to be in a country that isn’t ruled by its people.”
While touring China in 1986, he described parts of Beijing as “ghastly” and joked with a British student that he would end up “slitty-eyed” if he stayed too long. He later said he had been misquoted and had actually said “slit-eyed”.
No funeral arrangements were announced yesterday. |