Prince Philip
HRH THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH 10/06/1921 - 09/04/2021 SIR ANTHONY SELDON REFLECTS ON THE LIFE OF A MOST REMARKABLE MAN
HISTORY will judge His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, Baron Greenwich, Royal Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter as a remarkable man.
Add to his titles Philip’s many and varied achievements – former Admiral of the Fleet, decorated war veteran, engineer, artist, published author, conservationist, equestrian and multitalented sportsman – and we can see what made him so remarkable.
This is the man who – raised amid turmoil, displacement and tragedy – lacked a role model of his own but managed extraordinary devotion, perspicacity and service to Queen and country nonetheless.
As subjects, we talk so much about the Queen’s stability but such a significant reason for that has been Philip’s unwavering support.
For 70 years, it’s been the royal couple – not just Her Majesty – and she would have cut a very different
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figure on her own. Queen Victoria found it impossible to function without her beloved consort, Prince Albert, at her side. Our Queen may have found it impossible to cope with the trials of her reign without Philip, a man who was consort for many times the length of Albert.
As a constitutional writer, long-time married man and father myself, I judge Philip’s feats to be phenomenal.
First, he married in 1947 and stayed married for more than 70 years. That’s an achievement for anyone but really astonishing for a man who had considerable independence and was never going to be anyone’s poodle. He never was a stay-at-home-husband type and in the 1950s, when the male and female roles were so different, it was so much harder for a man to play second fiddle to his wife.
It’s much easier to play the role of consort if you’re a woman married to a man who is king because convention writes that role much more easily and readily.
We saw how difficult it was for Princess Margaret to play second sister, yet proud and independent Philip – a greatgreat-grandson of Queen Victoria and a man who renounced his own Greek royal title in 1947 – showed huge fortitude in taking on a supporting role and loyally staying with his wife.
Second, he made a remarkable series of important interventions, showing prodigious forwardthinking. He launched the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme and International Award, which since 1956 has seen millions of young people in more than 90 countries take part in physical, skill-based and community challenges.
He became patron of the Industrial Society in 1952, initiated the now Royal Academy of Engineering in 1976, became the first president of the World Wildlife Fund UK in 1961 and visited its projects in more than 40 countries, helped save the tea clipper Cutty Sark and led the restoration of Windsor Castle, to mention but a few.
The third exceptional thing about Philip has been his job as father of four – a role that becomes even more important if their mother is monarch first and mother second.
The children’s dual relationship with their mother makes their father’s relationship all the more important. Philip was father and father alone, and as such did an admirable job, which is all the more extraordinary given he didn’t have a role model to draw into his own emotional vocabulary.
Fourth, Philip is striking because of the things he didn’t do. He could easily have lived the life of a playboy with all the money, visiting royal families in Europe and glitterati around the world, and spending his life on yachts. How easy it would have been for Philip to go to Gstaad in the winter and retreat to the Caribbean in the summer. But no. Philip didn’t lead the life of a playboy prince. He didn’t, in spite of tremendous temptations and opportunities, fritter away his time on selfish pursuits. Despite clearly having strong views, he hasn’t interfered with politics and he managed to avoid public scandals.
In recent years, the awardwinning Netflix drama The Crown brilliantly captured elements of this notably complex man but it didn’t manage to convey the whole person or the complete sense of his achievements.
A man is so often the product of what he gets from his job and if your job is to always walk behind your wife and not say anything, so many might have walked away or bowed into the background.
But Prince Philip – consort, husband, father, visionary, hero, engineer, artist and (so the list goes on) – was never going to be that man. He did things his own way and the whole nation must join the royal family in giving thanks for that.
The Queen may have found it impossible to cope without Philip’s support