Harry ready to keep up his grandfather’s work
His once athletic frame is frail, his eyesight weak and his hearing bad, but the Duke of Edinburgh still cuts an impressive figure as he hands over his military baton to his grandson, Prince Harry – set to replace him as head of the Royal Marines.
It should come as no surprise; the 96-year-old and the 32-year-old have more in common than might meet the eye. Not least, their love of the Armed Forces – in Prince Philip’s case the Royal Navy, in Prince Harry’s, the Army. They were also both obliged to give up careers they enjoyed because of their royal positions; the duke to support his wife when her father, George VI, died and she had to take up the reins of the monarchy. Prince Harry, because it was too dangerous for him to be on the front line, which was the only place he wanted to be.
The young royal has said that when he was initially refused permission to serve in Iraq, he wished he were not a prince. “Is there any one of the Royal family who wants to be king or queen?” he reiterated, earlier this year. “I don’t think so, but we will carry out our duties at the right time.”
Prince Harry’s reluctance is at odds with his grandfather, who, despite chafing against the royal cage, has always been able to compartmentalise his life, however difficult things might have been for him.
And difficult they were, at times: Prince Philip had to put up with the disapproval of the “establishment” and the old guard at the palace, who regarded him as a foreign interloper. But over the years, despite his famous gaffes, he has seldom put a foot wrong. He can be abrupt to the point of rudeness and is intolerant of fools, but his greatest asset is his devotion to the Queen and the institution of the monarchy which she represents. His grandson agrees. In an interview to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, he said: “Regardless of whether my grandfather seems to be doing his own thing, sort of wandering off like a fish down the river, the fact that he’s there – personally, I don’t think that she could do it without him, especially when they’re both at this age.”
The Duke is not the kind of man to dwell on what might have been, had his naval career not been cut short. He can now see his progeny carrying the torch of the monarchy far into the future, proving neither his personal sacrifices, nor those of the Queen, have been in vain.
By far the most important thing he has done is help bring the institution into the 21st century. “I’ve tried to help it keep going while I’ve been here,” is all he will say on the matter, belying his role, as a young man, in changing the archaic way the royal residences were run.
Prince Harry did not see much of his grandfather when he was young but now finds him very good company and the two of them share a love of country pursuits, as well as modernising ideals.