Acrimonious rift and the end of a royal era
Trift signalled by the differing tributes to the Duke of Edinburgh from his two grandsons and the end of the Elizabethan era have been preoccupying columnists.
The Daily Mail
Richard Kay said Prince Philip’s funeral on Saturday will be the “most minutely examined royal event for years” – down to the presence of Prince Harry.
He asked: “Can this most acrimonious of family feuds, which burst into public consciousness with Harry and Meghan’s explosive TV interview a month ago in which they accused an unnamed member of the royal family of casual racism, be settled? If so, it is the apparent rift with
Prince William which is central to any reconciliation.”
He said the two princes issued their own heartfelt tributes but the fact that they did not issue a single joint statement as Philip’s grandsons as they once might have, “suggests, alas, that a rapprochement is as far away as ever”.
“Two brothers, two very different ways of marking their grandfather’s life, but no sign of any healing comments to mend a heart-breaking rift.”
Daily Express
Phil Dampier said the two princes would have, in previous years, issued a joint statement about their grandfather.
“The sad truth is the two announcements serve to highlight the different paths these once-close brothers are on,” he said. “As a future Prince of Wales and King, William is more formal, and refers to serving not just the Queen, but also the country and Commonwealth. Harry has tried to win over the public by referring to those who have lost a loved one in the pandemic.”
But Dampier said actions spoke louder than words and he failed to understand why Harry went ahead with the Oprah interview knowing his grandfather was so close to death.
“I’m sure Philip was devoted to them, as he was to all of his family. So it’s up to the pair of them to heal their rift this week as a tribute to his memory.”
The Guardian
Polly Toynbee said the Elizabethan age was slowly drawing to a close. “The end of Prince Philip’s long life is a dress rehearsal for its final curtain, when the country will find itself reviewing what it has become, the choices it has made,” she said. “The Queen may live to see her realm disintegrate beneath her throne, with Scotland and perhaps Northern Ireland departing from the unpleasant little England that ignored their remain votes.”
She said the Queen has seen Britain decline from wartime victory and the 1945 rise of the welfare state, “to this prancing Ruritanian minnow”.
“There is just time to see off the rotten party that brought the country low, and end the Elizabethan era with some of the optimism with which it began.”