Royals pay poignant tribute to Philip
THE QUEEN and the Royal Family marked the first anniversary of the Duke of Edinburgh’s death yesterday by sharing a touching tribute by the Poet Laureate.
The Patriarchs – An Elegy, composed and read by Simon Armitage, was posted on Royal social media accounts, along with a poignant series of photographs from the life of the Duke, who passed away aged 99.
The elegy, which was published on the day of the Duke’s funeral in April last year, paid tribute to his service in the Royal Navy: ‘On such an occasion / to presume to eulogise one man is to pipe up / for a whole generation – that crew whose survival / was always the stuff of minor miracle, / who came ashore in orange-crate coracles, / fought ingenious wars, finagled triumphs at sea / with flaming decoy boats, and sidestepped torpedoes.’
His generation is described as ‘husbands to duty’, ‘great-grandfathers from birth’ and ‘last of the great avuncular magicians’. The Queen chose to mark the anniversary privately but it was duty as normal for other members of the family.
Princess Anne greeted exhibitors at Sydney’s Royal Easter Show during a tour of Australia and Papua New Guinea.
In a touching nod to her father, she arrived in the same horsedrawn carriage that carried the Duke to the event in 1970.