Western Morning News (Saturday)
Flags at half mast across West as the region remembers
PRINCE Philip’s strong connections with the Westcountry were remembered yesterday – from the many pasties he was presented with on visits to Cornwall to his powerful links with the region’s military establishments.
He trained at the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, completeing a term before the war in 1939 before briefly returning to Greece to live in Athens with his mother at the start of the war. However he returned to Dartmouth later that year to complete his training, graduating as the best cadet on his course.
He also held a number of leading ceremonial positions with signficant Westcountry links, including as Captain General of the Royal Marines, a role in which he was succeeded by Prince Harry until he and Meghan stepped back from Royal duties. Prince Philip was also Colonel in Chief of The Rifles, which recruits heavily in the South West and was created from former county regiments in the region.
One of his first widely-publicised trips with the Queen was to Duchy tenant farmers in 1956, with the royal couple happy to get muddy as they chatted to agricultural workers.
They later talked to delighted schoolchildren in Truro.
A year later Philip was back and this time retracing the footsteps of Cornish tin miners as he went underground at Geevor mine.
The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh sailed into Fowey on the Royal Yacht Britannia in 1962 before visiting author Daphne du Maurier and her husband at their nearby Menabilly estate. Rare photographs of the royal couple relaxing in the grounds were unearthed and auctioned recently.
The moment many people in Cornwall will never forget was the Silver Jubilee of 1997 when the Queen and Prince Philip took part in an extensive tour of the Duchy – and were presented with three pasties outside Falmouth Town Hall.
The last high-profile visit by Prince Philip was in May 2013 when he joined the Queen on St Michael’s Mount and met those who worked and lived on the island, including estate owners the St Aubyn family.
Tributes to the Duke came from across the Westcountry yesterday. Cllr Peter Holland, Lord Mayor of Exeter, added: “On behalf of the City of Exeter, I would like to express my sincere condolences to Her Majesty the Queen and to the Royal Family, after the death of His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. As a mark of respect flags at the historic Guildhall and Cathedral will now be flown at half-mast.”
Plymouth MP Luke Pollard also paid tribute to the Duke, describing him as a “dedicated and extraordinary public servant... a brave veteran of the Second World War and the Royal Navy.”
He went on: “I will remember him especially for the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, that gave so many young people opportunities to explore and expand their horizons.
The Duke of Edinburgh is expected to be given a ceremonial royal funeral rather than a state one and will not lie in state.
State funerals are only usually reserved for the sovereign. According to protocol, as the Queen’s consort, Philip is to be honoured with a ceremonial royal funeral, as the
Queen Mother was in 2002. His funeral is expected to take place at St George’s Chapel, Windsor – but the long-held exact arrangements have been amended in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
Buckingham Palace will be preparing the details of how the plans have been configured. But it is cer
tain that the coronavirus pandemic will have a major impact on the arrangements. With restrictions still in place amid the Covid-19 outbreak, the public elements of the final farewell to the Queen’s consort will not be able to take place in their original form.
Under the earlier arrangements for the coming days, codenamed Forth Bridge, thousands of people would have been expected to flock to London and Windsor, with some even camping out overnight to get the best vantage points for a military procession of Philip’s coffin on the day of his funeral.
Hundreds of members of the armed forces would have been called upon to line the streets in honour of the duke, along with thousands of police officers to keep control of crowds and protect the members of the royal family taking part.
But organisers are said to be “desperately anxious” not to stage anything that attracts mass gatherings, one source said. The duke’s funeral is still expected to be televised and planners have been busy behind the scenes working out a contingency strategy in case the duke died during the coronavirus crisis – a worst-case scenario of major concurrent events – a fear that has been realised.
Preparations are expected to centre on Windsor Castle, without the military procession in London or any processions through Windsor. But the exact final arrangements will depend on how the UK is coping with the outbreak and the current R value – the number of people to whom an infected individual passes on the virus.
Current rules on funerals in England mean only a maximum of 30 people may attend, and they must socially distance if they do not live together or share a support bubble.
This means the Queen will have to decide which members of her large family should be invited.
The monarch, her children and other relatives present may have to wear face coverings and stay two metres away from one another if they are not from the same household.
It is likely there will be some military involvement to honour the duke’s service to the armed forces. This will most likely be socially distanced and in the confines of Windsor Castle’s grounds.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s title will eventually pass on to his youngest son the Earl of Wessex, but not until after the death of the Queen.
When Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones married in 1999, they were given the titles the Earl and Countess of Wessex, but Buckingham Palace also announced that Edward would eventually one day succeed his father as the Duke of Edinburgh.
In keeping with the Letters Patent issued when George VI gave Philip the title in 1947, the Prince of Wales, as the duke’s eldest son, inherits the title the Duke of Edinburgh, but on Charles’s eventual accession to the throne, the title will merge with the crown and can be regranted anew to Edward.
Even late in life the Duke of Edinburgh was no stranger to controversy and drama. He hit the headlines early in 2019 when he miraculously escaped serious injury in a car crash involving a mother and a baby.
The Land Rover Philip was driving was hit by another vehicle when he pulled out of a driveway on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk on to a busy A road, after being dazzled by the low sun. The duke’s car flipped over and he was trapped, and had to be rescued through the sunroof by a passing motorist. Philip, who was driving without a protection officer, was left “very shocked and shaken”.
He was active and healthy right through to almost the end of his tenth decade, however.