Author:
Blog About:
About a hundred and seventy thousand people died across the world today. Each one was a mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, friend, partner colleague, comrade. Many were loved, Many were good people. Many will be missed. Some died surrounded by their loved ones. Others alone. Some at peace. Others in pain.
By most accounts Prince Phillip was a loyal and dependable husband and father. It is a blow to any family to loose someone so significant. The British Royal Family likely feels the loss. He was one of those one hundred and seventy thousand.
The British Royal Family is an anachronism. It's a relic of a bygone era when people believed that some people were better than others by birth. That the children of rulers should also be rulers and that if you don't have any rulers of your own it is better to import some from Germany than to elevate someone from home.
The institution of the British Royal Family is archaic, racist, ineffective, and silly. The British Royal Family has less claim on wealth and fame even than sports heroes or movie stars. It is past time for England to abolish the monarchy. And for that matter the rest of what remains of the peerage system.
Comments
In our times
of political polarization the monarchy does seem to provide Britain with a unifying force. Besides it's none of our business. We quit that club in 1776.
I say this without Authority.
Yes, it is rightly gossip. Prince Philip's family lived in Greece until they were expelled. Somewhere the Danish were involved along the way. I flew into Germany, and then to Israel, and on to Kenya. I saw nothing special about anyone I encountered along the way. Depending who you talk to, he had quite a sense of humor or insulted lots of people. In my casual reading of European history, I feel like the wars fought over there was ruthless squabbling among the Royals.
I remember hearing the Queens address after her Father died. She said that she would serve England with Love. I do hope that one day the Royals will stop with war.
Gwen
The thing to remember
In these days the British royality do not rule, they reign. The royalty at the top advise only. Parliament and the prime minister run things. But such is the respect Queen Elizabeth II is held in that when she speaks people listen. In return she listens to the people, even if in the end she disagrees with them.
Prince Phillip had no place in British royality, except for that of being the consort to the Queen. He was known for being a polite and kind man, and a good consort to the Queen.
And that's why his death is bigger than all those others that occurred that day. He was respected and even loved by the British and non-British around the world. I'm not British, the closest I come is an ancestor of my grandfather's was Scots. However I respected Prince Phillip, not for what he was, but how he used what he was to do good as he saw it. The world lost a good man, and we don't have near enough of those as it is. We could use a few more Prince Phillips
They know they can survive
We will have to agree to disagree
There are few that live in British government housing that have better PR than the Royal Family. That PR campaign is the only reason Prince Phillip's name is known at all. He did little in his time as prince other than "Be Royal". He was otherwise mostly unremarkable. Little legacy of charity work. Little legacy of business acumen. Little legacy of leadership.
Of course that is not to say that the British Royal Family has say in such things. They are largely kept by the British government in much the same way as hot house orchids are kept by plant lovers. As a mostly quaint and sometimes expensive hobby.
Your friend
Crash
While I am by no means...
While I am by no means a friend or fan of the monarchy, to say that the Duke of Edinburgh did almost nothing is flatly incorrect. As much as I despise the British overall (I am much more Irish than anything else), he helped maneuver the people at the top through some of the more turbulent times of the British government. He has a history of charity work and dedication to service (one reason he was the 'face' of the Duke of Edinburgh service awards).
And to be honest, he was from a different era. And he is, no matter what else, a far better human being than Churchill proved himself to be. Just in general.
Samirah M. Johnstone
Royalty In General
Are the descendants of those who were the most ruthless in their particular nation, in other words, the biggest brigands and thieves. I declare myself a republican who does not believe in the divine right of kings or that they have any right to rule or reign.
However, sometimes one must separate an individual from the institution, and Philip was such an individual. He used his position to achieve a lot of good during his life and is worth remembering for that. Also he occasionally punctured the sycophancy and hypocrisy surrounding the British royalty and that deserves a good laugh.
Americans should not get on any high horse about royalty just because they elect their king every four years.
There is but one measure
of anyone's time on this earth and that is whether you are and how you are remembered.
In the UK, HRH Prince Phillip will be widely remembered, not just by his immediate family but by the thousands of participants in the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme, which has and will continue to teach essential life skills to any that wish to take part - indeed places on the courses are often hotly contested. Of course he'll be remembered mostly as the Queen's consort but did you know he competed internationally for GB, okay it was carriage driving which sounds elitist but no more than other horse based sports or even the likes of fencing.
Was he a wit? a family man? did he make a few gaffs? did he hold a high profile position for almost 3 quarters of a century? A privileged life? can't deny that but would you do it? Not sure i'd volunteer for the job.
How will you be remembered, if at all?
As to the Royal families ancestry, we've been importing foreign blood to 'reign' over us for a thousand years and more, for just as long emigres have been adding to the genome of these islands, anyone who can go back more than a few generations without a foreign ancestor will likely have 6 fingers and live in Norfolk! I'd consider myself English but i have 2 separate sets of German ancestors, Swedish as late as my great grand parents and a little further back, French Huguenots, even my 'English' ancestors most likely came originally from mainland europe sometime after the Romans visited these shores. The monarchy are as, if not more British than those they 'reign' over, the 'German' monarchs have held office since George I in 1714, Hanoverian until Victoria and since then Saxe Coburg (even if they did change it to Windsor as a PR move!).
The Consort is dead, long live the Queen!
Madeline Anafrid Bell
Heads of State
In the USA the head of state runs the show. The President is the head of the executive branch of Government. But that is unusual in world politics. In most other countries the head of state (usually called the President) is an apolitical leader, and the power of the executive is vested in a Prime Minister who holds power by a majority or by a coalition. The advantage of having an apolitical head of state is that they are not subject to the "not my president" positions that seem to have become so common of late. Apolitical heads of state are usually appointed by Governments so that they are not subject to the tawdry nature of politics, but the UK has a hereditary monarch. That is uncommon but strangely still not unusual even in today's world. The advantage of a hereditary apolitical powerless head of state is that they have the ability to unify a nation (so long as they are widely respected) and they have lifetime acquired skills in the role. Oddly perhaps, in a democracy that seems a better model than many, the Crown persists in the UK. In large measure that might be down to the woman in the job, and perhaps the constant support of a good spouse?
Just my thoughts on this
Maryanne