There
are not many people who in their lifetime have had films made about
them, had their image stamped onto a coin or had their obituary printed.
But then not that many people have maintained an arduous work schedule
in a highly visible job to the age of 96, as has Prince Philip, the Duke
of Edinburgh and consort of Queen Elizabeth II who retired this week. He has royally earned the right to rest (some would say so has his wife, but then she’s only 91).
The -pound coin
struck to mark the occasion bears the words “not for self but country”
in Latin, a most appropriate motto for an aristocratic immigrant who
served in the Royal Navy but left to marry a royal heiress, and then, as
her consort, made 22,219 of the sorts of formal appearances that royals
do for a living in these post-feudal times, from cutting ribbons to
visiting distant lands. That was in addition to the many formal
occasions on which he has accompanied the queen.
The
shift to royal duties never fully tamed the old salt who joined the
Royal Navy at age 18, and his caustic wit produced a long list of quips
and gaffes — some famously inappropriate, such as when he said to the
president of Nigeria, dressed in traditional robes, “You look like
you’re ready for bed!”
At
his last public engagement, inspecting muscular marines who had
competed in a series of endurance feats, he told them, “You all should
be locked up.”
The
role of monarchies in democracies will be debated as long as they
persist. But of those countries that still have them (a dozen in
Europe), Britain is the one most difficult to imagine without a crowned
ruler and all the medieval ritual and pageantry. And as long as they
exist, it is better that royals be dedicated to what they do, like Queen
Elizabeth and the dashing naval officer she fell in love with at age
13.
By
curious coincidence, the laudatory press on Prince Philip’s retirement
(which included the accidental publication of a draft obituary in The
Daily Telegraph) coincided with reports about another prince consort,
Prince Henrik of Denmark, who after long kvetching about not being named
a king announced that he did not want to be buried next to his wife, Queen Margrethe II.
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Whatever
private frustrations Prince Philip might have had, it is hard to
imagine him complaining about his lifetime supporting role (an exception
was the food: “I never see any home cooking — all I get is fancy
stuff”). As for the title of duke that his father-in-law, King George
VI, bestowed on him on the morning of his wedding to then-Princess
Elizabeth, he said: “People think there’s a rigid class system here, but
dukes have even been known to marry chorus girls. Some have even
married Americans.” He married a princess, and though it would be
inaccurate to say “they lived happily ever after” given the tragedies,
blunders and troubles the royal house has endured, Prince Philip has
certainly earned his repose.
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