I'm surprised no one (@sglowrider) started a thread on this. Not a surprise death by any means, at age 99 and most likely in poor health for quite some time. Philip had his detractors, but he probably doesn't get enough credit for his role in defining the modern monarchy, according to The Guardian, itself not exactly a monarchist publication. He saw royalty not as a privilege, but as a profession, and thought it could do good things for the nation and the world, and worked tirelessly to achieve that. And he willingly did so from the shadows, always walking a few steps behind his wife, famously kneeling before her at her coronation, in a display of what The Guardian calls "a different kind of masculine ideal."
Whatever else he was, he wasn't irrelevant. He played a huge role behind the scenes in British history, as a loyal and trusted advisor to the Queen, and in the western world, as a man who quietly helped shape the institutions of government and society.
As Richard Powers once wrote, when two people spend decades together in love, when one goes, the other often follows, so I suppose the Queen is now on watch.
(Technically, if I were British, it would be treason for me to think such a thought.)
Whatever else he was, he wasn't irrelevant. He played a huge role behind the scenes in British history, as a loyal and trusted advisor to the Queen, and in the western world, as a man who quietly helped shape the institutions of government and society.
As Richard Powers once wrote, when two people spend decades together in love, when one goes, the other often follows, so I suppose the Queen is now on watch.
(Technically, if I were British, it would be treason for me to think such a thought.)