The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, has died at age 99. A combat veteran of World War II, he remained primarily a blunt spoken military man, refusing to suffer fools gladly or to put up with much of the cant and nonsense of the contemporary world. If you wanted the pure, unvarnished truth as he saw it, he was usually willing to oblige. He and Queen Elizabeth had been married for 73 years. His tour of duty has ended in this vale of tears, and may his next duty station be in Heaven.
Reviewing his biography up to 1952 is a reminder to most of us that there are people capable in ways you cannot imagine much less emulate.
May he rest in peace.
… I have no idea why this is hitting me hard, other than that I’m irrationally fond of his wife, and he seemed to be good for her.
He kept it real. Whispering behind his hand to the Archbishop of Malta “I’ll let you into a little secret. We are all Christians, you know!” His decades long public gaffes were amusing and refreshing. Possibly his way of making his official engagements less mundane. “Any bloody fool can lay a wreath at the thingamy.” He once quipped. RIP Prince Philip.
Yes, he was a real character. Here are more of his un PC quips:
“I would like to go to Russia very much – although the bastards murdered half my family,” he said in 1967 when asked if he would like to visit the Soviet Union.
“You can’t have been here that long, you haven’t got a pot belly,” said to a British tourist in Budapest , Hungary in 1993.
“You managed not to get eaten then?“ he asked a British backpacker who trekked through Papua New Guinea in 1998.
“We don’t come here for our health. We can think of other ways of enjoying ourselves,” he said about a trip to Canada in 1976
To Tom Jones: “What do you used for gargle then – gravel?” (Very unfair to that wonderful voice)
When meeting, along with the Queen, a soldier who had lost much of his sight:
The Queen: “So how much can you still see?”
Philip: “Not very much, judging by that tie he’s wearing.”
In a reference to his daughter, Princess Anne, who loved horses: “If it doesn’t fart or eat hay, she’s not interested.”
RIP Prince Philip.
A true free spirit Don! How I shall miss him.