The Duke was behind the decision to end the presentation of debutantes at Court in 1958. But at all times he welcomed a frank exchange and he liked people to stand up to him. On royal visits, when time was limited, he could come across as abrupt, even aggressive.
Like the Queen, he liked to meet the people who did the job and to learn what made them tick. Prince Philip pays a visit to the Remploy Factory in Barking, Essex in 1955 He also had an instinctive dislike of the kind of chairmen who materialised during visits to factories, delivered slick speeches, but were not adequately engaged. He disliked unnecessary pomp, and “zoo teas”, where the people gawped at their Sovereign. He was alert to the danger of the monarchy becoming a museum piece, however, and had no time for what he called “fundungus”, or false trappings. From the point of view of national identity, this function is perhaps more important than ever.” “The idea of chieftainship in its representative rather than its governing function is still just as clearly and even instinctively understood. “People still respond more easily to symbolism than to reason,” he wrote in 1977. Yet his ability to fulfil his role also rested on his profound understanding of the monarchy’s appeal. Having more royal blood in his veins than the Queen did, he was also never going to be dazzled by her status. The Duke of Edinburgh as a young boy dressed in traditional Greek costumeĪ peripatetic and often traumatic childhood had helped to shape the Duke’s forthright and fiercely independent character. Nevertheless, it was undoubtedly a great sadness to him to have to surrender an extremely promising career in the Royal Navy, in which, like his uncle Lord Mountbatten and his grandfather, Prince Louis of Battenberg, he was likely to have risen to the top on merit. But such considerations did not greatly concern him, despite his undoubtedly energetic, opinionated and overtly masculine character.īrought up as a minor member of the Greek royal family, and spending almost all his early life in exile, he was better placed than other European counterparts as consorts, such as Prince Henrik of Denmark and Prince Claus of the Netherlands, to accept that subordinate role. It was suggested that the Duke disliked having to play second fiddle to his wife. They simply got on with the job and sometimes took wry satisfaction in questioning whether others were getting on with theirs. He and the Queen were unique in modern public life in not seeking the approbation of the public or caring much what people thought of them. “He has, quite simply, been my main strength and stay all these years,” she said on their Golden Wedding Anniversary in 1997, “and I owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim or we shall ever know.” A one-year-old Prince Philip inspects some hydrangeas It is probable that his achievements will be fully appreciated only in the reflective light of the years following his death.Ĭertainly the Queen had no doubt about his importance to her. Arguably, despite his prominence in public life for 70 years, he was the most misunderstood man of his generation.ĭubbed irascible, and said to drop “bricks”, he was clear-thinking and positive, subtly instigating changes within the monarchy and in many areas of public life. The first prince consort since Queen Victoria’s Albert (though the Duke of Edinburgh neither sought nor was granted that title), like his predecessor he overcame considerable difficulties and endured much criticism. His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, who has died aged 99, was the longest serving royal consort in British history and did more than anyone besides the Queen to ensure the extraordinary success of her reign.
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