Prince Philip dead

[ulmont]

Time to throw a first stone, apparently.  The world is a better place with one less "royal" in it, especially this one.

The kind of racism Prince Philip exudes is reminiscent of the very spirit of British and other European imperialism at its height. This is the way the British thought when they ruled India, the French when they ruled Algeria, the Italians when they conquered Libya, the Belgians when they owned Congo.

Prince Philip is a museum piece – a living, breathing, mobile, jolly good fellow, smiling, handsome, charming great-grandpa who happily walks about, utters obscenities while his entourage try to cover up for his "indiscretions". But these are not "indiscretions" or "gaffes." He means what he says and he says what he means. He is the living memory of an entire history of imperial hubris now being actively repressed to offer a more liberal, tolerant, cosmopolitan character for the British and, by extension, "the European".

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2017/8/13/the-priceless-racism-of-the-duke-of-edinburgh

[The Minsky Moment]

The year after that, the MI6, the military intelligence outfit of the Duke of Edinburgh's government , helped the CIA to stage a coup in my homeland. The BBC would not say which one of those 22,219 royal duties coincided with that occasion.

How sloppy of the BBC . . . I'm a little shaky on the British Constitution but I don't recall a Duke of Edinburgh ever having a government. . . .

That guy ground his axe so deep even the handle was gone by the end.

[ulmont]

That guy ground his axe so deep even the handle was gone by the end.

I certainly won't argue this point.

How sloppy of the BBC . . . I'm a little shaky on the British Constitution but I don't recall a Duke of Edinburgh ever having a government. . . .

However, this is an unfair criticism, as one might well refer to Barrister's or crazy canuck's government when discussing something Canada was doing without needing to qualify it with "of course, I understand they have little to no actual authority."

[HVC]

Time to throw a first stone, apparently.  The world is a better place with one less "royal" in it, especially this one.

The kind of racism Prince Philip exudes is reminiscent of the very spirit of British and other European imperialism at its height. This is the way the British thought when they ruled India, the French when they ruled Algeria, the Italians when they conquered Libya, the Belgians when they owned Congo.

Prince Philip is a museum piece – a living, breathing, mobile, jolly good fellow, smiling, handsome, charming great-grandpa who happily walks about, utters obscenities while his entourage try to cover up for his "indiscretions". But these are not "indiscretions" or "gaffes." He means what he says and he says what he means. He is the living memory of an entire history of imperial hubris now being actively repressed to offer a more liberal, tolerant, cosmopolitan character for the British and, by extension, "the European".

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2017/8/13/the-priceless-racism-of-the-duke-of-edinburgh

Portugal never gets its due

[ulmont]

Portugal never gets its due

Fine.

[Sheilbh]

Very weird to see the leader of Sinn Fein tweeting this:


Edit: And so much ambiguity in "those of a British identity in our island" - I have a lot of questions about that "our". Of course particularly striking because the IRA murdered Lord Mountbatten who was Philip's sponsor into the royal family.

[Admiral Yi]

That's probably about as nice as Sinn Fein can be about the royals.

[celedhring]

Since the Catalan public TV has adopted a rabid anti-monarchy stance because reasons their coverage of this has been rather peculiar 

"We usually report the deaths of people that has actually done something important, but the Duke of Edimburgh's achievement was to make a Queen fall in love with him".

[Syt]

Since the Catalan public TV has adopted a rabid anti-monarchy stance because reasons their coverage of this has been rather peculiar 

"We usually report the deaths of people that has actually done something important, but the Duke of Edimburgh's achievement was to make a Queen fall in love with him".

Someone on Twitter phrased it, "Greek Immigrant Who Lived Off Welfare Dies in England."

Upon Googling, it seems it's from this site?

https://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2021/04/09/greek-immigrant-who-lived-off-welfare-dies-in-england/

[Tamas]

I mean, it seems like he is being credited for trying to make good use of his position and do good work, which is commendable as he could had just laid about, but it's also something most of us do during our lives, we just don't all born into royalty to do so having our job be a walking symbol.

[Sheilbh]

Since the Catalan public TV has adopted a rabid anti-monarchy stance because reasons their coverage of this has been rather peculiar 

"We usually report the deaths of people that has actually done something important, but the Duke of Edimburgh's achievement was to make a Queen fall in love with him".

I feel for the BBC. They've had to set up a special form (which is being criticised by the right) so people can complain about their wall-to-wall coverage of the death.

The reason they have wall-to-wall coverage is they decided to downplay royal deaths after Diana. The next most likely was the Queen Mum and the BBC's view was that she was a very old lady who'd had a good innings and that was how they should handle. Which provoked thousands of complaints that they weren't covering it enough

I suppose the problem for the BBC/royals is that what probably most impacts how much coverage people want is how popular that person is - but that's the opposite of how monarchy works so they have to try and do it by how "senior" the royal is.

I mean, it seems like he is being credited for trying to make good use of his position and do good work, which is commendable as he could had just laid about, but it's also something most of us do during our lives, we just don't all born into royalty to do so having our job be a walking symbol.

This feels like you're just discovering what monarchy is

[Legbiter]

Best piece I've read about Philip. Not unctuous or sentimental.

Back in the heyday of nineties lad culture, Prince Philip epitomised a certain ironically-but-not-ironically loveable member of the older generation. Lauded in Loaded magazine on at least one occasion as the Greatest Living Englishman, to many young men Phil was something of a "Legend!!!"

He had fought with great courage in the war; he was regularly rude to foreigners, which was obviously a bonus; he liked to ride and sail and shoot things and he was unsentimental and uncompassionate almost to a comic degree, which felt reassuring at a time when a new-found emotional incontinence made many feel uncomfortable.

This cult status was only heightened by his legendary gaffes, of which there are enough to fill a book (indeed there is a book). There was the time that Philip accepted a gift from a local in Kenya, telling her she was a kind woman, and then adding: "You are a woman, aren't you?" Or the occasion he remarked "You managed not to get eaten, then?" to a student trekking in Papua New Guinea. Then there was his World Wildlife Fund speech in 1986, when he said: "If it has got four legs and it is not a chair, if it has got two wings and it flies but is not an aeroplane, and if it swims and it is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it." Well, he wasn't wrong.

https://unherd.com/2021/04/philip-prince-of-nowhere/

[Sheilbh]

Details of the funeral are probably the closest the royal family will ever have experienced to a "normal" funeral, ironically because the weirdness of covid and restrictions on numbers. The Queen, their children and grandchildren will attend - apparently no politicians or dignitaries from other countries to maximise the number of family that can attend (up to 30).

Obviously it'll still be televised etc so not toally a normal family funeral, but a lot closer.

Edit: Also found it interesting in the Guardian's vox pops outside Buckingham Palace that 3 of the 4 were from people not originally from the UK (an American, a Polish lady and a Hungarian man - they were quote separately so I assume not a couple we all know ).

This has always struck me as a possible upside to monarchy that our big national "events" when loads of people crowd the streets are basically family events that everyone can kind of identify with and, in some way, join in: weddings, births, funerals. Some countries like the US are very good at sort of broad civic events, but I wonder if other national days/celebrations sometimes feel a little exclusive to someone who's moved to that country. For example St George's Day/St Andrew's Day or Easter Rising commemorations etc. How many of those feel a little "nos ancestres les gaulois"?

[viper37]

My cousin met Prince Phillip, when he visited our school with the Queen.  She was 14, selected with some other students to represent our school.  The Queen walked by, not looking at anyone, talking to no one. The Prince took time to shake hands with the students and exchange a few nice words with them in French.

It's this kind of attitude that probably made him popular with the people.

[Barrister]

I have a little 16' flagpole in front of my house.  It usually flies a Canadian or Albertan flag, but during NHL playoffs I'll mix it up with an Oilers or Jets flag.

Today I bought a Union Flag and have it at half mast.