Prince Philip
RIP Prince Philip
Not my words, but the words of a British soldier from Ulster in regard to HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
The litany of abuse and inhumanity I have seen aimed at a man who devoted his life to public service of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth has irked me beyond belief.
He's a racist, you say? At 18-months old, as a young Greek baby of Danish parentage, he was removed from his home and as a refugee was taken to Paris where he was brought up by two alcoholic parents. His mother was sectioned when he was five years old, whilst his father left him to pursue his own love life.
As a young boy he was sent to Germany, then England and finally Scotland for his education, where he was taught by the Jewish refugee, Kurt Hahn. This inspired the young Philip to join the Royal Navy in order to fight Nazism; something his three elder siblings had embraced - all of them married officers of the Third Reich.
A misogynist? In 1952 he renounced all of his own Royal titles and patronage in order to be subservient to the one true love of his life; a woman whom he would be with for 74 years. A man with more royal blood than the woman he married, who chose to give up his name for hers and follow two steps behind her for the remainder of his years. A chap who raised his children whilst his wife worked at at time when that was deemed emasculating.
No compassion? His Uncle, Lord Louis Mountbatten - the fellow who raised him during his teenage years and mentored him beyond, indeed the only 'father figure' he knew - was murdered by the IRA in the Republic of Ireland in 1979. In 2012, he stood and watched as his wife shook hands with the man who masterminded his beloved Uncle's murder - and did so in order to ensure a more peaceful life for the souls of the children of Northern Ireland that they did not suffer the childhood he endured.
He was the patron of 800+ charities, founded the Duke of Edinburgh awards that over 3 million British children have benefited from, and was an architect of the World Wildlife Fund for nature. Abrasive and 'of his time' maybe but by God he was a brilliant, clever, witty man who left an indelible mark on all those he met. He attended over 22,000 public engagements in his working life, all to ensure the embetterment of others.
Requiesce in peace Philip Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg; you truly are one of the finest foreign, refugee imports the country has had the pleasure to home, and one of its greatest Britons though not a drop of her blood ran through your veins.
You leave a wealthy legacy of humanitarinism that those who choose to mock could never equal.