At 99 years old, the death of the Duke of Edinburgh was hardly a surprise. Nevertheless, to me and many others in the UK it came as a shock. After all for the majority of people alive today, Prince Philip has been there in the background throughout our lives.
There have been plenty of articles giving the details of his life, his difficult childhood, his excellent war service in the navy and how he met and eventually married Queen Elizabeth. These articles have focused on his charity work, how he had to carve out a role for himself and the disdainful way many people in the palace treated him in the early years of the Queen’s rule.
But today I’d like to focus on his servant-like attitude to both the Queen and the UK. He was a man of many talents with a keen inquiring mind who some say could have gone right to the top in his naval career. He could command a ship, fly a jet, play polo or drive carriages with great aplomb and a highly competitive spirit.
So it is particularly interesting to me that he founded and remained involved in the Duke of Edinburgh’s award scheme for young people. He was not a remote founder who took an occasional interest, but someone who was deeply involved in this most ambitious of projects. He believed in young people and wanted them to have the challenge of growing in character and service in their teenage years.
Alongside that he was deeply involved in the World Wildlife Fund, years before concern with nature and the environment became fashionable. Again, it was not a remote or occasional influence, but a real hands on example of leadership and service.
But perhaps his greatest service of all was to the Queen, both in their long marriage but also in the public support he gave by being a constant companion during her long years of public service. His so called “gaffes” were often attempts to break the ice and put people at ease when they were meeting the Queen.
In addition to accompanying the Queen on countless occasions, he also carried out 22,000 solo engagements, often linked with some of the 800 charities that he was involved with over the years.
Alongside the Queen or on his own the Duke was a real servant to the UK, both here and abroad, simply by being there. He represented the Queen and the UK superbly on the world stage.
Prince Philip was a talented and gifted individual who would have been successful in his own right had he not married Princess Elizabeth. Yet from the moment she became Queen, much earlier than expected, his support of her became his priority in life. His diary was always subservient to the Queen’s and his relationship to her, which many say was a true partnership, was always that of a devoted servant. He sacrificed his life and interests to hers.
The Duke laid down his life not by dying for his Queen, but by devoting thousands of hours, a lifetime in fact, to being what the Queen called, “My strength and stay.”
As a Christian, when I reflect on a servant prince who exemplified loyalty, devotion, and love; who was prepared to sacrifice his own life for the benefit of others, I naturally think of Jesus.
And while I would not compare Prince Phillip with Jesus, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that is who he took his example from.
Keith Hartrick info@because.uk.com
Keith is an editor at Because.