How does England’s monarch spend Independence Day? I had the privilege some years ago to be invited to a July 4 dinner at the American ambassador’s residence in London. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were the guests of honor, there presumably to bear witness that, after a couple of centuries, the unfortunate business over the repeated injuries and usurpations inflicted by one of her ancestors had been quietly forgotten.
The ambassador rose to give the not-so-loyal toast.
He began with the inevitable nod to the two nations’ divergent histories, noting that some time earlier, in their great wisdom, his compatriots had decided to go it alone.
“Oh yes!” cried the prince from a sedentary position, fortified, no doubt, by a couple of glasses of the embassy’s very good wine. “And how’s that working out for you?”
It was a good question then, and it’s more apt than ever now given America’s current predicament. The people that once boldly threw off the tyranny of a distant monarch now seem to be meekly submitting to the diktats of a regnant class and ideology that tolerate less independence of thought and action than King George III did.
I did. It was fascinating and I am not a royal family follower.
The best thing about the Duke was that he was a genuine WWII Naval hero on his own merit.
He is a new age flake, Britain's Joe Biden. They need a rock of stability.
Ahhh the WW2 generation where men and women could have some strong opinions without being censored by some thin skinned wokes of this era. One reason they raked President Trump over their sissified coals is that he has that WW2 generation type personality too. As for Prince Phillip well RIP sir, almost made it to 100.
I recently watched a video on Windsor and setting up for a large banquet. Prince Phillip had beer with his dinner while everyone else had wine. He was also the “Windsor Park Ranger” and his duties were vast, including animal and tree management. Some trees were dying and needed to be removed. He spoke about the “treehuggers” descending on Windsor because he wanted to remove and replant. He said they don’t even want dead branches removed. He was very annoyed with them and dismissive. And he didn’t care who knew it.
"An avid hunter, the Prince, 75, said that sportsmen were being punished for the action of criminals. ''I can't believe that the members of the shooting clubs are any more dangerous than members of a squash club or a golf club or anything else. I mean, they're perfectly reasonable people,'' he said with a convivial laugh. ''There's no evidence that people who use weapons for sport are any more dangerous than people who use golf clubs or tennis rackets or cricket bats.''"
As an Anglo American/Anglophile I thoroughly enjoyed and was charmed by the personaliy, spirit, wit, charm (and yes, that includes the female accent :) of the RAF people we (USAF) were collaborating with back in the 60's. I have some as friends and correspondents to this day.
People whose job it is to attend parties (like the British Royals) are never going to be much fun to party with.
Plus, Phil was kind of full of himself and down on the rest of humanity. I suspect downing a few martinis would make spending time with him easier.
They don’t seem to be giving him much of a send off. Liz went back to work already.