Many people mourned the passing of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who passed away just a few months shy of his 100th birthday.
The funeral was broadcast on Saturday morning, and I’m sure there were some people who were up early enough to view it live, or watched it later on one of the news channels or online.
Philip married Princess Elizabeth a few years before she became the Queen, following the passing of her father.
We watched a documentary over the weekend about Elizabeth and her sister Margaret, and while I found it fairly interesting, I paid particular attention to when Philip entered her life and married her.
He was serving in the British Navy, and the couple spent the first while in Malta where Philip was stationed, and this was reportedly some of the happiest years of Elizabeth’s young married life.
I’m thinking that in part this was due to the couple just being married and having their first children away from the goldfish bowl of Britain, and it was before she was suddenly thrust onto the world stage when her father passed away.
While the adjustment was probably hard for her and Philip, she handled it well and has gone on to a long and successful reign, and up until now she had Philip by her side.
Now, I know the questions about whether we should do away with the monarchy arise every now and then, especially when one of the Royals acts badly or brings disrepute in some way.
There are those who decry the colonization of countries by nations like Britain, but that is actually a part of our history, like it or not. We are no longer a British colony today, but I feel maintaining a connection through the Commonwealth is a good thing, and is helpful in these days as the world is interconnected in so many ways.
Even people in countries not a part of the Commonwealth paid attention to Prince Philip’s passing, and in the U.S. they eat up the stories about Harry and Meghan with all of its drama. But when it came time to pay tribute to Philip, Harry was there with his family to mourn his grandfather’s passing, as he should have been.
The Royal family are imperfect humans like the rest of us, but they hold a special place in our history, and I believe this should continue.
