Prince Philip Retires From All Royal Duties
He turns 96 next month.
The world went into a frenzy late Wednesday night when Queen Elizabeth II’s royal household attended a late night meeting. Rumors of illness and death circulated, but it turns out her 95-year-old husband Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh will step down from all royal duties. Thankfully, he still has his sense of humor. From The Daily Mail:
Prince Philip has taken a typically irreverent view on his own retirement today telling one man who said he was sorry he was standing down: ‘Well I can’t stand up for much longer’.
The Duke of Edinburgh made a crowd of guests roar with laughter while with the Queen at an Order of Merit service at St James’s Palace just an hour after announcing he will stop all public royal duties at the age of 95.
His well-earned retirement comes after 70 years dedicated service to Britain and Her Majesty, who has given him her ‘full support’ to step down.
It was announced at a top secret emergency meeting called by Buckingham Palace and attended by other royals including his daughter Princess Anne.
The difficult decision was made by Philip himself and he will step back just before he and the Queen reach their 70 year platinum wedding anniversary in November. The Queen will continue her public engagements as she has always vowed to serve her country for as long as she lives.
Last night the Mail revealed staff from the royal household across Britain were called to London today, which caused fevered speculation around the world about the health of the Queen and her husband.
However, Philip – Britain’s longest serving consort in history – is ‘fine’ but has decided to end his formal royal duties having supported his wife in public on thousands of occasions since 1947.
In a statement Buckingham palace said this morning: ‘His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh has decided that he will no longer carry out public engagements from the autumn of this year. In taking this decision, The Duke has the full support of The Queen.
‘The Duke of Edinburgh is Patron, President or a member of over 780 organisations, with which he will continue to be associated, although he will no longer play an active role by attending engagements’.
Philip and her Majesty will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary in November. However you feel about monarchies, no one can deny that their love story is one for the ages.
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Prince Philip wrote the Foreword to If I Were an Animal (1987) by Fleur Cowles, wherein he made the following anti-human statement: “I just wonder what it would be like to be reincarnated in an animal whose species had been so reduced in numbers than it was in danger of extinction. What would be its feelings toward the human species whose population explosion had denied it somewhere to exist… I must confess that I am tempted to ask for reincarnation as a particularly deadly virus.”
Honestly it sounds more like his rather dark sense of humor to me.
Whatever you might think of the monarchy, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip have been extraordinary examples of fidelity and duty. God bless them both.