Fr Michael Halsall of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham reflects on the life and times of the Duke of Edinburgh, HRH Prince Philip, who died on Friday at the age of 99.
To be clear, I am not a monarchist, royalist, or any other kind of titled groupie. However, I have always had a keen interest in those who have been grafted into the royal family by marriage or association; those who, for better or worse, have had greatness ‘thrust upon them’.
Prince Philip was the epitome of such persons, and his seventy three years of standing in the shadow of his wife, demonstrated a loyalty and humility which is rare in any walk of life today. At Queen Elizabeth's coronation in 1953, Prince Philip swore allegiance to her, vowing that he would be his wife's ‘liege man of life and limb’, and in their Golden Wedding speech, she affectionately referred to him as being her ‘strength and stay’.
