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Original poster

Prince Philip has died

725 replies

YellowPurple · 09/04/2021 12:06

He died this morning

OP posts:
DenisetheMenace · 09/04/2021 20:59

Today 12:12 SallySycamore

How sad. I was hoping he'd reach 100 too.
I'm glad he and the Queen have spent plenty of time together recently.”

That’s a nice thought.

DenisetheMenace · 09/04/2021 21:07

Today 18:04 CovidCorvid

Do you think the Queen rings up Charles, Anne, etc and tells them their dad has died or do you think a flunky does it?“

What an unnecessarily nasty thing to say. On balance, I’m probably a republican. A lady has just lost her much loved husband of 73 years and a large family their father, grandfather and great grandfather.

Just no need, at all.

DeRigueurMortis · 09/04/2021 21:20

@cyclingmad

Yes mumsnet let's just wipe out history shall we by deleting posts that point out that the man isn't this amazing guy that you all what to portray him as.

No, he wasn't perfect but who is?

He was, like most of us, neither saint nor sinner.

Despite some very well reported "gaffs", a pretty infamous temper and a low tolerance for fools he was responsible for modernising the monarchy in ways that people probably don't realise (he dispensed with a lot of unnecessary protocol and expenditure).

He served in WW2 and was named in dispatches (before marrying HMQ).

Am I sad he's died, personally no. He died at a good age, peacefully and with family - a blessing in these times. I'm sad for his family because from what I understand as much as HMQ was in charge of "the firm" he was the pivotal head of the family.

So I don't see the point of the nasty posts. Unlike most of us he'll be judged by history and his choices/actions will be discussed for a long time.

RIP Prince Phillip.

Defaultname · 09/04/2021 21:53

@Corcory

I have a great respect for Prince Philip, he had a very troubled start in life yet went on to show great fortitude in the Navy. Only for his marrying the future monarch who unexpectedly succeeded her father early would he not have gone on to have an illustrious career. He dedicated the rest of his life to service to the UK and commonwealth, he helped form the WWF was one of the first environmentalists and his interest in helping young people was well known. I feel too many people mix up Royals with a sense of duty and the world of celebrity with all the wealth and adoration that that involves. Prince Philip certainly never wanted adoration or any accolades at all that was the measure of the man.
That's the World Wildlife Fund, of course. For a minute there, I was thinking about the other WWF!
BadMudda · 09/04/2021 22:05

Well said Pam.

I am in agreement with you.

Starzinhereyes · 09/04/2021 22:21

I'm irish, I live in Limerick & I've been crying on & off all day... So sad, he did a brilliant job, had hoped he'd reach his birthday 😢

Alsohuman · 09/04/2021 23:03

@cyclingmad

Yes mumsnet let's just wipe out history shall we by deleting posts that point out that the man isn't this amazing guy that you all what to portray him as.
This is neither the time nor the place. If you can’t see how inappropriate it is, there’s frankly no hope for you.
Corcory · 09/04/2021 23:08

Yes the World wildlife fund!

WeekendCEO · 09/04/2021 23:41

This is neither the time nor the place.

Not the place? It’s mumsnet chat topic,....seems ok. 🤷🏻‍♀️

jessstan2 · 10/04/2021 01:21

cyclingmad

Yes mumsnet let's just wipe out history shall we by deleting posts that point out that the man isn't this amazing guy that you all what to portray him as.
..........

He was an amazing character and his flaws are not airbrushed, they are part of the human being whom he was. I don't put people on pedestals, I know we all make errors of judgement but there is no need to be ungracious.

OrangeBlossomsinthesun · 10/04/2021 10:00

I do wish people would stop calling repeatedly racist comments "gaffes" or "flaws".
If you think that the racist things he said are acceptable, well own it and admit that. But let's not pretend he was some loveable old character and it was all a bit of banter.

stevematekatemate · 10/04/2021 10:03

@OrangeBlossomsinthesun

I do wish people would stop calling repeatedly racist comments "gaffes" or "flaws". If you think that the racist things he said are acceptable, well own it and admit that. But let's not pretend he was some loveable old character and it was all a bit of banter.
Agreed.

I don’t get the flowers, the crying or the grief.

The rubber necking.

I am sorry for the Queen who has lost her husband after 73 years but that’s it.

IrmaFayLear · 10/04/2021 10:07

What do you want, then, Orangeblossoms ? Should we cancel the old racist and perhaps have a few demos and burn his effigy ? Just forget any good things he achieved, or his support for the Queen, and make sure he is just known as a racist ?

Why not shout “racist” about Prince Harry, then? Oh, no. There’s a special code which lets some people off...

HypocriteHunter · 10/04/2021 10:17

Because old H can’t possibly be racist because he married a beautiful woman with mixed heritage.

And yet H’s comments and costume choices were equally bad.

But yes. Only one of them are ‘racist’.

Because everyone is absolutely perfect and have never said anything questionable or possibly offensive in their time.

People are human. No one said the comments were acceptable. But you cannot say that one was racist and the other isn’t.

OrangeBlossomsinthesun · 10/04/2021 10:25

He achieved some good things, like the Duke of Edinburgh Award. It is sad for his family. But all these people going on like he was some lovely old grandad and reducing the really offensively racist things he said as AN AMBASSADOR FOR THE UK (I mean in his role as the DoE) to just "gaffes" really does piss me off.
And anyone who points out that not everyone is desperately sad to hear of the passing of a rather racist old man who lived to a great age in the lap of luxury and privilege is accused of cancel culture and wanting to burn his effigy.
I don't want to burn an effigy of him or "cancel" him. He was the queen's consort for decades and is an important historical figure. It is right that there is a certain amount of national attention paid to that. It is sad for those who loved him (and I mean his family, not randoms on MN), but this fawning and dumbing down of his problematic attitude to people not of his station /race is depressing.

OrangeBlossomsinthesun · 10/04/2021 10:31

I think Harry was quite probably at least unthinkingly racist in the way that a lot of people who have grown up in that kind of tier of society are, they've never met anyone really who isn't like them, never experienced hardship or discrimination.
Harry then met someone who made him realise what life is like for other people and I assume has changed his outlook. Maybe the DoE did too, I don't know. But he said plenty of really racist things and at no point ever made it clear that he had since changed his mind so I can only assume he continued to refer to Asian people in private as having dirty eyes and Scots as drunkards and alcoholics and all the rest of it.

OrangeBlossomsinthesun · 10/04/2021 10:31

Slitty not dirty

widthofacircle · 10/04/2021 10:32

With regard to Phillip passing away at the age of 99, well he lived a long life of the most unbelievable privilege and yes he did some good things, or rather others did it in the background for him.
My thought is that with in this country alone more than 126.000 other souls have died during this last year to the pandemic, each a loved one of someone that this nauseating outpouring of faux grief for this one man is highly self indulgent and offensive, in death and in loss we are all equal surely.

C130 · 10/04/2021 10:35

@OrangeBlossomsinthesun

I do wish people would stop calling repeatedly racist comments "gaffes" or "flaws". If you think that the racist things he said are acceptable, well own it and admit that. But let's not pretend he was some loveable old character and it was all a bit of banter.
This. He was the husband of the Queen, who is the head of the commonwealth. He was a well travelled man, who had come into contact with people from all over the world. He was not some unworldly teenager when he was making these racist remarks. Out of order.
HypocriteHunter · 10/04/2021 10:36

Exactly. You don’t know if his outlook changed. So why has H got the free pass and not PP?

Who is to say that PP wasn’t similarly unthinking under your reasoning?

It doesn’t excuse H. (Allegedly it was just ‘banter’) It doesn’t excuse PP. both were in the wrong.

OrangeBlossomsinthesun · 10/04/2021 10:37

"others did it in the background for him", well quite. So many of these amazing things the royals supposedly do involve putting their name to it, a few public engagements and the odd carefully leaked "behind the scenes support" which is usually little more than a (possible scripted) phone call.

derxa · 10/04/2021 10:43

Scots as drunkards and alcoholics Oh come off it. We Scots do drink a lot. He was just trying to spice up a dull visit.

BeenAsFarAsMercyAndGrand · 10/04/2021 10:47

@OrangeBlossomsinthesun

I think Harry was quite probably at least unthinkingly racist in the way that a lot of people who have grown up in that kind of tier of society are, they've never met anyone really who isn't like them, never experienced hardship or discrimination. Harry then met someone who made him realise what life is like for other people and I assume has changed his outlook. Maybe the DoE did too, I don't know. But he said plenty of really racist things and at no point ever made it clear that he had since changed his mind so I can only assume he continued to refer to Asian people in private as having dirty eyes and Scots as drunkards and alcoholics and all the rest of it.
I agree with this. Harry changed and matured, but the DoE was making racist and sexist remarks well into his 80s, (and as a man who was well travelled and who had met lots of people from other cultures, so no excuse for it).

I also hate it when people say that it's okay because of his age. My grandparents were of the same era, and I only recall 1 of them ever making bigoted comments like this. My paternal gran actively argued against racist views, hated Jim Davidson and the like, and would give short shrift to anyone using the kind of slurs the DoE used. (She was a formidable woman, you didn't want to incur her displeasure.) Her view was that we were all the same under the skin, and I don't think she was hugely unusual in believing that. Remember - this was the generation that fought alongside people from different cultures and backgrounds against the nazis.

SheldonesqueHasTheWeevils · 10/04/2021 10:47

Indeed derxa

cyclingmad · 10/04/2021 11:11

Oh yes let's just ca them gaffes because it nice and fluffy then actually call it what it is: racist or misogynistic comments.

Your right noone is perfect but im not going to ca him a remarkable man based on his attitudes and comment shade. They aren't funny or cute. If like the media say he acts as a representative if our country them what does tht sya having a person making comments like that.

You can look the other way but I won't be