Repetitive TV about Duke’s Death

[Thisisnotreallymyname]

At a risk of being sent to the Tower, whilst I think it is sad that Prince Philip has died, am I alone in being amazed at the constant repetitive TV about his life.
It’s just going over snd over same old stuff. And I’d like to watch some normal TV !

IABU - YES
IANBU - NO

A commenter said on the Andrew Marr show that they thought all the coverage was a political decision because the BBC did not want Tory backbenchers asking questions about insufficient reverence. They thought the BBC preferred to annoy the general public than the Tory party.

Good - I will send my next request for the licence fee to the Tory Party HQ then and ask them to pay it.

He's 99 years old and the media is marking it as some kind of tragedy. HE WAS 99 YEARS OLD! I am baffled by why it's such a big deal. I mean he seemed alright but no idea what he even really did with his time.

@JemimaJoy

He's 99 years old and the media is marking it as some kind of tragedy. HE WAS 99 YEARS OLD! I am baffled by why it's such a big deal. I mean he seemed alright but no idea what he even really did with his time.

Maybe you should find out?

And Mumsnet isn't necessarily the arbiter of what's considered important in the world

@Peregrina

I imagine that there wasn't a lot of love in Prince Philips childhood, but that was how the aristocracy were anyway. Boys got shunted off to boarding school at 8 regardless

Regardless as to whether their father buggered off to the Continent with their mistress and their mother was a schizophrenic who was incarcerated for a couple of years?

He was sent to boarding school because his family kept passing him around. He had no stable home

@StoneofDestiny

he killed a tiger too

Yes, Mr Environmentalist my arse

The tiger was already injured. Therefore would have struggled to survive. (not that I'm happy about it)

And Mumsnet isn't necessarily the arbiter of what's considered important in the world

No, but did it mean that for example ongoing outbreaks of violence in N Ireland should have been pushed off the front page, or dozens killed in violence in Myanmar.......

It must have been abundantly clear to just about every one that a man nearly 100 years old who had already had an extensive stay in hospital wasn't going to live very much longer. No one is saying that he should have been commemorated but some of the coverage is so obvious that it borders on the trite and becomes disrespectful. Prince Charles misses his father - well of course he does, most people do when they lose a father, but is it really news?

He was sent to boarding school because his family kept passing him around. He had no stable home

But Prince Charles was also despatched to boarding school at much the same age, and it can't be argued that he had no stable home. This very much helps to make my point is that this is what the aristocracy used to do with their sons.

@StoneofDestiny

he killed a tiger too

Yes, Mr Environmentalist my arse

Never mind your arse, you're going to lose your shit completely when I say the person who described the DofE as an environmentalist was David Attenborough.

Attenborough also called the Duke a conservationist.

Dear me. Attenborough only knew him personally, though, so what would he know?

Regardless of which term is used, what I learned was that the Duke was sounding the alarm about the unintended consequences of human action on the natural world way back in the 1950s – and not just talking about it, doing something about it. I'd had no idea.

Well with all due respect David Attenborough was hardly going to say “well I always despised the man, he was a waste of good skin” was he? Of course he was going to say something pleasant and non commital.

Would the tiger have been injured if no-one was hunting it? 🤔

He did say in 1988 he wanted to be reincarnated as a deadly virus to cure overpopulation. I suppose that is environmentalism of a sort.

Do we know why the tiger was injured?

It's said it had to be shot because it was injured, so did we need to see a photo of the whole party standing round it? Looking very much as though they had shot it for sport?

Attenborough didn't say something non-committal. He talked in detail about the Duke's work in his field.

If I'd presumed I knew all there was to know about the DofE and that I wouldn't learn anything by watching the obituaries, then I might have made the same assumptions as you. As it happens I put it on in the background and kept finding myself drawn in to segments on areas of my own interests. I'm glad I did.

Meh. Man with boundless time, wealth and influence has opportunity to indulge his interests shocker.

Leading the royal fight against climate change by having several children, flying all over the world, hunting and generally having a carbon footprint the size of Wales.

How much was known about climate change when the Queen and D of E had their children?

I thought he was a pioneering expert?

The man had four kids and wanted to be a deadly virus to combat overpopulation. To me that speaks volumes about the kind of man he is. Presumably he didn’t intend the virus to kill off him self and his loved ones? Just the rest of the plebs.

How much was known about climate change when the Queen and D of E had their children?

Philip was going on about respecting nature, population and eco balances for decades. He might not have specifically used the more modern term 'climate change', but he was passionately outspoken about a lot of things that, you would think, would seem very obviously completely at odds with each couple having four children, let alone multiple, massive properties and all the regular travel between them.

He co-founded the WWF in 1961, and we can assume that it didn't happen overnight on a whim, after he'd just heard some sudden, devastating planetary news. Co-founder Prince Bernhard also had four children.

James Lovelock was the same: extremely insistent about what sacrifices other people should be making to avoid planetary disaster, but apparently not he and his wife and their four children.

@Peregrina

I remember when the BBC and ITV, both one channel shut down for the entire evening just because some random President of America managed to get himself shot dead.

My recollection was that they played sombre music. I was supposed to be doing my homework anyway, so didn't miss anything.

They postponed "The Navy Lark" until later that evening. I loved the show, and was allowed to stay up late until it was on, which I think was 9.30.

[quote Baws]@Sockbogies

I'm just waiting to be told what time/day the doorstep clapping will be.

Yeah that will be next 🙄 or a 2 minute silence. 😴[/quote]
Makes me want to do exactly the opposite, tbh: clap during the silence and stay silent during any collective clapping.

@Peregrina

He was sent to boarding school because his family kept passing him around. He had no stable home

But Prince Charles was also despatched to boarding school at much the same age, and it can't be argued that he had no stable home. This very much helps to make my point is that this is what the aristocracy used to do with their sons.

Yes, that's true. And not just the aristocracy. My DH went to a minor public school and was about as far from the aristocracy as possible without going down the mines. Some families thought it was a good thing.

Also, Prince Philip loved his time at Gordonston, and thought it was the making of him, that's why he wanted the same for his children. Also Anne was sent to boarding school even though the Queen had governesses

Yes, NannyOgg, I know all this being only a few months younger than Princess Anne.

Philip loved his time at boarding school. Charles most certainly did not enjoy his time at Gordonstoun, and it would have been much kinder to find another school more suited to him.

Anne as far as I recall, wanted to go to school and didn't go until she was 13. Which helps to illustrate my point that aristocracy (and obviously some other families) saw fit to send their sons away at 8. They weren't as bothered about the girls education and hence lessons with a Governess were good enough. I read an autobiography by Margaret Rhodes, the Queen's cousin - she touches on how they were educated at home and how she felt under educated as a result.

I was essentially agreeing with you earlier - Prince Philip might not have wanted financially as a boy, but I don't think there was anyone really looking out for his welfare. Which of course, having found stability at school may well be why he enjoyed it.

And now the BBC's dedicated complaints page for this has been taken down. I wonder what prompted that....did the complaints suddenly tail off or are they just alarmed by the publicity? The BBC are just insulting their license fee payers, viewers and listeners.

It is over the top - yeh it is sad for the family but personally I could not give a bugger. 99 year old man dies, back to Masterchef final.