LONDON – In the course of the 99 years of Prince Philip he is portrayed as a modernist, a frustrated companion to the king and later an old man who sometimes spoke from the heart, made some memorable gaffs and made the United Kingdom at home and around. the world.
More recently, Philip has been in the news about his illness rather than his accomplishments – and a fictional, exaggerated version of him has been unveiled to millions of viewers of the Netflix series “The Crown”.
But how much of the public’s perception of him is based on reality?
When Philip married the then Princess Elizabeth in 1947, the couple probably assumed that it would take decades before she accepted the crown. But in 1952, Elizabeth’s father, King George VI, died at the age of 56, and she became queen at the age of 25.
In ‘The Crown’, Philip is portrayed struggling with his new role and pushing back against the constraints of royal life. This was probably the case in the beginning of the Queen’s reign, although he had settled into his position over the years, according to Clive Irving, author of “The Last Queen: How Queen Elizabeth II Saved the Monarchy.”
Irving points to Philip’s 1956 tour of the Commonwealth countries as proof of his need for a breathing chamber.
“It is understandable that he, as a warm-blooded young goat, did not follow the pace at the track of the awful royal court and all the flunkies he had to say,” he said. ‘It’s not surprising that he blew his stack and left on the boat for six months. He wanted to get away from the awful court atmosphere where he felt confined. ”
In time, however, Philip was able to make the work his own. In addition to accompanying the Queen on her overseas travels and serving as patron of hundreds of organizations, he also established design and industry awards, instituted an interfaith discussion, and was the first president of the World Wildlife Fund UK.
Later in his life, he also said that his most important task was to support his wife in her role as monarch.
Philip’s arrival in the British royal family coincided with the use of television, a medium he wanted to accept. He was apparently involved in the decision to watch the coronation of the Queen on television in 1953 and was the first member of the royal family to conduct a television interview in 1961, during which he promoted the benefits of technical skills and training. .
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In 1969 he appeared on “Meet the Press” and defended the monarchy when asked about it as a system of government.
‘With us, it’s a coincidence that we only choose the father’s son. “Someone has to do the job, why not do it that way,” he said.
The queen is cramped with her mouth, barely doing interviews or offering a glance at her mind. Philip, however, said enough to keep royal viewers busy. Over the course of his nearly ten decades, he has become known for remarks that have offended on many occasions, especially with regard to race.
In 1999, Philip asked British politician John Taylor: “And what exotic part of the world do you come from?” Taylor, whose parents are from Jamaica, replied that he came from Birmingham, one of the largest cities in England.
One of Philip’s most famous quotes was made in China in 1986, when he told a British student: “If you stay here much longer, you will go home with sneaky eyes.”
Other remarks were cruelly honest, such as one he made in 1967 when asked if he wanted to go to Moscow to ease tensions in the Cold War.
“I would very much like to go to Russia – even though the bastards killed half my family,” he replied. Philip is related to the Romanovs, who ruled Russia until Nicholas II and his family were executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918.
Philip also lost notoriety while performing royal responsibilities and told one photographer during a photo shoot in 2015 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain to ‘just take the f —— photo’.
Philip is often referred to as an ‘outsider’ when he married Elizabeth in 1947. Although he was not a member of the traditional British aristocracy or nobility, he was certainly familiar with the ways in which the royals were born into a royal family. . What’s more, he and Elizabeth were cousins and great – grandchildren of Queen Victoria.
Philip was born in Corfu, Greece, where his uncle was king. Philip’s family fled when he was a baby after his uncle was forced to abdicate. His family initially went to Paris and after that Philip went to live with his grandmother in Kensington Palace without his parents. Although the family no longer held their royal positions, they did hold their titles. Philip renounced his when he married Elizabeth.
He attended British schools and then joined the Royal Navy. Despite his royal lineage, as a minor royal, there was no plan for him to spend a life in the service of the crown. He will have to support himself.
According to Irving, there was ‘a lot of hesitation in court and in the palace whether he was the right match’.
If we look back at how he supported the queen throughout their marriage, members of the royal family say that the opposite is true.
“For her, to find someone like him, I do not think she could have chosen better,” his daughter-in-law Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, told ITV in 2016. ‘They make each other laugh, what’s half the fight, isn’ t they? ”