WITH retirement ages creeping ever higher, many of us grumble about the prospect of having to work longer into our sixties. So it is hard not to begrudge the Duke of Edinburgh his retirement from public life at the age of 95.
Certainly, there are those who would question the description of the Duke’s role as “work”, given the many advantages and luxuries pertaining to life in the royal family. And for everyone who celebrates his many public “gaffes” there are those who see only outdated attitudes and embarrassing faux pas. Indeed, they have seen him lampooned over the years in TV’s puppet satire Spitting Image, or Private Eye magazine as “Phil the Greek”.
But his plain-spoken manner and sometimes scant regard for the expected formality of his role have undoubtedly endeared him to large numbers of the British public. So has his dedication to the task.
He did not seek royal service, or claim it by birth – although he is a great great grandchild of Queen Victoria. But by opting into the very public role of Queen’s consort, he sacrificed his Naval career and he has sacrificed much else since, in order to provide stalwart, unwavering support to his wife in her role. Indeed, he has been record-breaking, the longest serving consort in British history.
Resentful at one stage about his inability to pass his surname on to his children, he appears to have made his peace with this and the loss of his career to forge a meaningful role, playing an active part in raising his children, and helping them accept the demands of public life. Until recently he maintained one of the busiest diaries of all the royals.
Meanwhile, his Duke of Edinburgh Awards scheme has helped and encouraged thousands of young people in dozens of countries to expand heir horizons and their capabilities.
“I owe him a greater debt than he would ever claim”, the Queen said of her husband in 1997, and it has often remarked he is self-effacing. Yet he has provided a (mostly) quiet backbone to the royal family for decades. We wish him well in his retirement.
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