, Columnist
Prince Philip Was No Saint, But He Was the Queen's Rock
The Duke of Edinburgh understood that royal life was a mixture of solemnity and absurdity, and behaved accordingly.
“Where did you get that hat?”
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“I doubt whether I’ve achieved anything likely to be remembered,” the Duke of Edinburgh once observed to a BBC interviewer. But the British monarchy has survived exactly because Queen Elizabeth II and her deceased consort steered clear of flashy commitments and grand ambitions.
The Ronald Reagan dictum, “Don’t just do something, stand there,” was always a more appropriate strategy for an ornamental royal family that must remain above politics than for an executive head of state. Like his wife, Prince Philip stuck to this course.