I’m not particularly pro-royalty. But I’m not a republican
either.
Some of the Royals get on my nerves. Others seem a little
assuming of their position. But the Queen and her consort have shown how it’s
done. For 73 years of marriage and 69 years of reigning.
It was in 1952 that he voluntarily took a step back. The Duke
of Edinburgh could have had a glittering career. He could have turned his hand
to anything. A survivor himself of war and exile, he had steel, that’s for
sure.
He chose to hone that steel into a shield of protection.
With the Queen’s accession to the throne, he took a
permanent step back. Always the companion, always the consort. Always there in
the background. But always ready to step forward and deflect criticism, helping
with the weight of serving a nation.
And to do that for the rest of his life.
"He is someone who doesn't take easily to compliments
but he has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years, and I, and
his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater
than he would ever claim, or we shall ever know."
As a nation mourns today, we can be grateful for a man who
showed how to serve, how to prefer others.
A life of service indeed.
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