Prince Philip: A “Moderniser” With A Sense Of Duty

“I reckon I’ve done my bit,” he said, when he turned 90.

“So I want to enjoy myself a bit now, with less responsibility, less frantic rushing about, less preparation, less trying to think of something to say. On top of that, your memory’s going. I can’t remember names and things. It’s better to get out before you reach your sell­by date.” He didn’t let up the pace then, but almost six years on, the Duke of Edinburgh is retiring, aged 95. From the autumn, he will live mainly at Windsor or Sandringham, while his wife (who stays at Buckingham Palace during the week) attends engagements, either alone or with one of the younger members of Team Windsor. The Queen, who is herself 91, “will feel Philip’s absence” as she goes about her public duties, said Caroline Davies in The Guardian: during 70 years of marriage, he has, as she put it on their golden wedding anniversary, been her “strength and stay”, an almost constant presence by her side. Photographers will miss the sight of the Duke hoisting small children clutching posies over barriers, to get them closer to his wife; while journalists will miss his gaffes. Dontopedalogy, the art of putting a foot in one’s mouth, is a term he claims to have coined.