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Conceding to lawful rebellion?

Posted: Fri May 05, 2017 8:54 am
by grixit
The queen's husband Phillip has announced his retirement. I wonder how soon the fmotls claim a victory?

Re: Conceding to lawful rebellion?

Posted: Fri May 05, 2017 12:03 pm
by AndyK
Retirement from what? Did he actually ever work or is he just retiring from public appearances?

Re: Conceding to lawful rebellion?

Posted: Fri May 05, 2017 12:46 pm
by Pottapaug1938
AndyK wrote:Retirement from what? Did he actually ever work or is he just retiring from public appearances?
Aside from doing what George VI once called "princing" -- which can be very tiring -- Philip served as an officer in the Royal Navy, and saw combat. Had George VI's illnesses not compelled him to retire from the RN to assist his wife in her royal family duties, most people feel that he would have risen to high rank -- probably flag rank -- on merit.

He is retiring from public appearances; but he will maintain ties to the organizations of which he is a patron.

Re: Conceding to lawful rebellion?

Posted: Fri May 05, 2017 5:25 pm
by notorial dissent
He's also 95. He's half Danish on his mother's side and they tend to live to ripe old age, the Greek side, not so much, but he is still 95.

Re: Conceding to lawful rebellion?

Posted: Fri May 05, 2017 11:58 pm
by chronistra
notorial dissent wrote:He's also 95. He's half Danish on his mother's side and they tend to live to ripe old age, the Greek side, not so much, but he is still 95.
?? His mother Alice was born a princess of Battenberg [hence Mountbatten], in the Grand Duchy of Hesse, and I don't recall any significant Danish ancestry on her side of the family. Philip was "of Greece and Denmark" as the male-line grandson of King George I of Greece, who was chosen as the Greek king six months before his own father inherited the Danish throne.

[There was plenty of naval expertise on her side, though; her father Prince Louis of Battenberg served in the Royal Navy for more than 40 years, rising to First Sea Lord just before the Great War broke out. Alice's brother, best known as Earl Mountbatten of Burma, likewise had a long naval career culminating in service as First Sea Lord (which the senior professional position in the Royal Navy, roughly equivalent to Chief of Naval Operations in the U.S. Navy).]

As far as "did he ever actually work," Philip kept up a schedule of 500+ public appearances a year well into his 80s. That's 500 times a year he had to show up in the right place at the right time and say enough of the right things to keep enough people happy, whether promoting British trade or advocating for environmental causes. His stats are pretty impressive: 22,191 solo public appearances since 1952 (not counting appearances with the Queen), 637 solo overseas visits, and 5,493 speeches. That's work. It might not be the kind of work everybody approves of, but the notion that "princing" is a life of leisure is bosh.

Re: Conceding to lawful rebellion?

Posted: Sat May 06, 2017 12:11 am
by notorial dissent
That's entirely right, I had it backwards, and was thinking of someone else when I wrote that. Shouldn't post when I'm half asleep.