His Royal Highness

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who died just a couple of months short of his one hundredth birthday,  was a prince among men as well as prince consort to his wife, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain.  A physically active and intellectually curious man, he was as involved in the welfare of his adopted country in his role as royal consort as his wife's great-great-grandfather, Prince Albert, had been in that same capacity.  He spoke out for preserving the environment and developing and nurturing British youth (the latter cause exemplified by the Duke of Edinburgh's Award for young people), and he served as the head of philanthropic organizations, the list of which is too long to include here.  And he served notably and honorably in the Royal Navy in World War II - which led to his romance with then-Princess Elizabeth.  In an odd reversal of fortune, Philip was the young ingenu who found his Princess Charming.

As the consort to a monarch, Philip became his own man and was as loved as the queen for his own charm and his affable personality.  If there was one moment in Philip's long life that defines him, it is this.  As Philip and Elizabeth were passing through a throng of well-wishers on a London street after a social function, a British female TV news reporter was doing a story on the event.  The Duke of Edinburgh got close enough to her to walk behind her and listen to her report.  After she concluded her report, Philip paused and surprised her by asking her with a smile, "Are you finished?" The reporter had a laugh at her own expense.   

Life after Elizabeth - the prospective Carolean era that the future King Charles III will reign over - is hard enough for Britons to contemplate, but life without Philip must already be difficult to ponder today.  Because Philip was as indispensable to the House of Windsor as the queen has been, and he was indispensable to the queen herself, the love of his life, as he was hers. RIP.

  

The Fall of the House of Sussex - The Sequel

The highlights of Prince Harry's and his wife Meghan's interview with Oprah Winfrey should make it clear once and for all why Great Britain should become a republic.

When I heard that Meghan had contemplated suicide over the nasty things said about her in private and the lousy treatment she apparently got from her in-laws, I decided that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made the right call by stepping back from their royal duties.  Some folks think that the biracial Meghan, who will never be a royal queen - her husband is too far own the line of succession for that to happen - was being a drama queen (and relying on her skills as an actress) in her interview with Oprah, but she seemed legitimately disturbed.  You would too, if one of your in-laws expressed fear over the possibility of your baby's skin ending up too dark.

And why would you bother doing your duty for a family like that?

Meghan has gone out of her way to laud Queen Elizabeth II for being "wonderful" to her, and she says those who run Buckingham Palace are more to blame for her troubles than the family themselves, but family members who have been kind to her - and to Harry - seem more the exception than the rule.  Britain need not bother carrying on with a family patriarchy/matriarchy that should have been retired long ago.  Rather than let Harry's father become King Charles III, let him run for President of the United Republic of Great Britain.

Please note that I did not include Northern Ireland in that fanciful name.

The Return of the House of Windsor

Just so you know, CNN finally aired the last two episodes of "The Windsors," the miniseries covering the lives of the British royal family in the last one hundred years or so, featuring Queen Elizabeth II (below), this past Labor Day weekend, six months late and having been interminably postponed due to COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter. If you missed it, at least the series is now available on On Demand in its entirety. 

And the final two episodes of the second season of "Race For the White House" are airing later this month.  After that, a slew of new CNN documentaries, about John Lewis and First Ladies, are set to air.

Please note that any of these broadcasts may be delayed yet again if more serious news breaks at the most inconvenient times.  Because while things seem to have settled down (and thanks to COVID-19, how could things ever settle down completely before the pandemic ends?), any one of these planned broadcasts could be pre-empted at any moment due to the instability of the times.  Don't forget the ongoing hurricane threat, either.  Heck, CNN once pre-empted a documentary about the Eagles (which I still haven't seen) to cover a blizzard  I happened to be living through that night.  I wanted to see a CNN documentary to take my mind off the weather!

Oh yeah, "The Windsors."  Well, the fifth episode was heartbreaking, as it covered the dissolution of Charles and Diana's marriage and how the pres turned against Diana in the months and weeks leading up to her fatal car crash, a crash the paparazzi might have caused.  The sixth and final episode was more heartening, showing what fine young men William and Harry turned out to be.  When this queen leaves the scene, it will be interesting to see how the monarchy evolves in the brief period that will be known as the Carolean era (which I assume is what the reign of the future King Charles III will be called), as well as how it evolves when William is on the throne.  The failure to account for King Edward VII, the first monarch of the current royal family, was perplexing - the producers apparently decided that the story began when Edward's son, George V, changed the family name to Windsor from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha - because Edward had a number of character traits that emerged in his descendants.  But overall, it's a good documentary.  Again, the entire six-part series is on On Demand, so watch it.  I highly recommend it.