Ranger of the Great Park

I have been struggling all week to come up with a topic for a blog post. I considered Vaccines, Covid and my general irritation with various situations. And then this morning the news that Prince Phillip had died at the age of 99.

Anyone who knows me well would know that I admired Prince Phillip or the Ranger of the Great Park as I liked to call him. That title bestowed on him in recognition of his contribution to the infrastructure of Windsor castle and surrounding park. Only Prince Phillip and Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria had that title. Prince Phillip was of the same generation as my Dad and I suppose reminded me of H.A. in some ways. Family, work and community service was part of their DNA and funnily enough both were feminists in their later years.

There is so much bad news, conflicting arguments and insensitive commentaries bombarding us everyday. The drum beat of hatefulness on social media is depressing. Shortly after the announcement of Prince Phillips’s passing someone, I had been following on Twitter started listing gaffes he had made over the years. Just being a smart a** and knowing less than nothing about his life. I resisted responding and instead…

I am just going to take a moment to reflect on one of Prince Phillip’s vows at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth when he pledged “to become your liege man of life and limb, and of earthly worship; and faith and truth I will bear unto you, to live and die, against all manner of folks”.