As a child I was much exercised by Prince Philip's title, Duke of Edinburgh. Edinburgh I only knew from tartan tins of shortbread with images of the Castle, the Royal Mile, Arthur's Seat, the Scott Monument.
My long widowed Auntie May took my elder brother and sister to Edinburgh for the day where they dined in one of the capitol's famous tearooms (now all gone) and I was too young to participate in the adventure. Those were the days of steam locomotives.
Richard Demarco (now 90) said you can see the whole of Europe from the top of the Scott Monument. Meaning that the Enlightenment which began in Edinburgh spread throughout Europe. When I'm in Edinburgh (40 minutes by train from Glasgow) I like walking in the New Town (pre-Victorian Georgian architecture) where you can see the home of Scott. The Old Town is medieval and you can see the old streets on two levels.
Watch: *Sir Walter Scott BBC Wizard of the North* (YouTube) written by our best novelist Alan Massie (Wikipedia). Also YouTube: *Alan Massie Toast to Sir Walter 1990*. The Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club.
When the Queen and Prince Philip are in Edinburgh they reside at the Palace of Holyroodhouse which is open to the public when Her Majesty is not present there. Haggerty
What a pity you couldn't go to the tea rooms! You still remember the event, though. It's interesting the way we all have a different perspective on the same event. I've never been to Europe, probably won't now, I wonder what Holyroodhouse is like....
I hope you do see Europe, Kylie. Florence, Verona, Bologna, Rome, Paris, Hamburg, Copenhagen, London. Europe needs wise statesmen more than ever. There is an ugly mood of xenophobia and racism. I wish Willy Brandt was still alive.
Last night I watched a YouTube documentary filmed around Copenhagen: *How Denmark took a hard line on immigrants/Foreign Correspondent.* ABC News in Depth. 8 October 2019.
After reading Alan Marshall, Patrick White and David Malouf I had every intention of seeing Australia. I read Malouf's novels, *Harland's Half Acre* and *The Great World* : masterpieces. Before the bookshops closed I purchased *The Dyehouse* by Mena Calthorpe (Text Classics) a portrait of postwar Australia set in a textile factory. Wonderful !
Holyroodhouse you can visit online. Two books with Edinburgh atmosphere: John Buchan's biography of Walter Scott and Allan Massie's imaginary autobiography of Scott, *The Ragged Lion*. *Weir of Hermiston* was written in Samoa when Stevenson was dying and opens with the legendary lines:
I saw rain falling and the rainbow drawn On Lammermuir. Hearkening I heard again In my precipitous city beaten bells. And here afar, Intent on my own race and place, I wrote.
The grassy Lammermuir Hills lie between East Lothian and the Scottish Borders, and there is a Cistercian monastery, Nunraw, where I have stayed as a guest three times. Haddington, a lovely little town, has a very broad street. Jack H
Being an American, I know but little aside from a Public Television documentary about his life that I saw a couple of years ago, and from which I came away with affection and respect. Now, I'm shocked to find bloggers who accuse him of all manner of bad behavior up to and including rape. For me, these people's accusations are reminiscent of the Markle interview which many people believed without a smidgen of supporting evidence, and to which the accused had no opportunity to defend themselves, not defense being allowable to those who condemn without evidence.
The man was not perfect and there was a time (maybe we are still in it) when a highly priviledged man could get away with rape so I guess it's possible.....
I respect the Queen and Prince Philip because neither of them anticipated she would accede to the throne and it stole their freedom in many ways but they got on with things and did their duty with stunning loyalty.
I only know of them what I have read and seen on tv but I have followed the family for my whole adult life and I think I would have noticed if there were significant discrepancies.
I think we need to becareful of judging a 99 year old on standards that have changed over the course of his life.
America seems to have been entirely won over by the Markle interview so I'm interested that you were not. I thought it was disgraceful.
On the Markle interview front I agree with you. I thought it was an incredibly self serving interview (from a couple who said they wanted privacy) and gave no right of reply. The pre-wedding wedding has been flatly contradicted by the person who supposedly officiated at it, and I wonder what other inaccuracies it contained.
Yes, it was dirty and hypocritical. Whatever issues they have within the family, they won't be solved by talking about it in a public forum. now that there's been a very obvious lie, all credibility is lost.
"America seems to have been entirely won over by the Markle interview so I'm interested that you were not. I thought it was disgraceful."
Here's a poll of what Americans think: https://sports.yahoo.com/prince-harry-lose-popularity-meghan-markle-us-polling-170032325.html Perhaps, it looks like most Americans believe her simply because the racial climate here is such that to accuse a black person of dishonesty, puts one at enormous risk of being accused of racism. Such accusations can't hurt an unknown like I, but it's different for people whose careers depend upon public approbation. It's also possible that many see her as a role model of a virtuous young victim courageously speaking truth to the rich, stiff, and powerful. I so loathe what I interpret as her two-facedness and her poorly disguised hostility that I would be less likely to believe anything Markle said simply because it was she who said it. She's not thoughtful, she's studied, and the fact that the two of them gave the interview when Harry's grandfather was near death struck me as an unforgivable breach of decency and compassion. I actually became so disgusted that I didn't last through the entire interview, which I saw as a platform for her and Harry to tell whatever lies they pleased, knowing they wouldn't be called on them. Oddly enough, I am no fan of royalty; I'm simply the enemy of people whose words are accepted at face value, no proof being necessary. It's a degree of gullibility that put Trump in office, and it's common here in America. Of course, let it be said that Trump supporters are less likely to believe Markle than are Biden supporters. Maybe in the Trumpian's case, racism really is behind it--given that efforts are under way in Trumpians strongholds to deprive black people of the right to vote, I wouldn't be surprised.
Snow, Your comments make absolute sense to me. For the record, I wouldn't say I am a fan of royalty, I just watch them because their lives are on public show and very consistently. I also like to watch fashion choices and so on. I'm just a peopple watcher, even from the other side of the world!
America has not “been won over” by the Markle interview as you said to Snowbrush. Whatever America’s mainstream says is immediately disbelieved by half the population. Which half depends on what is being reported. It is not inconsequential that out of 100 senators, 50 are Democrat and 50 are Republican. Do not believe anything you hear and only half of what you read. Markle has succeeded so far in breaking up two families (hers, his). She is a B-list television actress with designs on being accepted by the A-list Hollywood celebrity crowd, witness the move from Vancouver to Los Angeles.
Of course Philip and Elizabeth anticipated her acceding to the throne, just not that soon. Elizabeth was 10 when her father quite unexpectedly became King (1936) and 21 when she and Philip married (1947). She had known for quite some time that she would become monarch one day, just didn’t expect it to occur in 1952. Charles’s problem is just the opposite; he has been expecting it for decades but his mother refuses to go just yet. Her mother survived to 102 so we shall see.
Your tribute poem is quite good. Philip is known by all to have been (a) loyal in his support of the Queen and (b) a bit of a rascal in his younger days. From what I have read (maybe I should take my own advice, eh?) his uncle Lord Louis Mountbatten was far more of a father figure to Charles than Philip ever was.
Prince Philip's granddaughter Sophie described the moment he departed this world and entered eternity and judgment. *It was so gentle, like someone took him by the hand and off he went.*
Ah yes, Robert, of course you are right about them knowing she was in line to the throne. I only had an impression of how the interview went down in the US and impressions can be wrong, it's good to hear from some people on the ground over there.
There may not be many who think as I do. I am a bit of a contrarian. I am not a “fall into line” sort of person. Sometimes when the whole world is advocating A, I will consider the merits of B. Just so you know. Many of our sheeple bleat out whatever tune the mainstream media is peddling. I’m sure many think Harry and Meghan are, to use an old-fashioned phrase, the cat’s meow.
Bob, I had never heard of the phrase 'the cat's meow'. Once I had Googled my way past a film of the same name I eventually discovered its meaning. Which is not dissimilar to the saying 'the cat's pyjamas' which we used when I was young.
I shed tears when I heard early this morning.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sad about it but he was a larger than life figure in some respects so worth a few lines
DeleteI love your verse. It sums him up so very well in such few words!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Anne. He was controversial, for sure
DeleteAs a child I was much exercised by Prince Philip's title, Duke of Edinburgh.
ReplyDeleteEdinburgh I only knew from tartan tins of shortbread with images of the Castle, the Royal Mile, Arthur's Seat, the Scott Monument.
My long widowed Auntie May took my elder brother and sister to Edinburgh for the day where they dined in one of the capitol's famous tearooms (now all gone) and I was too young to participate in the adventure. Those were the days of steam locomotives.
Richard Demarco (now 90) said you can see the whole of Europe from the top of the Scott Monument. Meaning that the Enlightenment which began in Edinburgh spread throughout Europe.
When I'm in Edinburgh (40 minutes by train from Glasgow) I like walking in the New Town (pre-Victorian Georgian architecture) where you can see the home of Scott.
The Old Town is medieval and you can see the old streets on two levels.
Watch: *Sir Walter Scott BBC Wizard of the North* (YouTube) written by our best novelist Alan Massie (Wikipedia).
Also YouTube: *Alan Massie Toast to Sir Walter 1990*. The Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club.
When the Queen and Prince Philip are in Edinburgh they reside at the Palace of Holyroodhouse which is open to the public when Her Majesty is not present there.
Haggerty
What a pity you couldn't go to the tea rooms! You still remember the event, though. It's interesting the way we all have a different perspective on the same event.
DeleteI've never been to Europe, probably won't now, I wonder what Holyroodhouse is like....
I hope you do see Europe, Kylie. Florence, Verona, Bologna, Rome, Paris, Hamburg, Copenhagen, London.
DeleteEurope needs wise statesmen more than ever. There is an ugly mood of xenophobia and racism. I wish Willy Brandt was still alive.
Last night I watched a YouTube documentary filmed around Copenhagen:
*How Denmark took a hard line on immigrants/Foreign Correspondent.*
ABC News in Depth. 8 October 2019.
After reading Alan Marshall, Patrick White and David Malouf I had every intention of seeing Australia. I read Malouf's novels, *Harland's Half Acre* and *The Great World* : masterpieces.
Before the bookshops closed I purchased *The Dyehouse* by Mena Calthorpe (Text Classics) a portrait of postwar Australia set in a textile factory. Wonderful !
Holyroodhouse you can visit online.
Two books with Edinburgh atmosphere: John Buchan's biography of Walter Scott and Allan Massie's imaginary autobiography of Scott, *The Ragged Lion*.
*Weir of Hermiston* was written in Samoa when Stevenson was dying and opens with the legendary lines:
I saw rain falling and the rainbow drawn
On Lammermuir. Hearkening I heard again
In my precipitous city beaten bells. And here afar,
Intent on my own race and place, I wrote.
The grassy Lammermuir Hills lie between East Lothian and the Scottish Borders, and there is a Cistercian monastery, Nunraw, where I have stayed as a guest three times. Haddington, a lovely little town, has a very broad street.
Jack H
My heart goes out to the Queen.
ReplyDeleteIt's unimaginable to lose a partner after so long and it's a difficult time in history, too
DeleteWell said, Kylie. Exactly what I think.
ReplyDeleteAlphie
Thanks Alphie! He wasn't a complicated character, was he?
DeleteOne of the shortest and one of the most apt of epitaphs.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Graham. It's how I saw him
DeleteI agree with Graham. Pity the BBC didn't.
ReplyDeleteSx
I'm guessing you are at or past saturation point with tv coverage? :)
DeleteThank you for this...
ReplyDeleteBeing an American, I know but little aside from a Public Television documentary about his life that I saw a couple of years ago, and from which I came away with affection and respect. Now, I'm shocked to find bloggers who accuse him of all manner of bad behavior up to and including rape. For me, these people's accusations are reminiscent of the Markle interview which many people believed without a smidgen of supporting evidence, and to which the accused had no opportunity to defend themselves, not defense being allowable to those who condemn without evidence.
The man was not perfect and there was a time (maybe we are still in it) when a highly priviledged man could get away with rape so I guess it's possible.....
DeleteI respect the Queen and Prince Philip because neither of them anticipated she would accede to the throne and it stole their freedom in many ways but they got on with things and did their duty with stunning loyalty.
I only know of them what I have read and seen on tv but I have followed the family for my whole adult life and I think I would have noticed if there were significant discrepancies.
I think we need to becareful of judging a 99 year old on standards that have changed over the course of his life.
America seems to have been entirely won over by the Markle interview so I'm interested that you were not. I thought it was disgraceful.
On the Markle interview front I agree with you. I thought it was an incredibly self serving interview (from a couple who said they wanted privacy) and gave no right of reply. The pre-wedding wedding has been flatly contradicted by the person who supposedly officiated at it, and I wonder what other inaccuracies it contained.
DeleteYes, it was dirty and hypocritical. Whatever issues they have within the family, they won't be solved by talking about it in a public forum.
Deletenow that there's been a very obvious lie, all credibility is lost.
"America seems to have been entirely won over by the Markle interview so I'm interested that you were not. I thought it was disgraceful."
DeleteHere's a poll of what Americans think: https://sports.yahoo.com/prince-harry-lose-popularity-meghan-markle-us-polling-170032325.html
Perhaps, it looks like most Americans believe her simply because the racial climate here is such that to accuse a black person of dishonesty, puts one at enormous risk of being accused of racism. Such accusations can't hurt an unknown like I, but it's different for people whose careers depend upon public approbation. It's also possible that many see her as a role model of a virtuous young victim courageously speaking truth to the rich, stiff, and powerful. I so loathe what I interpret as her two-facedness and her poorly disguised hostility that I would be less likely to believe anything Markle said simply because it was she who said it. She's not thoughtful, she's studied, and the fact that the two of them gave the interview when Harry's grandfather was near death struck me as an unforgivable breach of decency and compassion. I actually became so disgusted that I didn't last through the entire interview, which I saw as a platform for her and Harry to tell whatever lies they pleased, knowing they wouldn't be called on them. Oddly enough, I am no fan of royalty; I'm simply the enemy of people whose words are accepted at face value, no proof being necessary. It's a degree of gullibility that put Trump in office, and it's common here in America. Of course, let it be said that Trump supporters are less likely to believe Markle than are Biden supporters. Maybe in the Trumpian's case, racism really is behind it--given that efforts are under way in Trumpians strongholds to deprive black people of the right to vote, I wouldn't be surprised.
Snow, Your comments make absolute sense to me. For the record, I wouldn't say I am a fan of royalty, I just watch them because their lives are on public show and very consistently. I also like to watch fashion choices and so on. I'm just a peopple watcher, even from the other side of the world!
DeleteAmerica has not “been won over” by the Markle interview as you said to Snowbrush. Whatever America’s mainstream says is immediately disbelieved by half the population. Which half depends on what is being reported. It is not inconsequential that out of 100 senators, 50 are Democrat and 50 are Republican. Do not believe anything you hear and only half of what you read. Markle has succeeded so far in breaking up two families (hers, his). She is a B-list television actress with designs on being accepted by the A-list Hollywood celebrity crowd, witness the move from Vancouver to Los Angeles.
ReplyDeleteOf course Philip and Elizabeth anticipated her acceding to the throne, just not that soon. Elizabeth was 10 when her father quite unexpectedly became King (1936) and 21 when she and Philip married (1947). She had known for quite some time that she would become monarch one day, just didn’t expect it to occur in 1952. Charles’s problem is just the opposite; he has been expecting it for decades but his mother refuses to go just yet. Her mother survived to 102 so we shall see.
Your tribute poem is quite good. Philip is known by all to have been (a) loyal in his support of the Queen and (b) a bit of a rascal in his younger days. From what I have read (maybe I should take my own advice, eh?) his uncle Lord Louis Mountbatten was far more of a father figure to Charles than Philip ever was.
Prince Philip's granddaughter Sophie described the moment he departed this world and entered eternity and judgment.
Delete*It was so gentle, like someone took him by the hand and off he went.*
J Haggerty
When I said “mainstream” I omitted a word. I meant to say “mainstream media “ — sorry.
DeleteAh yes, Robert, of course you are right about them knowing she was in line to the throne.
DeleteI only had an impression of how the interview went down in the US and impressions can be wrong, it's good to hear from some people on the ground over there.
There may not be many who think as I do. I am a bit of a contrarian. I am not a “fall into line” sort of person. Sometimes when the whole world is advocating A, I will consider the merits of B. Just so you know. Many of our sheeple bleat out whatever tune the mainstream media is peddling. I’m sure many think Harry and Meghan are, to use an old-fashioned phrase, the cat’s meow.
ReplyDeleteBob, I had never heard of the phrase 'the cat's meow'. Once I had Googled my way past a film of the same name I eventually discovered its meaning. Which is not dissimilar to the saying 'the cat's pyjamas' which we used when I was young.
DeleteThat pretty much sums him up even though driver of The Duke of Edinburgh Awards scheme is absent along with tiger killer.
ReplyDeleteThere's only so much i can fit into 17 syllables!
DeleteHe killed a tiger? How very colonialist
My partner met him years ago and went to shake his hand and he said "We don't shake hands". Pretty rude.
ReplyDeleteYes, he could be pretty rough around the edges. I was careful not to deify him
DeleteSuch a beautiful tribute Kylie.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Polly. The best I can hope for is realistic :)
Delete