Prince Phillip has died aged 99.

I'm sorry to hear this, although it was, I suppose, somewhat to be expected. He put up with a lot, didn't he? Lived most of his long life in a fish bowl. It must have chafed at times but he seemed to play the role very well.

I just saw this on the news here. It was a still bit of a shock even though he was 99 and had been so sick for a while now.

I wonder how the Queen will cope, and for how long, without him.

Over here he’s known for his politically incorrect utterances.

He said some real howlers.

He was in and out of hospital for the past few weeks so it’s not too much of a surprise and 99 is a good innings too.

If I recall the news from last year (or the year before), weren’t he and the Queen ill with flu or upper respiratory problems? Perhaps it was before COVID 19? His breathing issues or illness lingered long past hers.

He was admitted to hospital on and off for a number of years.

He was only just released a few weeks ago.

I was listening the a public radio remembrance this morning. It was interesting in that they were interviewing a historian on the royal family and she was saying that experts felt those "howlers" were absolutely intentional, that Phillip loved riling people up and felt it was one of the best parts of his royal travel duties.

Not just travel, he visited a community centre, pointed to a fuse box and said it looked like an Indian had put it up.

Later an apology came from his office claiming he meant to say cowboy.

Cowboy over here is a slang term for lousy tradesmen, builders etc.

Interesting fact, Phillip was born on 10th June 1921, on the island of Corfu.

His birth certificate says 28th May 1921 because Greece had not adopted the Gregorian calendar.

Not an oeuvre of inadvertent racism then?

So here in our local newspaper - is what I read (in addition to the normal things you expect) "...He was known for his occasionally racist and sexist remarks"...Over the decades, Philip’s image changed from that of handsome, dashing athlete to arrogant and insensitive curmudgeon. .."

"Many Britons appreciated what they saw as his propensity to speak his mind, while others criticized behavior they labeled offensive and out of touch.

In 1995, for example, he asked a Scottish driving instructor, “How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test?” Seven years later in Australia, when visiting Aboriginal people with the queen, he asked: “Do you still throw spears at each other?”"

There were some nice things stated too but thought you might want to see a brief excerpt of what some see over the pond too.

In many ways he was like some dreadful racist comedian from the 1970s.

There is a sector of the population that approve of such behaviour. People do read the Daily Mail and vote for Brexit after all.

BBC 1 and 2 and ITV are running round the clock tributes to him.

Back in the 1970s those were the only channels we had.

Just as well he didn’t die back then.

This has the feeling of a dry run for the Queen.

The natives of Tanna, one of the islands in the Vanuatu archipelago, who worship Prince Phillip as a god believe he will now return to them in spirit form and share the wealth of the British crown.

Never heard of this person. Have they been in anything that anyone has heard of?

The 20th Century. Do you need more specificity?

If someone is that desperate for attention it’s best to let them stew in their own pathetic juices.

Apparently, he did indeed say that he wanted to be reincarnated as a deadly virus 'as revenge against human overpopulation'. Always thought that was an 'urban myth'.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/prince-philip-deadly-virus/

Oh, pardon me. I forgot that the UK is apparently the center of the universe and that everyone must be familiar with that country's extremely elderly.

This sort of mentality explains perfectly the racism and xenophobic attitude that that izzy thing exudes. According to it, if one is not a brit, one is less than human.