UK NEWS: RIP Prince Phillip

[dewline]

To those of you who take note of such things and sorrow over them, the first news I heard on CBC Radio One news this morning after logging onto the Net is that of the death of Prince Phillip at age 99.

Comments

[cmcmck]

As a republican I don't, but I do see another WW2 vet gone.

[dewline]

Yes, for that alone, he earned the respect of many.

[thewayne]

First thing I saw when I started reading news this morning. Oldest and longest monarch spouse.

[ffutures]

Bit hard to miss in the UK for some reason...

I never met him though of course he's been around all my life. Ditto all of the other royals, the nearest I've ever come is working with a teacher who taught Princess Di when she was at school. I'm not a huge monarchist - they're not really relevant to my life or interests, to be honest - but I have nothing against them.

So far the effects include non-stop TV documentaries about his life, an email from the Waitrose supermarket chain saying he'll be missed (they are a "by appointment to the royal family" seller, but why that means they need to spam all of their customers who have a store card is beyond me), and all of the advertising screens at bus stops showing an "RIP Prince Phillip" message. I'd imagine that there will be very little else in the papers for the next few days.

Cynically, one of my friends is wondering what the government plans to slip by while the public attention is elsewhere, and what (if anything) it will do to the local government elections next month. Hopefully he's just being pessimistic.