Yea, well at least I’m not an actual despicable human being like Philip and his family.
So we hear.
From you.
But why would you consider Philip despicable? I mean, the human being? He was born into two royal houses. He opened his eyes and there he was.
Given that starting point, how has he done?
He was certainly a PR officer's nightmare (but that's a big part of what I liked about him, though I was not a great fan).
But he did what was on his plate — and he did it until he was in his mid-90s, only cutting back a few years ago.
He was pretty exemplary about his duties.
If you hate the notion of monarchy, be my guest. But why dump on people who are quite adventitiously placed in a role you happen to despise?
An earlier poster pointed out that many of the countries that are clearly among the 'advanced' do maintain monarchies at no cost to their status as democracies.
The idea of separating the head of state from the head of government has advantages that any wakeful American should see in the wake of the Trump administration.
(Of course, this can be done constitutionally, while leaving both posts answerable to the people — a kind of presidential/prime ministerial combination that we see in a lot of countries.)
But the fact is that many of the countries that retain a monarchy don't seem to be the horror shows you envision.
And a man happens to have recently died who, through simple fate, performed, pretty faithfully, over nearly seven decades, the duties that a royal role demanded.
No matter how you feel about the Royalty, Philip's death is hardly the moment to have your little shit, with all due regard for bowel regularity.