A tribute to Prince Philip and his fascinating lineage

The death of his Highness, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was announced this afternoon in a statement from Buckingham palace. His passing marks the crumbling of an era which he lived through; almost washing waves of anemoia over one. Being alive in a time in which the traditions of the establishment and the crown are largely considered outdated seems to have distanced some, one included, from viewing the royal family with a sense of splendour and admiration. The patriotism felt while discussing the royal family one imagines was felt at a time in the past seems to have diminished greatly; the monarchy is increasingly a subject of controversy, surrounded by mystery, allegations, scandals, and still, relative mystery.

Prince Philip was always an intriguing figure, his past then shrouded in mystery; a prince of both Denmark and Greece, and his sisters having Nazi connections- his youngest sister Sophie even named her eldest son, Karl Adolf, after Hitler. His mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 1930, and was forcefully sent to Ludwig Binswanger's sanatorium in Switzerland. During her long convalescence, she and her husband, Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, drifted apart. They next met in 1937, when their daughter Cecile, son-in-law, and two grandchildren were killed in an air accident at Ostend; reuniting at her funeral. Prince Philip wouldn't reunite with his mother until 1967, at which point she lived the last of her days out in Buckingham Palace.

This wasn't all the family drama; as a baby, the Duke of Edinburgh escaped the anti-monarchists hunting his father in Greece, and the then infant prince was placed inside an orange crate and smuggled off of the island of Corfu onboard the British warship HMS Calypso. After fleeing Greece, his father abandoned his own family, and spent the rest of his days with various mistresses in the south of France. During this time, his mother was being treated for her schizophrenia, at one point, by Sigmund Freud. Prince Philip during much of this time attended Gordonstoun school in rural Scotland; a thoroughly challenging experience for him, and later sent his son, Prince Charles to the same school, despite Queen Elizabeth's objections. Season 2 of The Crown goes into particular detail about both Prince Philip's and Prince Charles' experiences at Gordonstoun. The Crown also addresses Prince Philip's alleged connections with Stephen Ward in the Profumo Affair of 1963; labelled the "mystery man".

His wife, Queen Elizabeth and himself, are third cousins, and are both great-great grandchildren of Queen Victoria. In order to marry Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip had to abandon his Greek and Danish royal titles, and adopt the surname Mountbatten, from his mother's family, therefore becoming a naturalised British subject. That was a rather taxing sacrifice to make, along with the one he didn't quite foresee, since the royal house would remain known as the House of Windsor, and he privately stated, "I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his own children".

Prince Philip was the longest serving consort to a British monarch remaining by Queen Elizabeth's side for over 73 years, and serving as her consort for around 69 years. He seemed a distant figure, like much of the royal family, despite carrying out 22,191 solo engagements throughout the years, making him the 5th most busy royal. He spent a month in King Edward VII's hospital on the 16th of February, and was said to be in good spirits upon leaving on the 16th of March; he was recovering from cardiac surgery, however, his passing doesn't seem completely untoward; he himself stated that he was getting close to his "sell-by date", before stepping down from his duties in 2017, aged 96.

His passing seems slightly monumental; the death of a senior member of the royalty only brings more questions to mind about the "defected" royals. The Queen is entering an eight-day mourning period as his funeral is arranged, and one can't help feeling compassion towards her, since her companion has departed. Prince Philip's death has brought on an air of sadness and reminiscence, even for some of those who aren't as attached to the Royal Family. His death almost defines the end of the Mountbatten epoch within the limelight of the Royal Family.