Philip’s legacy – Friendship, Fidelity, Fitness, Fun and Faith

[ …]  Key to the House of Windsor’s success is the Christian idea of the servant king working to release the creative good inherent in us all. The Reverend Ian Bradley often preached at Crathie Kirk, Balmoral. The Duke took notes during the sermon and disconcerted Bradley by discussing it over lunch. Philip’s faith was backed by an intellectual rigour rare among believers. His library contains 11,000 books, many on theology. Years before it became fashionable he developed a link between divine creation and man’s responsibility for it. According to Bradley it was Philip who encouraged the Queen to talk more openly of her faith in her Christmas broadcasts from 2000 onwards.

Christianity, conservation and conservatism need demonstration. Urging ‘them’ to do something is never going to work. Do it yourself. Show how it can be done. 5BX may temporarily defeat us but to exercise the values Philip demonstrated lies well within our compass. Commentators argue we shall not see his like again. However Philip was by no means the last knight errant, but the latest in a long line of soldier-scholars, Arthurian figures who by their modesty pass largely unremarked. May this serve as his memorial.

‘I will lie down and sleep in peace . . . ’

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