Beautiful memorial service for Prince Philip

Seeing the family en masse did seem to underline how irrelevant Harry has become in this country. I don#t think many people will have missed him.

Och, and I thought you meant me. ?

Sorry, that was to Dickens.

No reason why republicans shouldn’t watch. Nothing to stop them or Royalists making derogatory comments either.
Thank you for not being part of the republican group that did make such comments.

Strange that the republicans on this thread have obviously watched the service, absorbed every detail and seem very well informed on the subject. ?

Is there any reason why a Republican shouldn't watch?

I watched and I'm a Republican - and for the record, I said nothing uncomplimentary, either. On the contrary, I have a lot of admiration for the Queen.

phantom12

It was a lovely service and nice to see the family together after a long time. Of course Prince Andrew had to be there for his father. I felt it was quite discreet as the attention was on the Queen rather than him. It was better than having him parade down the aisle with the others or having to sneak in a side door by himself. I was glad that Harry and Meghan didn't attend as they would have made it into the Harry and Meghan show.

I was glad that Harry and Meghan didn't attend as they would have made it into the Harry and Meghan show.

The "Harry and Meghan Show" would have been introduced, conducted and entirely choregraphed by the media complete with dozens upon dozens of photo's.

... and then everyone would be saying, 'look, Harry and Meghan have made it all about them'...

Thought the BBC evening news was disrespectful to the Queen as before it’s coverage of the service, it showed Boris coming into the Abbey and commented on Partygate! Unnecessary should have kept the two events separate.

Even republicans have TVs. Republicans like to know what's going on in the world. They like to understand things so they can form opinions about them. Republicans are, indeed, very well informed.

Did I say unlike some others? No, of course not. I wouldn't say something like that. ?

Chestnut
Strange that the republicans on this thread have obviously watched the service, absorbed every detail and seem very well informed on the subject.
Very astute of you to notice. ??

It reminds me of OFSTED though. Only commenting on what they see as wrong and really gritting their teeth to tell us we were Goid, then Outstanding.

volver

Oh no, I can't let that stand...

Tacky? You mean like the trumpeters dressed up like Tudors who play a fanfare before an old lady walks in? You mean like a group of priests/ministers dressed up in their medieval finery? Like the adulation for a family that for some people can do no wrong? Like all the curtseying?

No no. We're the tacky ones.

Strange that the republicans on this thread have obviously watched the service, absorbed every detail and seem very well informed on the subject. ?

I thought it was a very good service, and did remind people of all the good things that Prince Phillip started or was involved with. It was well run and I enjoyed singing all the hymns. Was trying to sort out paperwork that has got behind because I have ben ill so it was a catching up sort of day and it certainly made me feel my age when I was seeing the various people looking much older, but it did show the love and respect that many people felt for him

Well I thought it was a lovely service, I loved the pageantry, the vestments, Prince Andrew escorting the Queen in a dignified low key way and the hymns. I don't think it mattered a jot that P.H wasn't there, lets face it he has become, over time, rather irrelevant to the RF and perhaps to the rest of us. We've all moved on and I'm not sure that people care much about him and his activities any more.

phantom12

It was a lovely service and nice to see the family together after a long time. Of course Prince Andrew had to be there for his father. I felt it was quite discreet as the attention was on the Queen rather than him. It was better than having him parade down the aisle with the others or having to sneak in a side door by himself. I was glad that Harry and Meghan didn't attend as they would have made it into the Harry and Meghan show.

Well said phantom, exactly what we thought.

ReadyMeals

Quite apart from any "message" the Queen may have been intending to send about Andrew, the sheer practicality would have won out for me. He was already with her and was going back with her too. He sees her nearly every day, and probably knows exactly how fast she is comfortable walking, how high or sticking out she likes his elbow to hold, which bits of the walk she might need extra watching for, and when it's safe to let her go the rest of the way on her own. Imagine if he'd handed her off to the Dean or someone else mid-journey - she might have stumbled or tottered during the changeover, the new person might have walked with a different stride or held their arm too high or got in the way of her stick as she adjusted her grip. And not least about drawing extra attention to Andrew's legal problems if we'd seen him in the car with her and suddenly he was whisked off to another part of the church as if he'd not been with her at all.

Also I agree with the people who said it really didn't need bringing up DURING the commentary of the service :rolleyes:

Totally agree ReadyMeals.

His Uncle Edward hasn’t written a book about his family or given an Oprah type interview, and thankfully doesn’t tell the world what the universe says l

He is an aristocratic in America,

The Queen looked dignified, she managed well. Others in green attire made nice sartorial choices. The children appeared to behave, Catherine looked cute. All lovely.

Harry has made a choice as the younger son of an heir to the throne. He knows that the RF have limited time in its present format. He did not want to become like his Uncle Ed, who turns out, every so often, to open stuff & shake hands. Ed is possibly a decent chap.. who knows?
Charles had spoken of slimming down the RF to fewer 'active' people.. so maybe H could see a limited life. Also really think that some RF (& their fans) found his choice of partner , not being a compliant English Rose or tally ho Horse & Hound type, a little hard to accept.
No idea what H does over in Santa Monica but it is a lovely place and I'd prefer to live there than be an aristo in the home counties.
In an ideal world he might have taken on the CEO of a go-ahead charitable organisation and gone to work every day like a real person and made a real difference to people's lives but hey ho....

It was a lovely service and nice to see the family together after a long time. Of course Prince Andrew had to be there for his father. I felt it was quite discreet as the attention was on the Queen rather than him. It was better than having him parade down the aisle with the others or having to sneak in a side door by himself. I was glad that Harry and Meghan didn't attend as they would have made it into the Harry and Meghan show.

If Harry had attended the press would have made it all about him and taken attention away from the real reason for the service. Just remember the headlines at the funeral. Would he talk to William or his dad, would he look at them etc etc. Much nicer for his grandmother and the rest of the family if he stayed away.

Harry didn't need an excuse not to come, he probably didn't want to.

You need to email them about that. I'm sure they hadn't thought of it.

With regard to Harry's security problem, he could have got off the plane, been met by Charles or William or even Kate who would automatically have had police protection with them, he could have got into their nice secure car with them, then gone straight to nice secure Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace or even Clarence House which all have security around them. He then just needed to stay put, protected, till the service, and gone to the service with another royal in another secure car, then reversed his journey home again. There was no reason to have his own security team - unless he had thought to go clubbing or to Burger King while he was over here... Basically he didn't want to come to some boring family do.

It really is a parallel universe, really it is.

There's an excuse for everything.

Quite apart from any "message" the Queen may have been intending to send about Andrew, the sheer practicality would have won out for me. He was already with her and was going back with her too. He sees her nearly every day, and probably knows exactly how fast she is comfortable walking, how high or sticking out she likes his elbow to hold, which bits of the walk she might need extra watching for, and when it's safe to let her go the rest of the way on her own. Imagine if he'd handed her off to the Dean or someone else mid-journey - she might have stumbled or tottered during the changeover, the new person might have walked with a different stride or held their arm too high or got in the way of her stick as she adjusted her grip. And not least about drawing extra attention to Andrew's legal problems if we'd seen him in the car with her and suddenly he was whisked off to another part of the church as if he'd not been with her at all.

Also I agree with the people who said it really didn't need bringing up DURING the commentary of the service :rolleyes:

Oh no, I can't let that stand...

Tacky? You mean like the trumpeters dressed up like Tudors who play a fanfare before an old lady walks in? You mean like a group of priests/ministers dressed up in their medieval finery? Like the adulation for a family that for some people can do no wrong? Like all the curtseying?

No no. We're the tacky ones.