An amazingly long life
His Royal Highness, The
Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh who died today we mostly know from his
public service and also as the Queen’s consort of 73 years. That much about his
public service would be duly covered by many tributes, recollections, and
obituaries that would fill every medium of the dissemination of news,
information, and trivia. [Wikipedia:Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh]
A man who died just 2
months short of his 100th birthday leaves one sad at his not
reaching that landmark, but 99 is an extraordinary innings, it is not a competition
to attain but many things including blessing, provenance, and luck leaves us
celebrating an extraordinary life.
Of support and
companionship
To the Queen who has
lost a husband, partner, companion, and mainstay of 73 years, there will be a
great void created by the absence of someone with whom she first had letters
from the age of 13, some 81 years ago, to her must be accorded the deepest and
heartfelt sympathies. What an exemplary marriage, an example of companionship
demonstrated in love, in accommodation, in endurance, in patience, and in
tolerance.
Through the good
times and the bad times, they supported each other their private arrangements
giving life and light to their public engagements, their working together like
a symphony, in rhythm, in movement, and enthralling music. It must be the kind
of relationship anyone would long for; when partners first meet when they take
their vows and each day make a fairy tale of their imperfections given the
allowance to reach the best kind of perfect, they could muster for each other.
No mourning but
celebration
To the children, the
part of my Yoruba identity lauds them, even in their sorrow, to have been
predeceased by a parent that lived for a ripe old age brings congratulations
for surviving that parent. For such there is no mourning but joy, there is no
black apparel or attire, just blue, we revere a long life in a world where much
is quite uncertain, it cannot be ignored.
As Prince Philip is
given the kind of no-fuss send-off that he desired, much as we the people would
want to thank him, I find the most profound Christian message of the resurrection
in the notice posted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, “May His Royal Highness
rest in peace and rise in glory.” Amen. [Archbishop of Canterbury: On the death of
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