On 9 April 2021, Buckingham Palace announced that Prince Philip had died aged 99.
There hasn’t been a major royal death in many years and the Royal Family are currently facing plenty of criticism in the media. As a result, there was a wide range of reactions, even celebrations, of the death, particularly on social media. Many have argued that some reactions were disrespectful in the light of the death of a royal consort. Are these reactions justified?
Thousands of bouquets were laid outside Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace this week to honour the Duke’s passing, which isn’t unusual for a royal death. However, reactions on social media sharply contrast this. There was a wave of mockery of the Duke across social media, particularly on TikTok and Twitter. His frail appearance in the years prior to his death was repeatedly used as a punchline and his attitudes and views were mimicked and turned into memes.
https://twitter.com/mollyfthes/status/1380478528760770563?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1380478528760770563%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Fquery%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2Fmollyfthes2Fstatus2F1380478528760770563widget%3DTweet
The unusual reactions were likely due to the Duke of Edinburgh’s controversial image. For most of his marriage, he has been criticised as an outsider, who holds “politically incorrect” opinions. This has only been exacerbated in recent years, due to his negative depiction in Netflix’s The Crown and racist allegations of the Royal Family in the interview of Harry and Meghan by Oprah. Furthermore, the Duke of Edinburgh has been linked with colonialism, being scrutinised by the media for his treatment of local people on royal tours. The Royal Family as a whole has been under fire at the moment and figures like Prince Philip or Prince Charles have often taken the brunt of the criticism.
This last year has been particularly hard for everyone and many people have sadly lost loved ones. Many people are grieving and find it hard to witness so much remembrance and disruption to everyday life in the honour of one man when there have been over 120,000 deaths due to Covid-19 alone – deaths that seem to get forgotten. This grief combined with the current unpopularity of the Royal Family has led to these insensitive reactions. People are sad, fed up and frustrated and it is an easy way to get it all out.
As well as this, young people tend to dominate social media, and generally they don’t view Prince Philip as significantly as older generations. They typically favour figures like the Queen and Diana, the late Princess of Wales, or younger members of royalty such as Prince Harry. The Duke of Edinburgh held little importance to them and his death was not necessarily a surprise due to his age. In the last years of his life, the Duke had regular stays in hospital. As a result, many had been expecting his death for some time. He was already the face of many memes – and the ones following his death were just an extension of this, finding humour over someone they didn’t know and held no connection to.
However, were these reactions justified? I don’t think it is justified to be celebrating a death. In spite of his controversies, the Duke did serve the country as the world’s longest-serving royal consort, supporting many charities and creating programs such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award. Above all else, he was a part of someone’s family; a family who have to mourn their loss publicly with the world watching them, at a time when they are at their most vulnerable. That being said – I can, however, understand how people were led to react and feel the way they did. I don’t condone these reactions but I think given the circumstances, you can understand why they reacted somewhat insensitively.
Personally, I’m rather indifferent towards the Royal Family. I think there are many issues with the institution and apart from a few, slightly more problematic members, I don’t hold a grudge against them as a whole; I think they are a defining part of British culture. However, I find Prince Philip’s death sad – not only in the loss itself, but for his family. Their public loss of the paternal figure symbolises the loss that so many other families are facing in these difficult times, and hopefully can be used to unite families over their collective grief. In the midst of this pandemic, many are hurting or angry – so although their reactions may be a little unfair, they are not necessarily unwarranted.
Ella Gilbert
Featured image courtesy of Michael Garnett via Flickr. Image license can be found here. No changes were made to this image.