As soon as I saw the report of Philip's death, I knew certain facets of our community would go bonkers. Our obituary threads always start out in the music section, and then the moderators move the non-music obituaries to the "BS" section when it's appropriate. I realize that there will be a number of negative comments about him, but I hope they won't smother the opportunity to discuss him intelligently.

I'm one of those people who tends to think that nobody can be all bad, which makes me anathema on the Internet to start off with. But hear me out. It seems to me that the Royal Family has been largely irrelevant to UK government since World War II. Can anybody tell me anything the Royal Family has done since then, that has had any effect whatsoever on the politics of the UK? But hey, they remain great tourist attractions. They cost a lot of money and live an extravagant lifestyle, but where would Great Britain be without all that royal stuff? I'm rather cynical about royalty compared to many Americans, But even I thought it was cool when I went to the Highland Games at Braemar and saw Philip and Elizabeth and Charles and what's-her-name. Heck, besides seeing the back of the head of Rosalie Carter (wife of Jimmy), they're the only famous people I have ever seen in my life without having to pay for concert tickets.

So, I don't care a whit for the Royal Family, but they're a nice tourist attraction and they give the tabloids a lot to talk about. That sells tabloid newspapers and stimulates the economy, so why not? It's also good for fanzines here in the US, so all the better.

So, Prince Philip was a person who was born, lived, and died. He did some good stuff, and some not-so-good stuff. But he seemed like a real person, not larger-than-life like many of the Royals. He certainly wasn't infallible, and made no effort to pretend to infallibility. So, maybe that's a good thing. He was the most Ordinary of Royal Persons. That seems to be a very good thing.

-Joe-