Posted by:
Nightingale
(
)
Date: April 09, 2021 04:14PM
Tyson Dunn Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "Philip had an itinerant childhood, educated
> variously in the UK, France, and Germany."
>
> Makes him sound homeless rather than privileged
> beyond measure.
>
> Tyson
I get your point. He was born into European royalty:
Wiki:
"Prince Philip ... of Greece and Denmark was born in Mon Repos on the Greek island of Corfu on 10 June 1921, the only son and fifth and final child of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg. A member of the House of Glücksburg, the ruling house of Denmark, he was a prince of both Greece and Denmark by virtue of his patrilineal descent from George I of Greece and Christian IX of Denmark, and he was from birth in the line of succession to both thrones.
"... his mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia and placed in an asylum, and his father took up residence in Monte Carlo. Philip had little contact with his mother for the remainder of his childhood."
I believe these details of his childhood (a mother who was schizophrenic and a father who was "a gambler" - a pursuit not well thought of at that time) are what people are referring to when they say he had a rough start or words to that effect.
The following also casts light on a difficult period in his family life:
"The war [WWI] went badly for Greece, and the Turks made large gains. Philip's uncle and high commander of the Greek expeditionary force, King Constantine I, was blamed for the defeat and was forced to abdicate on 27 September 1922. The new military government arrested Prince Andrew, along with others. The commanding officer of the army, General Georgios Hatzianestis, and five senior politicians, were arrested, tried, and executed in the Trial of the Six. Prince Andrew's life was also believed to be in danger, and Princess Alice was under surveillance. Finally in December, a revolutionary court banished Prince Andrew from Greece, for life.[8] The British naval vessel HMS Calypso evacuated Prince Andrew's family, with Philip carried to safety in a cot made from a fruit box. Philip's family went to France, where they settled in the Paris suburb of Saint-Cloud in a house lent to them by his wealthy aunt, Princess George of Greece and Denmark."
So Philip ends up in circles where he comes into contact with the British Royal Family and ends up marrying the monarch-in-waiting. Yeah, vastly privileged life overall. But not one he would necessarily have chosen, except for his abiding love for Princess Elizabeth, who became Queen and he had to tag along.
He managed to make his life experience into an ongoing legacy though through his many charities and initiatives. He made something good out of his role, iow.
Would that we could all say the same. It's about all we can ask for and hopefully achieve.