It is a privilege to join with colleagues across the House today in paying tribute to His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh on behalf of my constituents in Canterbury. First and foremost, he will be greatly missed by his family, but it is clear from the many tributes that he will also be greatly missed by the British people as the nation’s grandfather.
Prince Philip was an independent spirit—many of us here in this House may be able to relate to that a little—who used his position to stand up for causes he believed so passionately in. From as early as the 1950s and into the 1960s, when he became president of the World Wildlife Fund, he promoted environmental causes such as air pollution at a time when it was far from fashionable to do so. In 1970, in a speech to the Australian Conservation Foundation, he said:
“The conservation of nature, the proper care for the human environment and a general concern for the long-term future of the whole of our planet are absolutely vital if future generations are to have a chance to enjoy their existence on this Earth.”
Those words resonate strongly today. Some have reported that he believed strongly that it should not be politicised, but in raising our awareness of the natural world around us, the plight of endangered species and the greenhouse effect, he got so many of us to sit up and take seriously the future of the planet when, as Sir David Attenborough put it:
“The majority of people were quite unaware that we were heading for ecological disasters.”
Of course, we must also pay tribute to his work for young people. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme, which he launched in 1956, has given many thousands of young people from all backgrounds, including my own children, the opportunity to develop essential skills for life and work and to make lifelong memories.
Prince Philip had a long-standing relationship with Kent, and in particular with our wonderful Canterbury cathedral. Of course, anyone passing through the west door to the cathedral now passes under a statue of the Duke of Edinburgh standing next to the Queen, which was unveiled in 2015, and yesterday the Archbishop of Canterbury led a service and paid tribute to him there. Prince Philip led a remarkable life, from his service in the Royal Navy during the second world war, fighting against fascism, to his seven decades of public service through his marriage to our Queen. His legacy will live on, including his championing of environmental causes and his being a very early adopter of the idea of electric vehicles.
I will end with the words yesterday of Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, reminding us of the very personal bereavement of Prince Philip’s family:
“We all know that it is not simply a factor of age or familiarity. It is not obliterated by the reality of a very long life remarkably led, nor is the predictability of death’s arrival a softening of the blow. Loss is loss.”
All our thoughts and prayers are with the family as they come to terms with their enormous loss.
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