With the hugely popular television series The Crown, along with other series and documentaries making the Royal Family in London seem quite accessible to the average Joe and Joette in the US and around the world, when Prince Phillip died April 9, 2021 it was as if an old friend had passed away.

When he died, all of the pomp and pageantry that was being planned for his 100th birthday celebration on June 10, 2021 had to be repurposed for his funeral on April 17.  Recently I read a synopsis of a newspaper article about Prince Phillip, whom Queen Elizabeth described as “her rock.”  That day in 1952 when Princess Elizabeth’s father died and she became queen, his life changed dramatically as well.  Any aspirations for his own life and career outside his role as the Queen’s husband basically were put on the back burner.  Speaking of that day, Prince Phillip once said, “People used to come up to me and ask me what to do. In 1952, the whole thing changed, very, very considerably.”  His biographer, Basil Boothroyd, pointed out that whereas Prince Phillip had no precedent for how to behave as the Queen’s husband, he forged his own identity as more than just “the second handshake in the receiving line.”

What may be most telling about Prince Phillip was a recollection by his personal secretary Michael Parker. They had served together in the Royal Navy before Parker became his personal secretary in the 1970s.  Parker said, “He told me the first day he offered me my job, that his job- first, second, and last – was never to let her [Elizabeth] down.”1 Let’s think about that for a minute. 

First, when he spoke those words, he spoke not from a position of weakness, but from a position of strength.  He was not a wimp caving in, but a man of strength voluntarily giving up his rights for others.  Second, as noble as that declaration sounds, talk about putting a lot of pressure on oneself.  Prince Phillip could have said, “My job, hopefully, is to never let her down.”  Or he could have said, “If there ever comes a day when I Iet her down, I sure hope I let her down easy.”  But instead of creating an out for himself, as most of us most likely would do, he went on record that his goal was “never to let her down.”  Third, when he spoke those words, he spoke volumes regarding his commitment to the subjugation of his life to Elizabeth, to their marriage, to the Crown, and to their country and the Commonwealth. 

Reflecting upon Prince Phillip’s selflessness, I could not help thinking of a passage of scripture found in the Bible in Philippians 2:3-11.  There the Bible says, “Do nothing from selfishness and empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”  That is the Bible’s way of saying that selfless living should be the norm for a believer’s life.  And should we need motivation for doing so, the passage continues, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who although He existed in the form of God, did not equate equality with a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Now that’s selflessness!  As noble as Prince Phillip’s was, it pales in comparison to the selflessness of Jesus Christ.  In fact, to me He sounds like a person you would never, ever want to let down.  


1Houston Chronicle, 4/11/21, p.A1