Don"t get me wrong, I am no monarchist, no royalist and believe prince and princess belong into fairy tales. But the passing of Prince Phillip did touch me. Indeed, with him dies the world of values which are the hallmarks of civilization: Loyalty, commitment, integrity, the "No Fuss" approach to life and obligations. He indeed was the man who stood by his wife all the way and he cared for others as good as for the preservation of the world's fauna and flora. He was indeed more the modern emancipated man than the breed of men I see everywhere in the streets, offices and governments. In fact, there I see mostly rotten self-absorbed and disgusting males who believe they need not to control their urges and are above everyone and everything with no interest in anything but themselves. Sorry, but not the best suited, the finest smelling, the buffed up male, nor the pretend hippy and pseudo-intellectual cuts it. They are what they show off with, empty suits, odors of perpetrators, hollow images of strength, freedom and progress.
Prince Phillip represented the civilized world. His passing sheds light on to the new era, which was brooding all the way and all along already for a long time, but one could still believe that it was not all that bad, decency still existed, honor still had a place, duty was still part of morale. Nobody needs to be a prince, a leader, a public figure to actually have a sound character, but when you have none of such people fulfilling public roles, you know, how devastating the reality is. And look around, civilization has fallen apart, democracy is in its last breath, morality has all but disappeared. The world never was a paradise, history shows life was never better in times past because, just let's face it, good characters were always sparse, but with the world population exploding, the crude and brutal, corrupt and indeed criminal characters have grown with it and actually taken over control. Sure the decent man exists, but he is hard to find. And now there is one less, it is a sad event.