My Papa, Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh

The world mourns the death of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh on Friday 9 April 2021, at Windsor Castle, at the age of 99 years,just two months before his 100th birthday. He was discharged from Barts Hospital,London on 16 March 2021,where he received treatment for a heart condition.  

Prince Philip, the Consort of H.M. Queen Elizabeth II, was  like the Queen, the great great grandchild of Queen Victoria.

The life of the Duke of Edinburgh was always marked by his sense of duty to Queen, Country and The Commonwealth. He completed over 22,000 royal engagements visiting almost all of the Commonwealth,before his retirement in 2017.

When someone said: “I am sorry to hear Your Royal Highness is standing down,” he is said to have replied:” We can’t stand up much longer”. 

The Duke was always remembered for speaking his mind,never a dull moment when he was around. The dry wit of the Duke is well known. 

His humour surrounded him wherever he went. He is reported to have said:” One thing children go to school,is because parents don’t want them in the house”. 

His humour was part of his character

Prince Philip will be remembered not only as the longest serving Consort, but perhaps, for his much publicised gaffs which endeared him to some,but if interpreted wrongly was capable of causing well meaning offence to some others. His lighthearted remarks of people,places and things are part of his character. 

On a visit to The Solomon Islands in 1982,when told that their population growth was 5% a year, he is supposed to have retorted: “You must be out of your minds.”

“Do you still throw spears at each other” Prince Philip shocked the aboriginal leader,William Brin of the Aborigina Cultural Park in Queensland,Australia in 2002. 

“You have mosquitoes, I have the Press” he is supposed to have said to the Matron to a hospital he visited in the Caribbean in 1966.

On being told by President Obama that he had breakfast with the leaders of the UK, China and Russia, the Duke of Edinburgh asked: “Can you tell the difference between them?”

The Duke is reported to have commented in 2000:“People think there is a rigid class system here, but do you know that Dukes have even been known to marry chorus girls. Some have even married Americans”.  He has always been fearless but diplomatic in his pronouncements.

“Tolerance is the one and essential ingredient…….. You can take it from me that the Queen has the quality of tolerance in abundance.” This was the advice given by the Duke of Edinburgh for a successful marriage at a meeting in 1997.

His Human side of his character

He always understood human frailties when people are introduced to Her Majesty The Queen, and did not know how to courtesy, bow or shake hands, if offered. It was always Prince Philip who would help them to ease their anxiety and calm them with his mannerisms. 

He was well known also to have a human side of his character. He didn’t want Her Majesty’s subjects to stand on ceremony, privilege and power.

To many around Britain and in the Commonwealth, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was the bridge between the role of the monarch and her people. He used humour as a tool of diplomacy. He was a tower of strength in times of trouble and always stood behind The Queen.

The most human side of his dashing and charismatic personality during his younger years was his visit to the Antarctic,  on the Queen’s yacht,The Britannia, his love of adventure, in flying various aircraft. He founded in 1956 The Duke of Edinburgh Award, maintained an interest in WildLife Conservation, scientific research and the Armed Forces.   

Who will miss him most?

Prince Charles has said much about his dear Papa. “My dear Papa was a very special person,” said Prince Charles yesterday.

Besides, the whole royal  family has become united in mourning his loss. The young Princes, William and Harry, the Duke of Edinburgh’s grandsons are among the 30 invited inner circle to attend the final rites at St.George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle on the 17 April, 2021 to pay their final respects. Prime Minister,Boris Johnson, has given way for an additional member of the Royal Family to attend the funeral. 

There will only be a Ceremonial Funeral and not a State funeral due to the pandemic. 

We may well see the royal scene less colourful in the years ahead with a tighter knit royal family and perhaps, a lengthy mourning period.

Victor Cherubim                                                                                    

Holidays on our mind

 With Easter round the corner and overseas holidays banned for Brits currently, there is a lot of sympathy for the travel industry,let alone families wanting to plan ahead. 

The next target on the road to lifting lockdown is 12 April 2021 when  the government of Boris Johnson are to review when foreign travel can resume. The Prime Minister had previously said that by 17 May, foreign holidays could restart as the earliest possible date. 

But days ago, senior government officials have warned that foreign holidays are very

unlikely to be allowed until August. 

A glimmer of hope is that a third vaccine could be the answer as stated by the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, as more evidence is being gathered at Porton Down

as how vaccines work against the variants, the South African and Brazilian variants.There are already plans afoot to have a booster jab by late summer like the old flu jab.

Another plan is to introduce a traffic light system that allows travel to “green list” destinations which have low infection rates but at the same time have good vaccination rates. However, holidays to the Continent are looking very unlikely particularly to Europe which is going through a third wave of Coronavirus.

Reports circulating suggest that the government could allow shorter quarantine periods with greater testing for those countries classed as less dangerous. Presently anyone returning to Britain from overseas must quarantine for ten days and in the case of 35 “red list” countries,in a government ordered hotel.

What about staycation?

Britain has taken two more huge leaps towards the end of lockdown with 30 million Brits having their first vaccine and families and friends finally allowed to meet outside again. 

Families are now, as of 28 March 2021 allowed to enjoy the beach or countryside. Under the new Covid 19 rules which have eased,families can meet in groups of six outdoors and outdoor sports are to reopen as the “stay at home” message over the winter has now come to an end.

People are now able without restrictions as to how far they can travel in England to meet with family or friends. But they should not stay anywhere overnight away from home and social distancing must still be followed. 

The message has strangely come to coincide with the Easter break, as now  the “outdoor is much safer than the indoor”,fresh air is now what matters especially with the year’s first warm sunnier weather forecast . All the same,the word is for everyone to act responsibly and cautiously and minimise travel where these restrictions have been relaxed.

Choosing a staycation holiday this year

Staycation over a holiday abroad is this year a real option. It has many advantages. Not only can you leave your passport at home and forget about foreign Covid restrictions overseas, you can usually drive or get the train to your destination, which means no stressful airport security or luggage limits and you can bring back mementos without any hassle. 

A UK staycation this year in particular,is more than a practical convenience. There are 15 national parks that abound with natural beauty,flourishing wildlife and an endless opportunity to indulge in mouth watering seasonal produce ,homegrown wine and local delicacies. 

For the specialist holiday maker, I list the following resorts, with breathtaking countryside, market towns,honey coloured fishing villages,seaside destinations which may have never been explored before, and COVID-19 has opened up. I was shocked a 7 day holiday in Pembrokeshire costs a measly £371.

My Choice of  TOP 8

1 West Voe. Shetlands, Scotland. 

2  Observatory Gully. Ben Nevis, Scottish Highlands. 

3 Elegug Stacks. Pembrokeshire, Wales.

4 High Force. Durham, England

5 Langamull Beach. Isle of Mull, Scotland 

6  Norfolk Lavender Fields. Norfolk, England

7 Mealt Falls. Skye, Scotland.

8. Bidean nam Bian. Scotland.

When one thinks of a holiday, it has always been Spain or Greece or Italy for cost saving. But strange as it seems there is much on offer at very competitive booking rates this year in the UK. 

Victor Cherubim 

Why are people vaccine shy?

 The end of COVID-19 could be closer than we think, or is it? With Astrazeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna vaccines now being distributed to parts of the world’s

population,there is good reason to believe that a return to relative normality is imminent sooner rather than later.

Of course, it would be a different type of normality that we return to in a year’s time.

Health, Work and Economic policies implemented to safeguard jobs and livelihoods during 2021 will no doubt affect the way people view the foreseeable future.

Many people in the UK have been offered the vaccine but have turned it down. We hear little about them. What then is the reason for the reticence? While the media trumpets that over 58 percent of the Brits have been vaccinated, there seems to be unease of those who are vaccine shy? 

According to the data from Oxford University “Open Safely analysis just 4 % of the white population in the over 70’s age bracket are unvaccinated,compared to some say, as much as 37 % of the Black and Ethnic minority population.

What are some of the reasons for this situation? 

The question of stopping infection and or transmission, the vaccine is not the “ be all and end all”. At the same time no vaccine can ever reach 100% take up. But as Spring blows into Summer and one year of the pandemic decimating large numbers of the population not only in UK and in Europe and around the globe, it is now high time that we need to be frank of the scale of the take up of the vaccine, among the black and Asian minority population. 

The most recent launch by Sir Lenny Henry to address this problem of hesitancy by black and ethnic minorities as well as others is in the news. As far as numbers are concerned 26 % of Black Caribbean, 22% of Chinese Brits and say 19% of Bangladeshi’s over the age of 70 have still to be vaccinated, according to Oxford University data, whereas only 4% of White British are in this category. 

Without taking this data out of context, we need to verify the real reason. 

We all know that there are pros and cons for any argument and vaccines are no exception. The expressed or unexpressed reluctance of taking the vaccine by some Black and Ethnic Minority (BAME) groups is due to the complicated history of medicine and race. Some suggest that non white people have been disproportionately affected by the virus deaths. People are on the edge because they don’t necessarily think that the pandemic has been handled particularly well for BAME people. This has naturally given rise to some being suspicious or concerned. Others state that people  are not feeling very trustworthy towards State led institutions as they have been used as guinea pigs. Besides, Black and Ethnic men and women have disproportionately died due to their Body Mass Index and existing medical condition. Further, ethnic minorities have not volunteered for clinical trials of the vaccines as whites, so they have not been properly assessed. 

For a lot of BAME there is mistrust in the effectiveness of the vaccine and trust in the vaccine correlates to their trust in the State and their long term detriments. 

We see viral hesitancy also among white population of Europe for the EU to keep arguing against efficacy and the issue of “blood clots” due to Astrazeneca vaccine deployment. 

It is quite natural that it is not Blacks and Ethnic minorities but Whites in Europe in particular who are made to be skeptical about certain vaccines by their regulatory bodies. All this is at the forefront of people’s consciousness,especially if they happen  to be old and have had past experiences of ill health.

Thus there are many factors besides race or perception why people are distrusting of the vaccine,”more than just trusting the process”.

Vaccines are here to stay and there is no doubt about that. Soon we may have research for vaccines for various mutants and at various seasons. COVID-19 has surprised one and all irrespective of race, colour or creed and may likely do so once again.

Victor Cherubim