Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Prince Philip’s ‘Remarkable Willingness’ to Take Life as it Came

The Duke of Edinburgh, whose death at age 99 on Easter Friday led to an outpouring of grief across the world, would have disapproved of too much spiritualizing of the world he found as well as of himself, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said at a Sunday service of remembrance and thanksgiving for the departed patriarch of Britain’s royal family.

The giant screens of Piccadilly Circus paying respect to His Royal Highness Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh as the announcement of his death. London - 10th April 2021
The giant screens of Piccadilly Circus paid respect to His Royal Highness Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh on the announcement of his death April 10, 2021. (photo by Travers Lewis, Shutterstock.com)
 

Even though Prince Philip was a man of deep-seated faith, he would have been “the first to harrumph strongly” at the idea of “over-spiritualization,” Welby, the head of the Church of England as well as the world’s 85-million Anglican communion, said April 11 at Canterbury Cathedral.

Welby was referring to a well-known form of intellectualizing whereby many people, including members of the clergy, place a greater spiritual significance on a situation than they should.

“The reality of our life in this world is of old and new together—of strengths and weaknesses,” Welby said, adding: “We should not become hyper-spiritual or idealistic.”

Even Christ’s disciples, the Archbishop explained, had to see His resurrection to believe in it.

“For the Royal Family, as for every other, no words can reach into the depth of sorrow that goes with bereavement,” Welby continued. “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.”

He added: “Loss is loss. For each person it is felt individually and reaches into the heart variously.”

Still, Christ and the figures of the resurrection offer hope to Christians, “for it is God who creates, God who calls, and God who sends,” Welby said.

Prince Philip, the Archbishop said, demonstrated “a remarkable willingness to take the hand he was dealt in life, and straightforwardly to follow its call, to search its meaning, to go out and on as sent, to inquire and think, to trust and to pray.”

“Many things have been said about Prince Philip in the past few days, but one thing above others may be worth dwelling on as the Christian community in this land—that the country that Philip served so faithfully was his adopted home,” Welby said, referring to the prince’s Greek and Danish ancestry. (He renounced his right to the Greek and Danish thrones and became a British citizen in 1947.)

“I wonder whether he could serve and become part of an adopted home, because his life was also formed by the gospel of Jesus Christ, who, when he stood among his disciples on that first Easter Day, and when in reaching out to Thomas reached out to each one of us, was forming a new household and a new humanity where the old boundaries and divisions no longer count.”

Although death brings “deep loss and profound sorrow,” it also fosters trust in eternal life, Welby said. “Our lives are not completed before death, but their eternity is prepared. So we can indeed pray that the Duke of Edinburgh may rest in peace and rise in glory. We may pray for comfort. We may pray and offer love for all those who find that a great life leaves a very great gap—for the Royal Family and the millions who have themselves suffered loss.”

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