End of an era?

Whatever my views about the monarchy, the death of Prince Philip today, a couple of months short of his 100th birthday, is quite sad. He has been part of the background of British lives since 1947 when he married the Queen (whom he had known since 1939). 

I often saw him in Cambridge, where he was Chancellor of the University, and when he came to open the new library at the college where I was working, I had to meet him and talk to him about the new online catalogue. It was an entertaining exchange but my chief memory is that even at 77 he was the handsomest man I had ever met, — but a very, very tough cookie with it.

1998. Flirting with the Queen's husband... (the other man is JH Prynne, a poet and my boss)