ObituaryPrince Philip, Duke of EdinburghPledge of a lifetimePrince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, died on April 9th, aged 99His huge, red hands were what you noticed first.On his wrist the plain watch with its brown leather strap, and the copper bracelet he wore to ease the rheumatism that so plagued his later years.Moulded by his genes and by life, those hands, big as lion paws, in turn moulded those around him: his wife, their children, her subjects.Had Philip been the soft-skinned English aristocrat that the king and queen would have preferred for their elder daughter, Elizabeth,it would have been different. But he was an outsider.By the age of 26, when he married his second cousin once removed, he had lost virtually all his early roots.His father was dead; his mother, having suffered a mental breakdown, had withdrawn into a religious order.She wore a grey habit to the end of her life.Three of his four sisters married Nazis; none was welcome at the royal wedding in Westminster Abbey just after the end of the war.By then, Philip had also lost his birthright, his home, his name, nationality and church.Even his birthday―fixed first in the Julian calendar and then in the Gregorian―was no longer the same.
讣告菲利普亲王，爱丁堡公爵一生的誓言菲利普亲王，女王伊丽莎白二世的丈夫，于4月9日去世，享年99岁首先让人注意到的是他那双红彤彤的大手。他的手腕上戴着一块棕色皮带的普通手表，还有一只铜手镯，以缓解让他晚年饱受折磨的风湿病。这双被基因定型、被生活打磨过的手，像狮爪般硕大，这双手反过来又塑造了周围的人：他的妻子，孩子，以及女王的臣民。如果菲利普亲王符合国王和王后为大女儿伊丽莎白选定的择偶标准――一个养尊处优的英国贵族青年，那么情况可能会有所不同。但他是个局外人。26岁时，当他迎娶自己的远房表妹时，他几乎是失去了早期的所有血脉。他的父亲去世了；母亲因精神崩溃而皈依宗教团体。一生都以一件灰色衣服示人，直至终老。四个姐妹中有三个嫁给了纳粹；因此，战争刚刚结束，在威斯敏斯特大教堂举行的皇室婚礼上，没有一位姐妹受邀前来参加。这场婚姻，也让菲利普已经失去了与生俱来的王位继承权，他的家族，他的姓名，国籍以及宗教信仰。甚至他的生日也从最初的罗马儒略历日期改为了公里。
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