LyrArc Article Gist
This article in the WSJ remembers Prince Philip for his remarkable service during World War II, coming from a generation that sees the British struggle against Germany in World War II in almost mythological terms. Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth navigated both that period and the transition of the British Empire into free nations in Asia and Africa. The significance of this achievement is understated in America. It can only be fully appreciated in the nations of the British Commonwealth, for no other colonial nation has been able to make that kind of transition, not the Dutch in Indonesia, not the French in Algeria without war.

Another significant achievement of that period was the sense of duty that pervaded Britain not only for this generation in Britain, but the generations that preceded it going back to the conflict with Napoleonic France and the British Navy under Admiral Horatio Nelson. It is forgotten that much of the sense of duty to country and the people, and one's fellow citizens, helped Britain prevail against Napoleonic France in the period around 1800. This shaped Britain and Prince Philip, and is also part of what India and other free nations in Asia and Africa can learn from. It is also what makes Global Britain not just a slogan but a way to bring together a partnership with UK, US, Australia, and India, the largest democracies with a common history.