THE bosses at the BBC must be relieved that, unlike their more commercial competitors, its day-to-day income does not rely on advertising revenue streams tied to their audience viewing figures.
Negative audience reaction to the wall-to-wall coverage of the not entirely unanticipated death of a 99-year-old man has come as a surprise to those coteries of courtiers whose life’s work is to fawn upon the House of Windsor and trumpet every anniversary, every birth, every engagement and of course, every death as if it is of momentous importance to the entire nation.
As it pulled its entire schedule on all its domestic channels BBC2 television took a spectacular 60 per cent hit on its viewing figures.
Senior royals are coming together to ensure the monarch is accompanied by family on future engagements
Those who will be seen at her side are Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
Sources stressed that the Queen, who says Prince Philip s death on Friday has left a huge void in her life, will fulfil as many commitments as possible once the two weeks of official mourning ends on April 22
GYLES BRANDRETH: My introduction to the Queen was disconcerting, to say the least. This is Gyles Brandreth, said Prince Philip cheerily. Apparently, he s writing about you.
PRINCE PHILIP, DUKE of EDINBURGH: 10 June 1921 - 9 April, 2021
No member of the royal family has visited Australia as often as Prince Philip. Over 71 years, from his first visit to Sydney in 1940 to his last in 2011, he seemed to enjoy his encounters – with his throwaway lines and sharp asides – and Australians, for their part, seemed to appreciate that irreverent directness.
Prince Philip over the years.
His first visit was to Sydney in 1940, when he was a 19-year-old junior officer with HMS Ramillies. He proved a popular party guest. But he was never pretentious. When Sydney man-about-town, Marcel Dekyvere, was introduced by a friend to this young British sailor – “Meet Philip of Greece” he snapped back, “Yes, and I’m Louis of France.” In 1942, he returned, a golden-bearded sub-lieutenant with the destroyer HMS Wallace.