Prince Philip rememered as Queen and Royals face winds of change in Commonwealth after William and Kate’s troublesome tour – Andrew Vine

As the family and the country reflect on the stability and strength Philip brought to the monarchy, and the part he played in its huge popularity with the public, it is painfully apparent this is a moment when its future looks uncertain.

The many decades when the Queen and Philip’s tours and public engagements were symbols of how central the monarchy was to the life of Britain and the Commonwealth now have the aura of a golden age that belongs to the past.

Their 73-year marriage was the bedrock upon which the institution stood, and in the year since Philip’s death there has been a sense that it does not know how to chart a course into the future once the Queen’s reign is over.

Recent weeks and months have raised questions about the relationship between monarchy and people that are only likely to grow harder to answer as this year progresses.

Doubts over the Queen’s attendance at a service remembering her husband is the starkest reminder of her increasing frailty less than a month before her 96th birthday on April 21. A series of cancelled events due to her difficulties in walking indicate that her public appearances are fast becoming a rarity. The walkabouts to meet the public that were such a central feature of her reign for decades are now plainly gone forever.

Nor can her attendance at milestones in the Royal year, including the State Opening of Parliament, Trooping the Colour or her beloved Royal Ascot, be taken for granted any longer. And whether she will be able to appear at events planned for June to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee must be in serious doubt.

But the Queen’s frailties are not the only sign that an era is moving, inevitably, towards its close and what lies beyond is hard to predict. Last week’s tour of the Caribbean by Prince William and Kate must have been a painful reminder of that for the couple.

Despite their enthusiastic reception by crowds, there was a sense of this being a tour that was out of touch with the mood in the countries they visited.

For William to find himself apologising for Britain’s colonial history, and then acknowledging the desire of increasing numbers of countries to become republics and dispense with the sovereign as head of state, must have been painful.

And it was a sign of how respect for the monarchy has waned outside Britain that Jamaica’s Prime Minister felt able to ram his fervent republicanism down William’s throat in public, an unnecessary and calculated act of rudeness that left the prince visibly uncomfortable.

As he and Kate flew home, they might well have reflected that once the Queen has gone, the reception for members of the Royal family wherever they go could be a lot cooler, because so much depends on the personal respect and affection she inspires. If that is the case, the family will have to accept that some of its own bear a share of the blame thanks to their arrogance.

One such is Prince Andrew, who is likely to be at today’s service in Westminster Abbey in a rare public appearance since being effectively dismissed from official duties by the Queen. He has done incalculable damage to the Royal family because of his association with a convicted American child abuser, and will remain an embarrassment to it for the rest of his life.

But a greater threat to the future won’t be at the service. Prince Harry, currently embroiled in a messy legal dispute with the Government over police protection when he visits Britain, appears determined to score points off his family whenever possible.

Later this year, his autobiography is due to be published. It is a safe bet, given the criticisms he has made of his father and brother, that excoriating attacks on the House of Windsor will be at its heart, and they will doubtlessly be amplified in the round of interviews Harry undertakes to promote the book.

That will prompt an upsurge of public sympathy for the Queen, all the more so because of her increasing frailty and the sense that soldiering on alone after losing Philip is an especially heavy burden.

But whatever attacks Harry mounts will damage the Queen’s heirs, making it harder for them to sustain public affection and build on the legacy of her 70 years on the throne. Something more than a long life of service ended with Philip’s passing. As his family and the country remembers him today, it is impossible not to feel a wind of change coming for the Royal family.

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