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blackswaneuroparedux · 4 years

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Music is so good for the soul, and during these hard times we must all help each other to find moments of joy.

- Dame Vera Lynn (1917-2020)

Dame Vera Lynn, the beloved British singer, died 103 years old on 18 June 2020. Surprise at her death is swiftly replaced by the sad realisation that it marks the end of a chapter in British history. Many of those who grew up with her music have died during the Covid-19 pandemic. How poignant that her death should come on the day that President Macron arrived in the UK to mark the 80th anniversary of General De Gaulle’s rallying cry to the Free French and to give the Légion d’Honneur to London, the city that weathered the blitz in 1940.

From the battlefields of France, the Netherlands, Italy and North Africa to the Far East, whenever soldiers gathered around a radio set or gramophone, the smooth vocal tones of Vera Lynn were sure to be heard.

It is impossible to gauge whether the outcome of the war was swayed by songs like ‘There'll Always Be an England’, ‘We'll Meet Again’, ‘(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover"‘ and ‘A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square’.

But for countless men in uniform, the lyrics and the slim, wholesome young blonde woman who sang them seemed to offer a vision of what they were fighting for.

To modern ears, the words might sound corny but at a time when Britain stood proudly against the Germans, their patriotic appeal was irresistible.

Vera Lynn epitomised an archetypical, essentially decent Britishness, practical and fair-minded - notions which shone through the songs she sang.

Even her version of the German soldiers' favourite song, ‘Lili Marlene,’ managed to sound like a patriotic lament, a far cry from the darker sexual undercurrents implicit in the versions by Marlene Dietrich and Lale Andersen - ironically both of them anti-Nazis who became the German forces' sweethearts.

Vera Lynn's most famous song remains We'll Meet Again, recorded in 1939.

Lynn’s wartime popularity was boosted because of the song. The song’s appeal to love and stoicism - "Keep smiling through/Just like you always do/ Till the blue skies/Drive the black clouds far away" -- made it the perfect war-time anthem. It proved powerfully uplifting for departing soldiers, and it has endured as the defining song of the British campaign. The song re-entered the UK charts at No 55 amid the 75th anniversary celebrations of VE Day.

As she wrote later in her 1975 memoir, Vocal Refrain: “Ordinary English people don’t, on the whole, find it easy to expose their feelings even to those closest to them.” We’ll Meet Again would go “at least a little way towards doing it for them”.

In later years, the song, with its reminders of home and exhortations of courage, has become an indispensable part of national commemorations. And, with its swooping and strangely haunting melody, it has entered into popular culture. It forms an ironic accompaniment to the explosion of atom bombs in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964); it is deployed with alienating effect in the Pink Floyd song Vera (The Wall, 1982); and it provides the eerie aural backdrop to the Tower of Terror ride in Walt Disney World, California.

But when Lynn began singing it at the age of 22, she had little idea that she would be singing it for the rest of her life.

Indeed the song found favour again this year when Queen Elizabeth II, in a rare public address to the nation, urged Britons to remain strong during the coronavirus lockdown.

"We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again," the monarch said.

Vera Lynn was born in London's East End on March 20, 1917 as Vera Margaret Welch.

She began singing in local clubs at age seven and joined a child dance troupe, Madame Harris' Kracker Cabaret Kids, at 11. By 15, she was a teenage sensation as a vocalist with the Howard Baker Orchestra.

She adopted her grandmother's maiden name Lynn as her stage name, making her first radio broadcast in 1935 with the Joe Loss Orchestra.

She worked with another of the great names of the pre-war period, Ambrose, whose clarinettist and tenor sax player, Harry Lewis, she was to marry. The couple had one child, a daughter.

In war-time, Vera Lynn came into her own, hosting a BBC radio programme, "Sincerely Yours", appearing in a forces stage revue, and making three films.

So what did Vera Lynn have that propelled her to stardom during the war, when she became the “forces’ sweetheart”? Youth primarily. She was in her early 20s when war broke out – Elsie Carlisle, the iconic singer at this time, was in her 40s and recorded very little during the war, while Gracie Fields, who was astonishingly popular in the 1930s, had the temerity to marry an Italian and sat most of the war out in North America.

The country was aching for a new female singing star and Vera Lynn – youthful, toothily wholesome rather than glamorous, and with an innate modesty that suited an austere and dangerous age that had no time for displays of ego – fitted the bill. She had a powerful, bell-like voice – at times she almost recites the words and employs oodles of vibrato to underscore the emotion of her songs – that was perfect for a singalong. It is when the audience joins in with her songs that you get a lump in the throat.

She came to represent so much, especially to the service personnel she entertained tirelessly during the second world war. She visited Burma, Egypt and India to give concerts for troops stationed there, an act of courage that should not be underestimated. These were difficult, dangerous journeys and not for nothing was she later awarded the Burma Star. She symbolised resilience and indefatigability, embodying a strength of character that transcended mere art. Nazism had no chance against this winsome, optimistic, joyful yet tender young woman.

Lynn gave up singing after the war but was persuaded out of retirement in 1947 and began a whole new international career, with appearances in the United States in 1948.

She became the first British artiste to have a US number one with "Auf Wiedersehen, Sweetheart", her most successful record, in 1952. However Vera Lynn's career foundered in the rock and roll era and she cut back on public appearances.

Artistically, it must have been infuriating to be forever associated with the wartime struggle and she did attempt to move on, recording a few Beatles numbers in the 1960s and even making a country disc in 1977. But nothing could shift the way she was seen by the public: a symbol, quintessentially British, of that unimaginably long, bleak, ultimately triumphant wartime struggle; an icon frozen in time.

She accepted her status as a living museum of wartime music and culture with customary good grace. “I never thought the ‘forces’ sweetheart’ tag would stay with me,” she told the Radio Times in 2014, “but it has, hasn’t it? I thought it would last for the war period, then I’d just be another singer. Of course I’ve never minded that everybody always connects me with that time. It was so important.”

For decades, she was a beloved figure at celebrations to mark the anniversaries of the June 6, 1944, D-Day landings in France or VE Day, the end of the war in Europe on May 8, 1945.

Her last public performance came in 2005, at the 60th anniversary celebrations for VE Day in Trafalgar Square. She performed a snatch of We’ll Meet Again, and told the crowd: “These boys gave their lives and some came home badly injured and for some families life would never be the same. We should always remember, we should never forget and we should teach the children to remember.”

She was awarded an OBE in 1969, and made a dame in 1975, for her charity work. She has given her name to her own breast cancer and child cerebral palsy charities, and has also worked with charities for military servicepeople, including Forces Literary Organisation Worldwide (Flow)

In 2009, at the age of 92, she became the oldest living artist to make it to No 1 on the British album charts, with a greatest hits compilation outselling the Arctic Monkeys.

During the build-up to her 100th birthday in 2017, Dame Vera said she found it "humbling" that people still enjoyed her songs.

The Queen wrote to her: "You cheered and uplifted us all in the war and after the war, and I am sure that this evening the blue birds of Dover will be flying over to wish you a happy anniversary."

Her songs spoke to people caught up in war, trying to respond to its emotional extremes as best they could. They encapsulate fellowship and battling through, not jingoism, for all the flag-waving that accompanied her appearances at commemorative events. “We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when.” The lyrics could not be more banal, yet her genuine spirit invested them with deep humanity. As HM Queen Elizabeth II herself understood, what keeps us going in times of war and pandemic is the thought that we will be reunited with our loved ones, when the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away.

RIP Dame Vera Lynn

We’ll meet again....

#vera lynn #quote #life and death #second world war #music #singer #britain #femme #icon #history #forces sweetheart

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newstfionline · 4 years

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Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Global defense spending, led by US and China, hits new high (Stars & Stripes) The U.S. and China led the growth in global defense spending, which hit a new high in 2020 despite the economic stress brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, a report said Thursday. In its annual report on military power, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said total military expenditures added up to $1.83 trillion in 2020, a 3.9% increase over the previous year. “This came despite the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent contraction in global economic output,” the London-based think tank said in a statement. The United States remained the top spender, accounting for 40.3% of global spending. But China and other Asian powers concerned about Beijing’s rise also spent more, albeit at a somewhat slower pace than in 2019 because of the pandemic, IISS said in its “Military Balance” report. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute pegged Chinese defense spending at $261 billion in 2019.

Almost a fifth of ALL US dollars were created this year (City A.M./UK) About 20 per cent of all US dollars were created this year. The Federal Reserve has printed unprecedented amounts of money to support the coronavirus-stricken economy. It has sparked debates about inflation and helped asset prices soar. Data from the Fed shows that a broad measure of the stock of dollars, known as M2, rose from $15.34 trillion (£11.87 trillion) at the start of the year to $18.72 trillion in September. The increase of $3.38 trillion equates to 18 per cent of the total supply of dollars. It means almost one in five dollars was created in 2020. The huge growth in the stock of dollars reflects the massive interventions in the economy by the Fed, which is in control of the US’s money supply. Although it is often described as printing money, the Fed in practice creates digital dollars to buy up government bonds and other securities in the secondary market. The policy, known as quantitative easing (QE), aims to flood the markets with cash to keep borrowing cheap. Banks also create money when they lend. Most money in the economy is created this way. Only about $2 trillion are in circulation as physical currency.

Countries call on drug companies to share vaccine know-how (AP) In an industrial neighborhood on the outskirts of Bangladesh’s largest city lies a factory with gleaming new equipment imported from Germany, its immaculate hallways lined with hermetically sealed rooms. It is operating at just a quarter of its capacity. It is one of three factories that The Associated Press found on three continents whose owners say they could start producing hundreds of millions of COVID-19 vaccines on short notice if only they had the blueprints and technical know-how. But that knowledge belongs to the large pharmaceutical companies who produce the first three vaccines authorized by countries including Britain, the European Union and the U.S.—Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca. The factories are all still awaiting responses. Across Africa and Southeast Asia, governments and aid groups, as well as the WHO, are calling on pharmaceutical companies to share their patent information more broadly to meet a yawning global shortfall in a pandemic that already has claimed nearly 2.5 million lives. Pharmaceutical companies that took taxpayer money from the U.S. or Europe to develop inoculations at unprecedented speed say they are negotiating contracts and exclusive licensing deals with producers on a case-by-case basis because they need to protect their intellectual property and ensure safety. Critics say this piecemeal approach is just too slow at a time of urgent need to stop the virus before it mutates into even deadlier forms.

As School Closures Near First Anniversary, a Diverse Parent Movement Demands Action (NYT) Aquené Tyler, a mother and hair stylist in North Philadelphia, has been disappointed in her neighborhood’s public schools for many years. There were too few books and computers. Even before the pandemic, some schools were shuttered for asbestos removal. Now, her 9-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter have been learning online for nearly a year, even as masked children gather boisterously at local private schools. Ms. Tyler’s children are lonely, and Mya, who is in eighth grade, seems depressed and overwhelmed by her class work. She has begun seeing a counselor remotely. So Ms. Tyler is planning a radical change: moving her family to Florida, where the Republican-controlled state government has mandated that all districts provide in-person learning five days per week. A niece there is attending traditional public school in Sarasota, complete with sports, arts and music. A year into the pandemic, less than half of students nationwide are attending public schools that offer traditional, full-time schedules. Now many parents are beginning to rebel, frustrated with the pace of reopening and determined to take matters into their own hands. Some are making contingency plans to relocate, home-school or retreat to private education if their children’s routines continue to be disrupted this fall—a real possibility. Other parents are filing lawsuits, agitating at public meetings, creating political action committees, or running for school board seats.

Prince Philip moved to specialized London heart hospital (AP) Prince Philip was transferred Monday to a specialized London heart hospital to undergo testing and observation for a pre-existing heart condition as he continues to be treated for an unspecified infection, Buckingham Palace said. The 99-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth II was moved from King Edward VII’s Hospital, where he has been treated since Feb. 17, to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, which specializes in cardiac care. The palace says Philip “remains comfortable and is responding to treatment but is expected to remain in hospital until at least the end of the week.” Philip married the then-Princess Elizabeth in 1947 and is the longest-serving royal consort in British history. He and the queen have four children, eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

France’s Sarkozy convicted of corruption, sentenced to jail (AP) A Paris court on Monday found French former President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of corruption and influence peddling and sentenced him to one year in prison and a two-year suspended sentence. The 66-year-old politician, who was president from 2007 to 2012, was convicted for having tried to illegally obtain information from a senior magistrate in 2014 about a legal action in which he was involved. The court said Sarkozy is entitled to request to be detained at home with an electronic bracelet. This is the first time in France’s modern history that a former president has been convicted of corruption.

China Appears to Warn India: Push Too Hard and the Lights Could Go Out (NYT) Early last summer, Chinese and Indian troops clashed in a surprise border battle in the remote Galwan Valley, bashing each other to death with rocks and clubs. Four months later and more than 1,500 miles away in Mumbai, India, trains shut down and the stock market closed as the power went out in a city of 20 million people. Hospitals had to switch to emergency generators to keep ventilators running amid a coronavirus outbreak that was among India’s worst. Now, a new study lends weight to the idea that those two events may well have been connected—as part of a broad Chinese cybercampaign against India’s power grid, timed to send a message that if India pressed its claims too hard, the lights could go out across the country. The study shows that as the standoff continued in the Himalayas, taking at least two dozen lives, Chinese malware was flowing into the control systems that manage electric supply across India, along with a high-voltage transmission substation and a coal-fired power plant. The discovery raises the question about whether an outage that struck on Oct. 13 in Mumbai, one of the country’s busiest business hubs, was meant as a message from Beijing about what might happen if India pushed its border claims too vigorously.

Rogue ATMs (Nikkei Asia) Fully 2,956 ATMs out of 5,395 machines operated by Mizuho Bank in Japan have gone rogue, with the machines unable to dispense cash and devouring cards. The bug is related to an issue that popped up when the bank was updating its data, and 55 percent of Mizuho’s branches have been forced to shut down.

Pope’s risky trip to Iraq defies sceptics (Reuters) Rockets have hit Iraqi cities and COVID-19 has flared, yet, barring last-minute changes, Pope Francis will embark on a whirlwind four-day trip starting on Friday to show solidarity with the country’s devastated Christian community. Keen to get on the road again after the pandemic put paid to several planned trips, he convinced some perplexed Vatican aides that it is worth the risk and that, in any case, his mind was made up, three Vatican sources said. The March 5-8 trip will be Francis’ first outside Italy since November 2019, when he visited Thailand and Japan. Four trips planned for 2020 were cancelled because of COVID-19. “He really feels that need to reach out to people on their home ground,” said a Vatican prelate who is familiar with Iraq and who spoke on condition of anonymity. “The pope knows where he is going. He is deliberately coming to an area marked by war and violence to bring a message of peace,” Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil told reporters on a recent conference call.

Iran insists U.S. lift sanctions first to revive nuclear deal talks (Reuters) Iran said on Monday the United States should lift sanctions first if it wants to hold talks with Tehran to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that former President Donald Trump abandoned. President Joe Biden has said Washington is ready for talks about both nations resuming compliance with the pact, under which Tehran secured an easing of sanctions by limiting its nuclear work. But each side wants the other to move first. The West fears Iran wants to build nuclear weapons, while Tehran says that has never been its goal.

Netanyahu accuses Iran of attacking Israeli-owned cargo ship (AP) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday accused Iran of attacking an Israeli-owned ship in the Gulf of Oman last week, a mysterious explosion that further spiked security concerns in the region. Without offering any evidence to his claim, Netanyahu told Israeli public broadcaster Kan that “it was indeed an act by Iran, that’s clear.” “Iran is the greatest enemy of Israel, I am determined to halt it. We are hitting it in the entire region,” Netanyahu said. The blast struck the Israeli-owned MV Helios Ray, a Bahamian-flagged roll-on, roll-off vehicle cargo ship, as it was sailing out of the Middle East on its way to Singapore on Friday. The crew was unharmed, but the vessel sustained two holes on its port side and two on its starboard side just above the waterline, according to American defense officials. It remains unclear what caused Friday’s blast on the Helios Ray. Iran responded to Netanyahu’s statement saying it “strongly rejected” the claim that it was behind the attack. In a press briefing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said Netanyahu was “suffering from an obsession with Iran” and described his charges as “fear-mongering.”

Thousands flee rebel violence in Central African Republic (AP) Monique Moukidje fled her home in Central African Republic’s town of Bangassou in January when rebels attacked with heavy weapons, the fighting killing more than a dozen people. “I ran away because the bullets have no eyes,” the 34-year-old said sitting in the shade while waiting for water purification tablets, a tarp, and other supplies to help her in Mbangui-Ngoro, a village where she and hundreds of other displaced people are sheltering. She is among an estimated 240,000 people displaced in the country since mid-December, according to U.N. relief workers, when rebels calling themselves the Coalition of Patriots for Change launched attacks, first to disrupt the Dec. 27 elections and then to destabilize the newly-elected government of President Faustin Archange Touadera. The rebels’ fighting has enveloped the country and caused a humanitarian crisis in the already unstable nation. Hundreds of thousands of people are also left without basic food or health care, and with the main roads between Central African Republic and Cameroon closed for almost two months, prices have skyrocketed leaving families unable to afford food.

Nigerian governor says 279 kidnapped schoolgirls are freed (AP) Hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls abducted last week from a boarding school in the northwestern Zamfara state have been released, the state’s governor said Tuesday. Zamfara state governor Bello Matawalle announced that 279 girls have been freed. The government last week said 317 had been kidnapped. Gunmen abducted the girls from the Government Girls Junior Secondary School in Jangebe town on Friday, in the latest in a series of mass kidnappings of students in the West African nation.

#headlines #news

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newssplashy · 6 years

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Tech: Prince Philip turns 97 on Sunday — here's the best photo from every year of his royal career

Prince Philip turns 97 on Sunday, more than a year after retiring from public life. These are the best photos from every year of his royal career.

Prince Philip turns 97 on Sunday — and it's been over a year since he announced his official retirement from public service.

According to The Telegraph, the Duke of Edinburgh has carried out 22,219 solo engagements and 637 solo visits overseas since he left active military service in 1952.

In retirement, the Duke is reportedly enjoying more leisure time at the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk — he is an avid carriage driver and enjoys oil painting.

His Royal Highness' career will be remembered equally for his sharp wit as he will be for his gaffes, which have often left the nation laughing or reeling.

The Prince's prolonged service has won him support from both sides of Parliament — Jeremy Corbyn applauded his "clear sense of public duty" and Theresa May praised his "steadfast support" to the Queen.

Philip's lengthy career, marked by hundreds of visits to far-flung corners of the British Empire, has unsurprisingly produced some remarkable royal photography.

As he turns 97, here are the best images from each of his years as Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh:

1947: Prince Philip began his journey as a British Royal when he married into the country's royal family after a five-month engagement to his distant cousin, Elizabeth. He was 26.

1948: The couple had their first child, Prince Charles, in 1948. In this picture, he sleeps in the arms of his mother, then Princess Elizabeth, after his Christening at Buckingham Palace.

1949: Philip spent many of his younger years in the Royal Navy meaning family time was precious. He spent much of 1949 stationed in Malta as the first lieutenant of the destroyer HMS Checkers, the lead ship of the 1st Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean Fleet.

1950: Two years after the birth of Prince Charles, Elizabeth and Philip gave birth to their second child, Princess Anne.

1951: The family's first home was Clarence House, located just a stone's throw away from Buckingham Palace in central London. The family can be seen playing in its gardens in this photo.

1952: Despite his active naval career ending in 1951, he was promoted to commander of the Royal Navy in 1952.

Source: The British Monarchy

1953: During the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, Philip bowed to his while while more than 27 million people in Britain watched on television.

Source: Royal.uk

1954: This photo shows the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh during an official visit to HAMS Australia, flagship of the Australian Navy. The Royal couple went aboard during their visit to Cairns, Queensland.

1955: Throughout his career, he has been involved with more than 780 organisations and been a loyal supporter of his wife, attending events around the world with her for more than 60 years.

1956: In 1956, the royal founded the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme. The scheme is still running 61 years later and aims to instill within young people a "sense of responsibility to themselves and their communities," by encouraging them to take part in charity work and outdoor activities.

1957: It wasn't until 1957 that Philip was formerly made a British prince. That same year, he completed a round the world tour aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia. Here he is feeding penguins during a visit to the Antarctic.

1958: Here, Prince Philip is handing a pen back to Levi Milley after signing an autograph. Milley was one of 12 men who survived nearly a week trapped in a mine in SpringHill, Nova Scotia in 1958.

1959: Philip and Elizabeth's children grew up meeting some of the world's most powerful leaders. President Eisenhower visited Balmoral Castle in 1959, where he was photographed patting Princess Anne on the shoulder as her father looked on proudly.

1960: Prince Andrew, the couple's third child, was born in 1960. In this photo, he laughs as he holds hands with his father, Prince Philip, and his sister, Princess Anne, during their summer holiday at Balmoral Castle.

1961: The royal couple made their first visit to the Taj Mahal in India in January 1961. He also became UK President of the World Wildlife Fund the same year.

1962: The Royals have been a regular fixture at Ascot, one of the biggest events in Britain's horse racing calendar.

1963: In 1963, the couple went on a three-month tour of Fiji, Australia, and New Zealand.

1964: People often don't realize that the royal is also a qualified pilot, having racked up nearly 6,000 flying hours over the past five decades. He's also the patron of the Guild of Air Pilots.

1965: Philip attended the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill, along with fellow British royals and dignitaries from overseas.

1966: The Queen and her husband visited St. Lucia in 1966. This was also the year he famously proclaimed "British women can't cook."

Source: The Telegraph

1967: The following year, he made an equally dubious gaffe. When asked whether he would like to visit the Soviet Union, he replied: "I would like to go to Russia very much, although the bastards murdered half my family." This is a reference to his German heritage.

1968: Britain celebrated the 50th anniversary of the formation of the RA Fin style. Here, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip ride past a number of Bloodhound missiles on display during their visit to the Royal Air Force Base at Abington, England.

1969: Prince Philip joined a patient's group therapy session when he visited the National Addiction and Research Institute in Chelsea, London. The prince spent 20 minutes with the patients discussing their problems.

1970: Queen Elizabeth II read her speech in the House of Lords alongside her husband for the State Opening of Parliament in 1970.

1971: The late Sir Roger Moore met the Duke of Edinburgh at an auction dinner in aid of the Variety Club of Great Britain, at the Savoy Hotel in 1971.

1972: In 1972, Philip and Elizabeth travelled to France and took part in remembrance services.

1973: Prince Philip talked to his wife before the new Sydney Opera House complex. Left is Frank Barnes., General Manager of the Opera House and right is Sir Roden Cutler, Governor of New South Wales.

1974: He received a traditional Maori welcome when he arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand, to open the 10th Commonwealth Games. In this ancient Maori challenge, the feather is thrown at the feet of the Duke, with the chant, "do you come as friend or foe," by picking up the feather the Duke was accepted and welcomed.

1975: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip are greeted by Emperor Hirohito of Japan at the entrance of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on May 7, 1975.

1976: The royal couple laughed as the young girl stood next to them was reluctant to hand over a bouquet of flowers during their royal visit to Luxembourg.

1977: This photo captures Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth waving at a low-flying Concorde as it passed the Royal Yacht Britannia near Barbados. The iconic passenger jet could fly faster than the speed of sound but made its last flight in 2003 due to soaring costs.

1978: Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were followed by their sons Prince Andrew, left, and Prince Edward, as they entered the stadium before the start of the 11th Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Canada.

1979: This family photo was taken in the ground of Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Elizabeth and Philip were joined by their sons (l-r) Prince Andrew, Prince Charles, and Prince Edward.

1980: The Royals made a historic visit to meet Pope John Paul II in the Vatican in October 1980. It was the first state visit to the Vatican by a British monarch.

1981: Philip's first son, Prince Charles, married Lady Diana Spencer in 1981. An estimated 750 million people watched the ceremony worldwide. Below is the official wedding portrait. Philip can be seen standing next to Diana.

1982: The Queen looked surprised after her husband, Prince Philip, pointed that they should be going another way as they drove through the crowd of athletes and officials during the Closing Ceremony of the 12th Commonwealth Games. The crowd forced them to make another lap around the stadium.

1983: The couple has met every sitting US president — bar Lyndon B. Johnson — since Elizabeth ascended to the throne. Here they're pictured with former President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan in San Francisco.

1984: The Royal family, along with Lord Spencer, attended Prince Harry's Christening in December 1984.

1985: The Queen, Prince Philip, the Prince of Wales, the Princess of Wales, the Princess Royal, Princes William and Harry, and the Earl of Wessex at the Trooping the Colour.

1986: The couple paid a state visit to China, making the Queen the first British monarch to ever do so.

1987: Philip held a news conference in Washington D.C. in May 1987, to announce a World Wildlife Fund Campaign to end illegal wildlife trade. The global organisation has also named an award after him — The Duke of Edinburgh Conservation Award — which recognizes "highly meritorious contributions to the conservation of wildlife and natural resources."

1988: Prince Philip was greeted by children of the British School in Holland. He was visiting the Netherlands for the celebration of the 300th Anniversary of the Glorious Revolution, when Prince William III of Holland ousted King James II from the English family.

1989: Philip was greeted by a worshipper at St. Mary's Cathedral in Kuala Lumpur after he stepped in for the queen who was unable to attend the service because of a chill. In the background is a plaque in honour of the royal couple.

1990: The prince had the honour of delivering the Rafael M. Salas Lecture at the United Nations' headquarters in New York. Named in honour of Mrs. Salas' — pictured below— late husband, Rafael was the first head of the United Nations Population Fund.

1991: President George H. Bush escorted Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip on the field at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, before the Orioles played the Oakland A's. This was the first baseball game the monarch had ever watched.

1992: Here, Prince Philip emerges from the channel tunnel near Calais, France, after becoming the first member of the royal family to use the rail line connecting England and France — one year before it welcomed its first fare-paying passenger.

1993: The Duke of Edinburgh chats with Diana, Princess of Wales, at a banquet he is hosting in honour of the Queen, at the Dorchester Hotel, London.

1994: This was the first ever visit to Israel by a member of the royal family. Philip flew to the country to participate in a ceremony honouring his mother for saving Greek Jews during WWII. In this photo, Prince Philip jokes with British veterans.

1995: Queen Elizabeth II looks up toward the sky as Prince Philip, left, and Prince Charles look on during memorial services to mark the 50th anniversary of VJ Day in London on August 19.

1996: Prince Philip caused outrage across the country on December 18, particularly in Dublin, the scene of that year's primary school massacre, when he suggested that cricket bats were potentially just as dangerous as guns.

1997: Philip and his wife, Queen Elizabeth II, walk through a sea of flowers left by the public outside Buckingham Palace in memory of Princess Diana, who was killed in a car crash in Paris in August that year.

1998: Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip greet Tony Blair and his wife Cherie at Buckingham Palace in London on the second day of the Asia-Europe meeting. The three days of meetings were dominated by discussions on how the Asian economic crisis was being handled.

1999: The Queen and her husband were welcomed to Ghana by the sound of drums and reggae music, where they met the 13 regional chiefs and eight Queen Mothers of Ghana.

2000: Prince Philip bids farewell to Former President Nelson Mandela. Prince Philip and Prince Edward went to see young offenders enrolled in rehabilitation programs in South Africa.

2001: Jordan's Queen Rania smiled with Prince Philip during arrival ceremonies in Windsor. The King and Queen of Jordan were on an official State Visit to England at the time.

2002: A year of glorious highs and sad lows — The Queen celebrated her Golden Jubilee, it was also the year the Queen Mother passed away.

2003: Then-US President George W. Bush visited Britain with his wife Barbara in 2003. The couple can be seen walking with the royals along the west terrace of Buckingham Palace.

2004: A memorial fountain dedicated to the late Princess Diana was unveiled in Hyde Park, London. The House of Windsor buried the hatchet with the aristocratic family of Diana earlier that week, almost seven years after her brother savaged the royals in his funeral eulogy.

2005: A National Service of Remembrance was held for the Victims of the London Bombings at St. Paul's Cathedral in central London. The service, where candles were lit to represent the four sites in London bombed on July 7, was also attended by Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair.

2006: Prince Philip visited the Queen's Royal Hussars in Basra. He told the troops that most people in Britain had "a great deal of sympathy for those of you at the sharp end who are trying to do your best to make life civilized and tolerable for the locals."

2007: Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth celebrated their diamond (60th) wedding anniversary. They marked the occasion with a special thanksgiving service held at Westminster Abbey.

2008: Prince Philip and France's then-first lady Carla Bruni laughed as they stood with Queen Elizabeth and French President Nicolas Sarkozy during a review of the Guard of Honour at Windsor Castle in Windsor.

2009: Prince Philip speaks to well-wishers during his visit with Queen Elizabeth to Newcastle, northern England.

2010: Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip attended the ninth inauguration of the General Synod at Westminster Abbey, with the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.

2011: Prince Philip has spent his life supporting veterans and the armed forces. Here, he talks with soldiers and their relatives of the 2 Close Support Battalion RE ME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) after the Operation Herrick Medal Parade at the Saint Barbara's Barracks in undefined, Lower Saxony. Some 150 soldiers were awarded for their deployment in Afghanistan.

2012: This brilliant photo captures Philip, Elizabeth, and Charles laughing as they watch the Braemer Gathering in Scotland as competitors participated in a sack race.

2013: Prince Philip was presented with New Zealand's highest honour, the Order of New Zealand, by his wife, Elizabeth, at Buckingham Palace in London. He also celebrated his 92nd birthday that year.

2014: The couple laughed after bidding farewell to the President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins and his wife Sabina at Windsor Castle. The Irish President and his wife Sabina left Windsor at the end of a four day State Visit to Britain, during which they stayed at the castle as guests of her majesty.

2015: Philip played a vital role in saving Britain's engineering sector in the 1970s by creating a national engineering academy. He told the BBC in 2015 that after WWII, Britain was "completely skint — it seemed to me that the only way we were going to recover was through engineering."

Source: BBC

2016: The Duke of Edinburgh Award celebrated its 60 anniversary in 2016 — arguably the most successful venture of any current royal. The Queen also celebrated her 90th birthday in style with the Patron's Lunch street party, pictured below.

Source: The Telegraph

2017: After 65 years of public service, the prince retired from public life. Public appearances had become increasingly rare — but here he attends the annual garden party at the Palace of Hilarity's in Edinburgh.

2018: Though officially retired, Prince Philip has made appearances at a number of events in the past year. His grandson Prince Harry's wedding, for instance, was not something he was likely to miss.

Charles Clark contributed to an earlier version of this story.

source https://www.newssplashy.com/2018/06/tech-prince-philip-turns-97-on-sunday_8.html

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