Prince Philip: respect and restraint required after duke’s death

“Inevitably he will be remembered for the gaffes,” BBC TV told me on Friday. I interviewed the Duke of Edinburgh for the BBC over 20 years ago for a documentary presented by George Monbiot. The duke (whom we were talking to as president of the WWF) was informal and funny, and his intelligence shone through; he had a manifest love of nature and a terrifically detailed grasp of his environmental brief. The gaffes are a tired trope, endlessly headlined by our alternately sycophantic and feral media. Yes, the duke was impatient with the constraints he was permanently under, and yes, he occasional showed archaic attitudes. But at this time, it would be nice to acknowledge his positive qualities.
Martin Buckley
Farringdon, Hampshire

• I and many of your readers, I’m sure, would like to complain about the 13 pages on Prince Philip in Saturday’s Guardian (10 April). I would be interested to know what percentage of your readers read any of it. After all, by Saturday morning we all knew everything we wanted to know about him, and more, due to almost a full day’s blanket coverage on radio and TV. I expected better than a repeat performance across your pages.
Carl Gardner
London

• Thank you for your measured coverage of Prince Philip, the best of which was Martin Rowson’s account (‘Murdoch rag’: Martin Rowson recalls Prince Philip’s verdict on the Times, 10 April), and his cartoon, which must have cheered up many Guardian readers. TV coverage from the BBC made me think I might actually be living in a dictatorship.
Margaret Vandecasteele
Wick, Caithness

• In 1977, a friend and I were on our way to Gogarth, an Anglesey sea cliff renowned for its rock climbing. Unfortunately, that day the Queen and Prince Philip were embarking on the royal yacht Britannia from Holyhead, and the crowds thwarted us. Undeterred, we climbed along the sea wall – a rock face in miniature – until we were under the royal party. Philip looked over the wall and asked us, in a friendly way, what we were doing. We explained that the royals had scuppered our plans. “Sorry,” he said. No doubt he would say the same about the ridiculous BBC overreaction to his passing.
Pete Bibby
Sheffield

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