This is a seriously sad situation, for younger members of the forum like myself this is the first time we've had to experience a major royal passing away. I was too young to remember the Queen Mother or Princess Margaret. It's very surreal.
Nicola Sturgeon has posted her condolences on Twitter.
Some of the replies on her Tweet are not making for good reading, it's made me embarrassed to be Scottish.
I wonder how they'd react if it was
their grandad, great-grandad or father.
I never understand why Politicians allow comments on posts such as this. It never ever invites constructive comments.
That said, I also don't understand why people expect nothing but sympathy when a high-profile person passes away, especially one such as Prince Philip who made a lot of derogatory comments about various nations, including Scotland! It is not a great surprise that some Scots would air their opinions, just like they did when Thatcher died. In this day and age, it is very obviously clear that absolutely no one is immune from criticism, and people will dig and dig to find photos, quotes, or anything really which paints the deceased in a bad light and that will always attract attention. Let's be honest, controversy followed him for many years due to the comments he made on numerous occasions. Being a Royal means he never got a telling off from anyone, but upset would have been caused, and does that mean absolutely everyone is saddened today? No. Do I agree with people making such comments online? No. Do I understand why it happens? Absolutely. Can it be stopped? Nope.
I personally don't feel any sadness, just like I didn't when Diana (far too young, but remember it well), The Queen Mother, or Margaret passed away. The Windsors can mourn in their own way and will do, but national outpourings of grief, winding down the government, canceling election campaigns, changing TV schedules, changing website colors, floods of script reading well-wishers all over the media, and all the other OTT stuff we will see for days or weeks just doesn't sit right with me. Life has to go on. It's as if you MUST mourn the death of a 99-year-old man you didn't know and for a lot of people that doesn't sit right. I feel for the immediate family as death is difficult, but that's it, I feel no more for them than any other who lost an elderly relative and I've lost almost all of mine, so am well used to this feeling.