The photo was included in an email to staff.
King’s College London has apologised after sending an email bulletin which included a photo of Prince Philip, after staff complained about the duke’s history of controversial comments.
The university had sent out an email accompanied by a photo of Prince Philip opening the Maughan Library with the Queen in 2002. The email read: “As the nation marks the death of HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, we thought you might like to see this photo of the Duke at the official opening of the Maughan Library in 2002, which some colleagues will remember.”
However, the Independent reports that the email was not met with a positive reaction from staff, with the uni’s Anti-Racism Community of Practice complaining about the picture.
In response to a number of complaints, the associate director at King’s College libraries, Joleen Clarke, issued an apology for “causing the harm” to staff members.
A statement apologising for the email read: “The picture was included as a historical reference point following his death. The inclusion of the picture was not intended to commemorate him.
“Through feedback and subsequent conversations, we have come to realise the harm that this caused members of our community, because of his history of racist and sexist comments. We are sorry to have caused this harm.”
As is the case in the world nowadays, even the apology has been met with criticism, with people accusing the university of giving in to so-called “cancel culture.”
Many of the Duke of Edinburgh’s remarks have received criticism over the years, even before his death in March.
On a visit to China in 1986, he told British students “if you stay here much longer you’ll all be slitty-eyed,” and in the same year said: “If it has four legs and is not a chair, has wings and is not an airplane, or swims and is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it.” So it’s easy to see where the ideas of Philip not being a particularly liberal man come from.
And the sexism accusations? Well they may stem from comments such as “I don’t think a prostitute is more moral than a wife, but they are doing the same thing.”
Can’t be sure though.
