Barring last minute accidents, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, will become Britain’s longest serving Royal consort on Sunday.

Prince Philp joking with TV reporter Romilly Weeks

The previous title holder was Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III, who managed 57 years 70 days while leaving little legacy or collective memory in the annals of the nation.

Prince Philip will be very different. While not aspiring to Prince Albert’s almost equal status with Queen Victoria, Philip has supported Queen Elizabeth loyally for more than 60 years, first as Princess, then as Monarch.

Where Albert’s energy for big projects, like the Great Exhibition of 1851, was unlimited, Philip has contented himself with diplomatic, low key endeavours, like the immensely successful World Wildlife Fund, originally set up with Peter Scott in the 1950s, and the perennial Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme for energetic youngsters.

Perhaps his one discordant note to the world of politics has been his absolute refusal to follow codes of so-called political correctness. This has led to a reputation for “gaffes” — a kind of humour for grownups — which has resulted in apologies to tourists, Scots, Indians, the deaf, the unemployed, Canadians, Tom Jones, British women and Cantonese cooks.* The sheer variety of the list indicates how widely-based his humour is, and largely without rancour.

My bet is that Prince Philip will not only be the longest serving consort, but also one of the most memorable in all British history.

* List thanks to Gill Hornby.

There is a powerful school of thought that the Monarchy is best when it’s boring.

Prince William and Prince Harry

I would prefer to say, it has a duty to be boring to the extent that boring doesn’t trip over the toes of politicians.

However, I don’t believe that boring should apply equally to members of the Royal Family whose job it is to help the Monarch embody and unify the nation. Boring and invisible are not known unifying forces.

At present the Royal Family is keeping a very low profile. Its future, the two 20-something Princes, are buried deep in the Armed Forces, except for occasional forays into charitable activities, which by necessity, are boring.

If you write about Monarchy and Royalty, as we do here, there are very few Royal stories around.

Kate Middleton has popped into a very black hole, possibly allowing her to fade from public notice with dignity. If she ever pops out permanently on the arm of Prince William, it will be deja vu all over again, as some wit put it. In other words, boring.

Chelsy Davy has reportedly had a few flings during her former boyfriend’s absence on flying duties. Holidays in South Africa without Harry, and a new job in a London law office beckon. Boring doesn’t begin to cover it.

Prince Charles and Camilla stagger from one overseas PR disaster to another, giving the impression of a ragged and disputatious marriage — which it probably isn’t. Well, not all of the time.

Oh, and Princess Beatrice has got a new plait on the top of her head. Hold the back page!

It couldn’t be more boring, could it?

This wholesale retreat from public life is said to be a way of sharing the public’s new-found poverty. Rightly, photos of drunken Princes swaying out of £100-a-shot nightclubs are strictly off-limits now.

The Princes’ new team at St James’s Palace can hardly be expected to come up with new publicity stories while the “boys” are in the military, training for future under-the-radar roles.

Has the Queen fallen into the same trap that caused such consternation when Diana died? Locking the family away in Balmoral, while half the country was heaving with grief, was understandable for an ordinary family, but not for Royalty. Monarchy needs to be visible at low points in the national life. Future popularity depends on it.

The new austerity is a wise choice, given the appalling attrition many families are facing across the country. But a bit of Royal magic would go down a treat now.

The Queen has acted promptly to head off a constitutional crisis following Gordon Brown’s inept attempt to win over a few Catholic votes in Scotland by threatening to butcher the 1701 Act of Settlement.

The Act of Settlement 1701

Buckingham Palace has indicated that the Queen will not even consider consenting to any carve up of the constitution until all Dominion Parliaments have agreed to it. That could take years, by which time Brown will just be an unpleasant memory in recent history.

Brown’s party politicking with the Monarchy reveals the depths of this man’s chicanery. Set to be comprehensively bundled out of office by the electorate, any device is now fair game to him. He is a dangerous, out-of-control head of government who could do even more damage to the country before he is sacked by the people.

Some months ago I called for him to be impeached. Today, Simon Heffer in the Telegraph makes the same demand.

The Queen can no longer cry, “Off with his head!”, but a constutional equivalent is available to her. Such is the state of the country’s finances, with even the Governor of the Bank of England making the short journey to the Palace to confer with her last week, it should not be difficult for Brown to be sacked, or for Parliament to be dissolved pending a swift General Election.

A republican constitution is the last thing the public wishes for. As historian Andrew Roberts puts it: “… the Act of Settlement is not the bigoted, irrelevant and obsolete law that Downing Street presents it as – it is one of the key pieces of legislation that has defined what Britain was and still is. … Britain is a Protestant country today largely because of the Act of Settlement. It secured the Hanoverian succession 13 years after the Glorious Revolution replaced the Catholic King James II with the Protestant William III (of Orange) and Mary II.” — Link to article.

Any politician who thinks that the Constitution can be made a political football should be dismissed from his post, no matter how lofty it is.

An impressive memorial to the Queen Mother was unveiled by the Queen today on The Mall, directly before and below the statue of her husband, King George VI.

The Queen was accompanied by her children and grandchildren, the Prince of Wales with the Duchess of Cornwall, Princess Anne, Princes William and Harry, and the Duke of York with Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

Prince Charles gave a dignified personal tribute to his grandmother, to whom he was particularly close.

“At long last my grandparents are reunited in this joint symbol which, in particular, reminds us of all they stood for, and meant to so many, during the darkest hours this country has ever faced.

“All of us gathered here today will, I know, miss my darling grandmother’s vitality, her interest in the lives of others, her unbounded courage and determination that allowed her — incredibly — to continue her official life to the age of nearly 102; her perceptive wisdom, her calm in the face of all adversities, her steadfast belief in the British people and, above all, her irresistible, irrepressible sense of mischievous humour. How blessed we were to have known her and her generosity of spirit.”

It was the kind of occasion that put last night’s Channel 4 documentary, The Problem Princes in perspective.