Beverly Long was in the Girl Guides when she and hundreds others lined the streets of Kaikohe to see the duke more than six decades ago. Photo / Imran Ali
Beverly Long was in the Girl Guides when she and hundreds others lined the streets of Kaikohe to see the duke more than six decades ago. Photo / Imran Ali
Beverly Long was in the Girl Guides when she lined the streets in Kaikohe in 1953 to see the Duke of Edinburgh.
Today, she's sad because Prince Philip passed away on Friday, just shy of his 100th birthday after battling an infection relating to a pre-existing heart condition and less than a month after he was discharged from hospital.
The Prince's funeral service will take place at St George's Chapel, in the grounds of Windsor Castle, at 3pm on Saturday - which is 2am Sunday New Zealand time.
Prince Philip was reported to have requested a funeral of minimal fuss and will not lie in state. He will lie at rest in the private chapel at Windsor Castle until the day of the funeral, rather than lying in state where members of the public would have been able to view his coffin.
"I think it's very sad. I would have loved him to have got to his 100th birthday. I was looking forward to that but unfortunately, things didn't go right for him. I knew he was not going to last much longer but he has had a good innings," Long said.
The keen royal fan has more than 2500 pieces of royal memorabilia collected over 60 years in specially-made glass cabinets and on shelves, a collection of everything from tea sets to vases, biscuit tins and china figures in her Onerahi home.
There's everyone from Queen Victoria to a whole cabinet dedicated to William and Kate. The 81-year-old said she had seen the duke on some of his New Zealand tours but hadn't actually met him in person.
"In 1953 when they came to Whangārei, we were out there, I was a girl guide them and we lined the streets in Kaikohe and then came down to Whangārei and saw him. It was great to see him. I'll never forget that," Long reminisced.
"He was just a strength to the Queen. She'll sadly miss him."
The duke always carried himself so straight, she said, even right to the end he was not using a stick, just walked at his own pace.
Long said the duke did a "real good job" for all the societies he was a part of, including the Duke of Edinburgh Award which her granddaughter took part in.
Prince Philip was a patron of a number of organisations in New Zealand, including the Royal Commonwealth Society. He was affiliated with the Returned and Services' Association (RSA), was a senior officer in the New Zealand Defence Force, and was an Additional Member of the Order of New Zealand.
Long hasn't decided on any get-together to commiserate his death but said she'd probably do something for him.
On whether she thought Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will attend the funeral given their explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey, Long said the former would but not the latter.
"She's done a fair bit of damage. Some of that I can believe, some I don't think is true. I think he loved his grandfather. I don't think he's got anything against him."
Whangārei RSA president Kevin Peachey says the duke took part in global initiatives and will be greatly missed.
Photo / Imran Ali
President of Whangārei RSA Kevin Peachey said the duke was quite an outstanding figure in a lot of global initiatives and would be greatly missed.
Flags at the RSA building in central Whangārei as well as at the cenotaph at Laurie Hall Park have been flying at half-mast since Saturday.
"He's always had a great sense of humour. When someone said something, he's come back with a very good response, a bit like Winston Churchill," he said.
