The Scottish Parliament today met on a motion of condolence for the late Duke of Edinburgh. But while the main party leaders including First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and the Tories’ Ruth Davidson paid eloquent tribute to Prince Philip’s seven decades of public service, the co-leader of the Scottish Greens felt no such compunction.
Patrick Harvie told Holyrood that his party had considered boycotting the Holyrood tribute and criticised Prince Philip’s ‘extreme wealth, privilege and status’ by pleading that it would have been ‘wrong to give a performance of feelings not sincerely felt.’
For a man who spent his lifetime supporting nature conservation, including founding the World Wildlife Foundation, you might have thought Philip would have earned the respect of an environmentalist party but not for Harvie who criticised the late Duke for hunting and shooting. Declining to praise any specific achievements of the Prince he said:
Today’s environmental movement overwhelmingly places responsibility for the global crisis on the powerful, and would not seek to reconcile conservation with the bloodsport of the wealthy.
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