University forced to apologise for Prince Philip tribute after staff complaints over Duke’s ‘racist & sexist comments’
A UNIVERSITY was forced to apologise for their tribute to Prince Philip after staff complained about the Duke's "racist and sexist comments."
Woke staff at King's College London were outraged at an email bulletin following the Duke’s death in April - which showed a picture of him opening a university library in 2002.
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After the Duke’s death earlier this year, the university’s interim principal, Professor Evelyn Welch, issued a public statement praising his "long and valued association with King’s."
Prince Philip had been a governor at the university since 1955 - and had visited the official opening of one of the libraries in 2002.
But staff members were outraged after being sent the picture of the Duke visiting the Maughan Library.
The university's anti-racism group complained that the email caused "harm" because the Prince had made a number of racist and sexist comments in his lifetime.
Following weeks of tension, Joleen Clarke, the associate director at King’s College libraries, sent out an apology.
She wrote: "The picture was included as a historical reference point following his death.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."
Those angered by the message include the college’s head of partnership and liaison, Vanessa Farrier - who was appointed in a new role last June to decolonise the library’s collection following Black Lives Matter protests.
In response to the accusations that the Duke was racist, Royal expert Hugo Vickers said: "Prince Philip and the Queen have spent their whole lives in service helping the Commonwealth.
WOKE ROW
"He may have said things at certain times to get a rise out of people, but he was the least racist person. In fact, he was very engaged in questions of equality and multi-racial societies going back to the 1950s.
"I don’t think these people at King’s College know what they are talking about, frankly."
Tory MP Sir John Hayes said: "King’s College London is at the extreme end of the spectrum when it comes to inhibiting free speech.
"We need to flush out people in our universities who are determined with an almost Maoist zeal to close minds in places which ought to be bastions of free and open debate."
Toby Young, of the Free Speech Union, added: "The irony is that if it wasn’t for people like Prince Philip putting their lives on the line to defend liberty and democracy, university lecturers wouldn’t now enjoy the freedom to attack people like him.
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"When a war hero dies, shouldn’t these republican firebrands just say “Thank you for your service”, and save the political point-scoring for another day?"
King’s College London said: "As we previously highlighted in an official university statement, Prince Philip had a long and valued association with King’s."