The actor, who plays Queen Elizabeth II's husband in Netflix's hit royal drama series, praises the Queen's consort for showing 'high degree of dignity and patience.'

• Apr 18, 2021

AceShowbiz - Tobias Menzies has paid tribute to Prince Philip.

The actor portrayed the late royal in Netflix's "The Crown" and said he had come to appreciate the "high degree of dignity and patience" Philip had as he undertook his role as the Queen's consort.

Tobias told The Guardian's "Today in Focus" podcast, "There's a lot of different forces at play within him."

"He was someone who was very wary to show his feelings, and yet, atmospherically, he's not a cool presence, he's quite hot …"

"He's abrasive. He's challenging. He's funny. But there's an energy about it: it's not calm, it's not gentle. And those things seem to be kind of warring inside him."

"And so, actually, for someone who doesn't want to give much away, he often feels like he is giving quite a lot away."

He added, "For someone who clearly was not comfortable with (the role), he managed to do it with quite a high degree of dignity and patience."

Tobias also praised Philip - who passed away earlier this month (Apr21) at the age of 99 - for always putting Queen Elizabeth first.

"The idea of this alpha male spending his life walking two or three steps behind his wife," he said. "To be in an almost entirely ceremonial position, it's fascinating. It's the stuff of Greek drama.

"(It) is to his credit the effect he's had on that institution, on that family. He took that completely non-role incredibly seriously, applied a huge amount of energy and inventiveness and created a life for himself with great ingenuity and great energy. And I think the institution itself benefited from that.

"He was partly involved in the transition from an aristocratic family to one that was marked by largely middle-class values. He helped to open it up and, to a certain degree, demystify a lot of the stuff that was going on. "

The late Duke was honoured at a private memorial at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, which began at 3pm BST on Saturday (17Apr21).

All 30 guests were required to wear face masks and sit in socially-distanced seats at the scaled-back ceremony, with Queen Elizabeth II due to sit alone at her husband's service.

Prince Harry, Philip's grandson, has returned to Britain from the U.S. for the occasion, while his pregnant wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex remains in America.