British television personality, Piers Morgan has been called out online for his "hypocrisy" following Prince Philip's death.
Buckingham Palace first announced the news of Prince Philip's death in an official statement made on Friday morning, which reads:
"It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen announces the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle."
On Friday, Piers Morgan dedicated his latest column for the Daily Mail to the late Prince Consort. Speaking about the article on Twitter, he wrote: "Thank you, Prince Philip. You were the greatest of Britons – a selfless, strong-willed and ferociously loyal man who devoted your life to public duty, your beloved Queen and your adoptive country."
The first line of the article continued: "Dedication. Devotion. Duty. That’s all you need to know about Prince Philip."
He added that the Duke of Edinburgh was "extraordinarily selfless", "uncompromising, "incredibly hard-working" and a "gloriously alpha male warrior"
The people of the internet were less than impressed, however, as they pointed out, the tribute is a far cry from some of the descriptives Morgan has used to talk about the Prince in the past.
A reporter from The New York Times posted a screenshot of Morgan's column alongside one he wrote back in January 2019. The title reads: "It’s time the Queen gave her rude, stubborn, insensitive, arrogant and dangerous Duke of Hazard his driving machine orders."
Tariq Panja captioned the tweet: "Like a candle in the wind".
"Almost as if he doesnt really hold any strong views other than whats most popular at the time...," wrote one Twitter user in response, while another corroborated: "Love this tweet. Sums the man up. Everyone can change their opinion however, he is so vicious with his words and then really complimentary with his other article. Sure if anyone else did this he would be all over it!"
The Duke of Edinburgh's funeral will be held this upcoming Saturday at St George's Chapel. It will be confined entirely to Windsor Castle after an eight-minute ceremonial procession within the castle grounds, per Buckingham Palace.
The Queen, his children and his grandchildren will be in attendance. Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex has confirmed that he will travel from California for the funeral, although his wife, Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, who is pregnant, has been advised against travel by her doctor.
The funeral has been reduced in scale due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. While there will be no public access, the service and short procession will be televised. The royal family have asked that the public do not visit Windsor to pay their respects.
(Feature image credit: Alamy)