in many ways, as bronwen was alluding to, i ways, as bronwen was alluding to, the role _ ways, as bronwenat the queen _ ways, as bronwen was alluding to, the role that the queen made, - the role that the queen made, particularly _ the role that the queen made, particularly in _ the role that the queen made, particularly in terms _ the role that the queen made, particularly in terms of - the role that the queen made, particularly in terms of the - particularly in terms of the commonwealth, _ particularly in terms of the commonwealth, was - particularly in terms of the commonwealth, was a - particularly in terms of the | commonwealth, was a very particularly in terms of the _ commonwealth, was a very personal, self invented — commonwealth, was a very personal, self invented one _ commonwealth, was a very personal, self invented one. she _ commonwealth, was a very personal, self invented one. she was— self invented one. she was instrumental— self invented one. she was instrumental in _ self invented one. she was. instrumental in transforming self invented one. she was- instrumental in transf

no, bronwen, please continue.re beginning to get a sense of very recently isjust how powerful the sense of the royal family as a family was. and this was very much a project that he and the queen — i'm not sure how explicit they were about it to themselves at the beginning, but they very much chose for her reign to be — to put the royal family centrestage as a family, not just her, and obviously, there are more difficult consequences of that if some members of the family decide they don't want to be part of it or something, but he was very much an anchor of that. and i think when you look at the whole era of queen elizabeth and the whole character of what the monarchy has been under her, he was absolutely central to that. james landale, your career has kind of straddled the political and diplomatic. you were a political correspondent for newspapers for many years, then at the bbc now a diplomatic correspondant, so both national and international it's interesting, this sense of "the family" or "the firm", as some p

bronwen maddox, a former newspaper foreign editor, now director of the institute for government, a think could to have you with us. we begin, though, with the death on friday of prince philip. greek by birth, a royal who became a refugee as republics emerged from the wreckage of europe's war—ravaged monarchies. philip spent 73 of his 99 years as consort to elizabeth, the princess who became britain's longest—serving monarch. thomas, you met him quite a long time ago now in a different guise. tell us about that. it time ago now in a different guise. tell us about that.— tell us about that. it was an amazing _ tell us about that. it was an amazing encounter- tell us about that. it was an amazing encounter along i tell us about that. it was an i amazing encounter along time ago tell us about that. it was an - amazing encounter along time ago in my earlier years when i was a teacher at cardiff university, a language instructor, lecturer, and in those years, the prince philip was the chancellor of the university of wales so in the summer