"In the event that I am reincarnated, I would like to return as a deadly virus, in order to contribute something to solve overpopulation."
- Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
As reported by Deutsche Press Agentur (DPA), August 1988
"I just wonder what it would be like to be reincarnated in an animal whose species had been so reduced in numbers than it was in danger of extinction. What would be its feelings toward the human species whose population explosion had denied it somewhere to exist. .. . I must confess that I am tempted to ask for reincarnation as a particularly deadly virus."
Fleur Cowles, People as Animals, Foreword by HRH Prince Philip, (United Kingdom: Robin Clark Ltd., 1986)
"He wanted to connect the monarchy more directly with Ministers and said he thought that Privy Councils were an absolute waste of time, that the
Prime Minister's audience with the Queen should be broadened out to include other Ministers, who could explain things to her.
I said I didn't think that would help at all because when this government got even less popular, which was possible, it would just identify the monarchy more with us.
He said, 'You wouldn't want the Queen to meet the opposition, would you?'
I said I didn't think that would help The Monarchy.
He said he 'wasn't thinking of The Monarchy but of The National Interest'
and that if he ever thought that The Monarchy didn't meet with The National
Interest, [then] he would
'Opt Out Altogether.'
Quite what he meant by that, I don't know..."
