As he might say, he had a good innings and –whisper it – we enjoyed every minute

Her because she seems to genuinely like us; she loves horse racing and she took the trouble to learn the cúpla focal before coming to visit for the first time in 2011.

We liked him because he was something of a loose cannon, the kind of guy who would get stuck into a decanter of port and be a bit of craic.

During his visit to the Long Room of Trinity College Dublin in 2011, he appeared more intent on ogling an attractive waitress than examining the dusty tomes, and he was almost 90 at the time.

You also got the impression that he had a fund of risqué after-dinner stories when the royal princesses withdrew to the parlour.

In real life he also had our sympathy because he was a bit put upon. He was a consort and not a king, he had to walk a step behind his wife. He had all these rather tiresome royal duties to attend to when he could be out grouse-shooting or playing polo – while his eldest son was a do-gooder and his second one a knave.

The horse-and-carriage-loving Philip was a favourite because he had a gamy eye and a Father Dougal-like penchant for putting his foot in his mouth, or perhaps saying what was really on his mind without having it filtered through the cleansing lens of a public relations executive.

From asking Tom Jones after a Royal Variety Performance in 1969, “what do you gargle with, pebbles?” to 2013 when he told a Filipino nurse, “the Philippines must be half empty as you’re all here running the NHS”, he had the knack of making honest pronouncements which were portrayed as ‘gaffes’ in the media.

During one of the recessions he was reported as saying: “Everybody was saying we must have more leisure, now they’re complaining they are unemployed”, reflecting, perhaps his long detachment from real life.

While some Irish people profess to dislike the royals, many of us secretly follow their progress, their marriage bust-ups and their family feuds.

But not living in Britain, we don’t have to pay for their excesses or take the whole charade too seriously. It is like watching a reality soap-opera with an interesting cast – The Crown to be precise.

Tuning into the Queen’s Speech on Christmas Day was a bridge too far for my own family, but many other Irish people still do.

When I lived briefly in London in the summer of 1971, apart from marching on Downing Street to protest against internment in Northern Ireland, I made the obligatory pilgrimage to Buckingham Palace to see the Trooping of the Colour. For a young Irishman the two things were compatible.

Irish newspaper editors, even those in nationalist-leaning publications, discovered that, despite their own prejudices, their readers enjoyed, indeed demanded, a rich dessert of royal news.

It could be anything from the Princess Di effect down to salacious gossip about Prince Philip’s alleged dalliances with a succession of good-looking titled ladies.

Everybody, including die-hard Republicans, can list off the names of the various notables in the British monarchy, while they would be hard-pressed to name the kings and queens of Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands or Norway, let alone their children.

Despite our century-long separation, the ties that bind us are stronger than the things that divide us.

Many people may have an aversion to British sporting teams but it is not something that generally extends to the royals.

Historically we may have blown up remnants of imperial rule, but that ire did not extend to living members of the royal family.

The exception was the assassination of Lord Louis Mountbatten and most Irish people shared the revulsion felt across Britain and elsewhere by that cowardly deed.

Queen Victoria was the royal most associated with Ireland, coming here in 1849 when the Famine was coming to a dreadful conclusion, then again 1853, 1861 and 1900.

Her visit in 1861 included a stay in Muckross House, in Killarney, which put the Kerry town on the international tourism map. Her 1900 visit had the very different purpose, one aimed at damping down Irish opposition to the Boer War.

It was said that up to a million people greeted her royal progress from Dún Laoghaire (Kingstown) to the city centre.

It provoked a satire by Percy French in which Victoria tells Maud Gonne not to be “writin letters about your betters and paradin’ me crimes in the Irish times”.

Her grandson King George V (1911) was the last royal to visit until the four-day visit 100 years later of Queen Elizabeth  and Prince Philip.

Since then both their grandsons, Prince William with his wife Kate, and his now estranged brother Prince Harry with his wife Meghan Markle, have been warmly welcomed here.

At this time we share in Britain’s sadness at the passing of Prince Philip, but, as he might say himself, he had a good innings, so instead of mourning his passing we’ll raise a parting glass to his memory.