finest THE consort since Albert
They both elevated young Queens to greatness. But here, the Mail writer who REALLY knows Philip reveals that’s just one of the uncanny parallels between two royal titans
DRIVING me around the windsor estate a few years ago, the Duke of Edinburgh was in full flow as he pointed to one landmark after another.
‘You can see Prince Consort’s Farm has remained, externally, the same as Prince albert built it,’ he mused, before pointing in the opposite direction, adding: ‘Great place for crows, this.’
On we drove, past the farms designed by ‘Farmer George’, King George III, past the Frogmore gardens designed by Queen Charlotte, past the mausoleum built by Queen Victoria — ‘the family burial plot’ as the Duke called it — and so much else.
we were making a documentary about windsor. But it soon dawned on me that so much of the landscape was actually down to the Duke himself: the tree plantations, a new deer herd and the Guards Polo Club, the international polo venue he built on the disused wartime airstrip at smith’s Lawn.
as well as being the longest- serving Ranger of windsor Great Park in history, he is also the first member of the Royal Family to open a shop. ‘ about 30 years ago I suggested that we should have a plucking and packing facility for game,’ he told me.
‘Then this business of farm shops came along, so we converted the potting sheds into a farm shop.’
weaving his way past the gobsmacked queue at the shop’s meat counter, the Duke gave us a swift retail masterclass: ‘ stuff grown here that was not [financially] viable when it went to the open market is viable now that it’s got an outlet. By taking out the middleman, it becomes more efficient. You can get lots of customers but if you don’t price it right, you lose money . . .’
It has often been said that if the Duke had not been married to the Queen, he would have risen to the top of the Royal Navy. But it might equally be argued that he would have had similar success as a businessman, engineer or headmaster.
Here is a man with a sharp intellect, a quizzical mind and a love of innovation, be it installing some of the first solar panels in Britain, planting an experimental truffle farm in Norfolk, driving around in one of Britain’s first electric cars, installing one of the earliest desktop computers, taking his entire office to try Heston Blumenthal’s latest experimental menu or being the first royal television presenter.
THElist goes on and on. Because during a life just five years short of a century, there has seldom been a moment when the Duke has not been thinking about what to do next. That is why yesterday’s announcement was such big news.
For it is no exaggeration to say that the results of this restless innovation have been global. In the early sixties, for example, it was the Duke who played a central role in the creation of the world wildlife Fund, paving the way for organisations such as Greenpeace and helping to kick- start an entire environmental movement.
His Duke of Edinburgh’s award, established more than 60 years ago in the teeth of opposition from a very sniffy Establishment — who thought it would undermine the Boy scouts — has been adopted all over the world. Even in countries with no British connection, millions of young people have been the beneficiaries of his scheme for boosting youthful self-esteem.
His stewardship of the National Playing Fields association has ensured that millions of children have had somewhere to play. His pioneering Commonwealth study Conferences — at which postwar trade union leaders and captains of industry from all over the world sat down together for the first time — have been a template for modern industrial relations.
along the way, his plain talking and ready wit have certainly added to the gaiety of the nation. Two books are devoted entirely to the sayings of the man who coined the word ‘dontopedalogy’ — the art of putting one’s foot in one’s mouth.
Most of his best- known ‘gaffes’ actually started life as good-humoured attempts to break the ice with tongue-tied strangers. as the Duke himself has often remarked, the inherent danger of breaking the ice is that you sometimes fall through it.
For all the synthetic outrage in response to those wellworn lines about Hungarian ‘ pot bellies’ or aboriginal australians ‘throwing spears’, they have done nothing to diminish his stature as a national treasure.
Indeed, when the Duke ordered photographers to hurry up and ‘take the f*****g picture’ at a lunch for Battle of Britain veterans two years ago, there not a batsqueak of complaint from anyone.
On the occasion of the Duke’s 90th birthday, the House of Commons positively revelled in the Duke’s capacity for speaking his mind. Labour MP Chris Bryant reminded MPs of an exchange between the Duke and a parliamentary colleague at a Buckingham Palace reception.
‘so, what did you do before you got this job?’ the Duke asked. ‘I worked in a trade union,’ said the MP.
‘B****r all, then,’ quipped the Duke.
Bristling a little, the MP replied: ‘well, what did you do before you got this job?’
The Duke replied: ‘Fought in the second world war.’ Cue roars of laughter from both sides of the Commons.
‘There are occasions,’ Mr Bryant concluded, ‘when a little humility from this House towards His Royal Highness is entirely appropriate.’
aside from the Queen, there is no one else alive who has been in the international public eye for so long. Considering that on any given day during seven decades in the
British Royal Family, the Duke has had to make small talk with dozens if not hundreds of strangers, it isn’t surprising that he has occasionally strayed off-piste. He would be a very dull fellow if he hadn’t.
But the occasional spot of nononsense banter should not be allowed to eclipse his substantial contribution to the wider world.
The Queen touched on this in her Golden Wedding anniversary speech in 1997 when she said: ‘I, and his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim, or we shall ever know.’
HoWeveR,this week we can at least acknowledge some of it. That the world’s most famous and respected head of state continues to enjoy her record reign is down to the unstinting support of the man who swore to be her ‘liege man of life and limb’.
The very fact that the retirement of a 95-year- old is headline news merely underlines what an extraordinary part he has played in our national story.
Though he has always shrugged off comparisons to Prince Albert, his great-great-grandfather, the similarities are remarkable. In both cases, a foreign-born consort would help elevate a young Queen to greatness and make a substantial contribution to public life along the way.
Despite the lack of a university education, both men would take a very keen interest in science and would both go on to be diligent Chancellors of Cambridge University.
The importance of education has been a recurring theme throughout the Duke’s life. Before being appointed by Cambridge, his first major honorary academic position was as Chancellor of edinburgh University, a post he would proudly occupy for most of his life. And he was no token figurehead. Just ask a former Prime Minister.
In the early Seventies, edinburgh students caused uproar when they elected a fellow student as Rector ( chairman of the university management) instead of the usual celebrity or civic worthy. The student was one Gordon Brown. Senior staff, however, thought it was a dreadful idea and raised all sorts of objections.
‘of course, none of the academics or professional people who sat on the court wanted me to chair the university governing body,’ Mr Brown recalled years later. ‘But I did. And the one person who gave me enormous encouragement and support, and recognised that the students wanted to have someone there to represent their interests, was the Duke of edinburgh. He saw the changes that were taking place around us and made it possible for me and others to play a larger part in university life.’
The Duke has always been a voracious reader. His extensive library at Buckingham Palace contains more than 13,000 books, a large number of them devoted to nature and science.
It contains a lot of poetry — including works by Bob Dylan — but little fiction. It also has a substantial number of cookery books. As undisputed master of the royal barbecue, the Duke is as keen on new recipes as he is on new ideas about anything else.
So will he now be stepping back from his grilling duties at Balmoral, too? Somehow I doubt it. And I doubt that, after this summer, we will have seen the last of him at major royal events. In announcing his retirement from public duties, he ensures that people will no longer ask questions when he does not turn up at engagements. Rather, they will be happily surprised when he does.
If the world is split into those who do and those who sit and watch, the Duke is a serial doer. In fact, he said as much in an interview some years ago: ‘ I’ve never been a dedicated watcher of anything. I’d much rather be taking part.’
So, when his days were numbered as a cricketer — at one point, he was close to county standard — he switched to polo, then carriagedriving. Not content with merely driving a pony and trap, he codified it as an international sport and competed for Britain.
BACkin 1982 — the year of the Falklands War, 35 years ago — came the first reports that the Duke would shortly retire from carriage- driving. Yet just weeks ago he was photographed driving four-in-hand through Windsor.
one year, interviewing him at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, I asked what it was he most enjoyed about it. Was it the thrill of man, horse and machine in perfect harmony? Was it the speed? He rolled his eyes and replied: ‘When it’s all over and you’re still in one piece.’
Still very much in one piece, he is now the longest- serving royal consort in history — but also one who has stamped his own mark in a way history will long remember.
Just as millions still enjoy the great museums inspired by Prince Albert, so millions will take part in the Duke’s Award scheme for years to come, while the natural world continues to benefit from the work of the WWF.
A few years ago, it was even quietly suggested by a consortium of the great and good that the Duke should be nominated for a Nobel Prize, just like the former U.S. vice President and eco-activist Al Gore.
Had the Duke ever found out, I suspect his response would have been a bracing one, just as it was that day at the Royal Windsor Horse Show when I blithely asked if he had a message for the sportsmen and women of tomorrow. I knew it was a ‘damn fool question’ before I’d even finished it.
‘ I haven’t got a message for anybody, thank you. I’m not trying to promote it like some soap powder. I mean it’s a sport, for Christ’s sake.’
And then he burst out laughing.