Crikey! Prince’s croc catch on display in Napier
It’s not every day you see a crocodile in New Zealand, but in the lead-up to Prince Philip’s funeral tomorrow, a Napier family has a reptilian head proudly on display as a tribute to their late grandfather’s unique connection with the late Duke of Edinburgh.
Susanna Clark inherited the preserved head, which was gifted to her famous late grandfather, Sir Percy Wyn-Harris, by the Queen’s husband more than 60 years ago.
The colourful Sir Percy – an English mountaineer who climbed Mt Everest and also sailed around the world – worked in the Colonial Service in Africa and served as the Governor of Gambia, where he spent time with Prince Philip during his royal visit in 1957.
‘‘My grandfather was a remarkable man and lived a remarkable life,’’ Clark told Stuff.
‘‘Upon his death, all his stuff was shipped over to my dad, an only child. And on my father’s death, all his bits that he’d inherited from my grandfather were distributed.
‘‘The crocodile head ended up being in my possession – much to my children’s horror at times.’’
The extraordinary tale of Sir Percy’s encounter with the prince, and the crocodile head, was revealed by Clark’s brother – Hawke’s Bay farming identity and regular RNZ rural news contributor Steve Wyn-Harris – on air.
During their time together, Sir Percy struck up a good rapport with Prince Philip, and would later travel around the world helping him to establish the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award programme, including here in New Zealand.
‘‘I think he was quite taken with my grandfather, [who] had been quite an adventurer,’’ Steve Wyn-Harris told RNZ’s Jesse Mulligan. ‘‘He’d climbed to within 900 feet of the top of Everest in 1933 . . . and they got on pretty well. Of course [Philip] was a great conservationist – but obviously not always, because they’d gone further up the Gambia River on this visit, on a smaller boat, and shot a couple of crocodiles.
‘‘And, in all of my growing up, on the back step there was a dried crocodile head pinned to the side of the house, with ‘shot by his Royal Highness Prince Philip’ underneath.‘‘
He said he thought his sister, who now had possession of the crocodile head, ‘‘has it in the middle of her dining room table when she has flash dinner parties’’.
Grainy black and white footage of the Gambian river safari still exists, while a picture of the duke together with Sir Percy appeared on the cover of a 1957 issue of Paris Match, a French publication.
When asked about his prized croc catch, Prince Philip famously remarked: ‘‘It’s not a very big one, but at least it’s dead and it took an awful lot of killing!’’
Clark admitted she did not always have the crocodile head out on show, and only displayed it in her private residence at her home, where she also ran an Airbnb called Hotel Suse.
‘‘I wouldn’t dare put my crocodile head downstairs, which is where my guests are. I tend to have it upstairs.’’
She said she had it out on display this week in respect for what went on between her grandfather and Prince Philip. ‘‘So the crocodile head is out there for the week. It may well go away again because I don’t like to scare too many guests at Hotel Suse.’’
She said friends and other visitors were often ‘‘horrified’’ when first confronted by the grisly relic, but they changed their tune after learning of her grandfather’s royal legacy.
‘‘We are extremely proud, as his kin, but it’s his doing, not ours. It’s a shame we didn’t know him for a bit longer, that’s all I can say.’’