How paths of the duke and ourselves crossed due to carriage driving

I AM writing to relate the story of my connection with the Duke of Edinburgh.

My late husband Edmund and I competed in carriage driving events for a number of years.

We drove a pair of ponies and the Duke of Edinburgh drove a team of fell ponies. We competed at national competitions all over the country, visiting some wonderful places.

When we were competing in 1993 at the Brighton national competition, where we had an accident, the ponies bolted and we came off the carriage. I went back to the stable area where we were parked next to the Duke of Edinburgh’s horse box. We had a bus converted into a horsebox with living accommodation to transport our ponies.

I was sitting in the bus and the Duke of Edinburgh came into the bus. He had obviously heard we had had the accident, asked whether or not he could get me anything or do anything for me. I told him a friend was mashing me a cup of tea and he started laughing and said you don’t mash tea you brew tea and you mash potatoes, which of course made me laugh, and my reply was, well, where I come from we mash tea!

He then said ‘Can I help you to take your bib off?’ because when competing you wear a bib with a number on it, so he duly helped me to take my bib, which I thought was very kind. Edmund and I were not badly injured but one of the ponies did have to go to Newmarket for treatment, but after box rest was all right but out of action for a while.

These memories mean a lot to me and I felt very sad to hear the news of the duke passing away.

Joan Goodwin, Hilton