PRINCE PHILLIP AND ME “Good Morning Sir, I am the test pilot”. These were the first words I uttered to H.R.H. Prince Philip, and unbeknown to me, it was the beginning of a long acquaintance with the Prince. The occasion was a tour of the Walker Wingsail factory when it was based in Hamble, which had been organised for the Prince many months before. The wingsail had been fitted to the “Ashington”, my command in June 1986. To mark the occasion, Walkers wanted to present a model of the ship fitted with the wingsail, and when they found the professionally built models to be extortionate, they asked me if I could oblige. At the time I had built numerous models, including models of two of the ships I had sailed on. So the model was duly presented to Prince Philip during the visit, and he said that he had been at a meeting of the National Maritime Museum and they were keen to receive it. The presentation was not without its humour, as I described how I had written on the deck of the Mate’s cabin (hidden from view), that my elder daughter Britta spent her first Christmas there at the age of five months. On seeing that I had fitted out the wheelhouse Prince Philip asked me “if there was a model of me in the wheelhouse too!”. As he was leaving, he took me away from the model, put his arm around my shoulder and asked me if I could read the plaque on the model. When I said I couldn’t, he told me that I should bear in mind doddering old fools like him, needed to be able to read the plaques, and to make them as big as possible! During my involvement with Prince Philip, I struck up a friendship with his late Private Secretary, Brigadier Sir Miles Hunt-Davis, K.C.V.O., C.B.E. This was through the negotiations to move the model from Buckingham Palace to the Discovery Museum in Newcastle on Tyne. The model had gone from the presentation to the Walker Wingsail factory in Plymouth for twelve years on loan, then when they went into liquidation, it was sent back to me to repair a small bit of damage, before the Palace asked for it back. I was away piloting on the day that Miles came to collect it and Kathy was feeling ill, so Miles merely came in, picked up the model and beat a hasty retreat. In 2006, I was elected a Younger Brother of Trinity House, where the Master was H.R.H. Prince Philip, and so I found myself meeting and talking with the Prince on numerous occasions. When not able to update the Prince on the progress of the wingsail, Miles suggested I drop into Buckingham Palace, when I could and have a cup of coffee with him. He could then pass on elements of our conversation to the Prince. One of the memories which I will cherish is one such visit to Miles at 09.00 hrs one morning. As I was walking along the corridor to his office, which must have been below the Royal Apartments, as I could clearly hear the piper playing the Queen’s breakfast recital. In 2011 Prince Philip retired as Master of Trinity House, ending the longest service of any Master in its 417 year history, having served for 42 years. Since that time, I remained in contact with Miles, and continued to keep in touch with the Prince through Buckingham Palace, and also when he was 23
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