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OUR PATRON REMEMBERED
It was with great sadness that the Institution of Engineering Designers marked the passing of its royal
patron, His Royal Highness Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who died on 9 April at the age of 99
The Duke’s association with the IED began in 1953, not long after Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, an event marked in the September 1953 edition of the Drawing Office Announcer. Under a rather ornate item offering the new Queen the ‘sincere congratulations on the occasion of the coronation of your majesty’, there appeared a somewhat more subdued but equally momentous note entitled ‘A coronation honour for the institution’, which announced the news that the Duke of Edinburgh had accepted the IED’s offer of Honorary Membership. ‘The entire IED Membership will welcome this news with enthusiasm since it seems to indicate a measure of Royal favour and encouragement. The Duke’s association with the Institution cannot fail to further its cause and it is hoped that it will mark another milestone on the road to the Royal Charter.’
The presentation of the Duke’s membership diploma and an illuminated address, which had been delayed by the royal couple’s sevenmonth, 13-country around-the-world tour, took place during a special ceremony at Buckingham Palace at 11 o’clock on Friday 4 June 1954. The low-key ceremony was attended by Francis Curzon, the Fifth Earl Howe, Lord Brocket and Lord McGowan, and the IED’s general secretary (and founding president), Walter E Walters, who was in attendance at the express request of the Duke, who wished to meet the person ‘who does all the work’.
Touring the newly opened Salford Technical College building
In accepting the Honorary Membership, the Duke of Edinburgh paid eloquent tribute to ‘creative ingenuity, the distinguishing hallmark of a profession which rarely comes to the note of the public’. Given that Earl Howe had been a very successful racing car driver during the 1930s, it’s perhaps unsurprising that the Duke chose to speak of his own attempts to design a car, a topic that he then explored further with the delegation.
According to a piece in the Drawing Office Announcer that reported on the ceremony: ‘The tone was most friendly and informal – a cordial exchange of comments all round – which the Duke appeared to enjoy no less than the rest of the party.’ The piece continued on to say that ‘it was gratifying to note that the BBC attached sufficient importance to the event to make mention of it in the news bulletins’.
Prince Philip became Patron of the Institution soon after and continued to work with the IED on a variety of topics, including the Duke of Edinburgh’s Prize for Elegant Design (later renamed the Prince Philip Designers Prize; see Royal Recognition) and the hosting of receptions. And in the ensuing years, he took an active interest in the workings of the IED, receiving notices regarding notable events and requesting details of the running of the organisation, such as balance sheets, annual reports and the appointment of auditors.
In 1956, Prince Philip founded the Duke of Edinburgh’s Commonwealth Study Conferences, and hosted the first, in Oxford. Entitled ‘The Duke of Edinburgh’s Study Conference on the Human Problems of Industrial Communities within the Commonwealth and Empire’, it was a project that was ahead of its time,
Admiring a gas turbine unit in a Rover workshop in Solihull
Talking to some Salford Technical College students
At Jaguar Land Rover’s engine manufacturing centre in Wolverhampton
Visiting French-state-owned aircraft manufacturer Sud Aviation in 1965 Visiting the University of Salford hydraulics laboratory in 1967
concerned with the social wellbeing of communities around the world in the face of rapid industrialisation.
The Duke’s membership file contains a variety of communications received across the years, including a note from 1955 commenting on the fact that HRH was ‘most interested to read about the new Headquarters of the Institution and congratulates all on the great success of our undertaking’ and, from 1989, a telegram to Peter Booker on the occasion of his retirement as CEO after 35 years to be read out at his retirement lunch.
In 2001, Honorary Membership of the IED was replaced with Honorary Fellowship and a lunch was held to mark the occasion. A letter from Buckingham Palace notes that the Duke was ‘disappointed not to be able to attend the lunch to celebrate, but looking forward to receiving his new certificate’.
In January 2012, the IED was granted a Royal Charter and later that year, the Duke hosted a reception at St James’s Palace to mark the occasion at which he also made presentations to four new Honorary Fellows.
The final formal event that the Duke attended was held in July 2015, shortly before he stepped back from public duties. To mark the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the formation of the IED and the presentation of diplomas to the first Chartered Technological Product Designers, the Duke hosted a reception at St James’s Palace. During the event, he met with a group of founder members, reviewed the work of some current members and spoke fondly of his personal interest in engineering and the
Royal recognition
Chairing the judging of the Prince Philip Designers Prize in 2009 at Buckingham Palace
THROUGHOUT HIS LONG LIFE,
the Duke of Edinburgh strived to find ways to recognise the unsung work of designers and engineers. In 1959, with the UK still in the grip of post-war austerity, he launched the Duke of Edinburgh’s Prize for Elegant Design in partnership with the Design Council. His aim was to shine a light on British designers whose works ‘improved daily life by solving problems’, a reflection of his belief that designers of all disciplines would play a crucial role in boosting the British economy and setting the nation on the path for success.
From the beginning, the Duke was heavily involved, chairing the judging panel and presenting the prize. Winners were chosen for ‘the quality, originality and commercial success of their work, and the designer’s overall contribution to the standing of design, and to design education’. The inaugural prize went to Charles Longman for his minimalist Prestcold Packaway refrigerator, which was designed to fit into cramped kitchens. The prize’s broad scope and remit to recognise products that stood out from the largely functional design of the late 1950s was then illustrated the following year when it was awarded to WT Copeland and Sons for its sleek Apollo tableware.
In 1990, the award’s focus shifted from product design to the designers themselves. The renamed Prince Philip Designer’s Prize for the Designer of the Year was presented to some of the leading names of British design, including James Dyson, Terence Conran, Quentin Blake and Norman Foster, in recognition of their lifetime achievements. In 2011, the prize went on hiatus as the Duke began to cut back on his royal duties. Four years later, following discussions with the Chartered Society of Designers, the Duke handed over management of the award to the society and lent his name to a new set of prizes: the Prince Philip Student Design Awards.
Prince Philip also regularly presented the Chartered Society of Designers’ Minerva Medal. He himself was presented with the award in 2003 in recognition of his contribution to design. At the ceremony, the Duke quipped that ‘it was a delight to receive the medal rather than always presenting them at these dinners’.
The Duke was also a strong advocate of the role and importance of engineering in society. Between 1966 and 1976, he was the president of the Council of Engineering Institutions, during which time he helped to create a path for engineers to reach professional status. He also presented the MacRobert Award, the Royal Academy of Engineering’s highest award for UK engineering, almost every year from its inception in 1969. And in 1989,
importance of design to the future of ‘UK plc’ and humanity in general. The Duke then insisted on personally presenting chartership certificates to four CTPD recipients.
Despite stepping away from public life, Prince Philip retained his patronage of the Institution.
To mark the occasion of the Duke’s 100th birthday, a gift was designed that outlined some of the major engineering and design innovations that have taken place during his life, as well as some notable occasions in the relationship between the Duke and the IED. Sadly, he passed away a few months before his birthday and this commemorative memento will now be framed and mounted in the library at the IED’s headquarters in Westbury Leigh in Wiltshire, next to the copy of the Duke’s original membership certificate and his address from the 1950s.
It has been an honour and a privilege to claim HRH Prince Philip as an Honorary Member/Fellow and Patron for the past 67 years. His drive, enthusiasm and leadership will be sorely missed. ■
he agreed to the commissioning of the Prince Philip Medal, to be ‘awarded periodically to an engineer of any nationality who has made an exceptional contribution to engineering as a whole through practice, management or education’.
Following the Duke’s passing, Sir Jim McDonald, president of the Royal Academy of Engineering, paid tribute to his ‘genuine enjoyment and passion for engineering [which] were evident in his many visits to the Academy and his typically challenging discussions with the engineers he met’.
The Duke’s support for good design and engineering wasn’t restricted to the UK. In 1967, during the early days of the Industrial Design Council of Australia and the Australian Design Council, he introduced the Prince Philip Prize for Australian Design. The inaugural prize was awarded in 1968 to a self-propelled grain header designed by Kenneth Gibson. In July 1978 and September 1979, the awards ceremony was broadcast nationally on the ABC television network, with several million people tuning in to see the Duke present the prizes. ‘I hope this whole exercise will provoke a great deal of discussion and argument on the subject of industrial design,’ the Duke said. ‘I don’t mind in the least if people disagree violently with our choice because it will mean that this is a subject worth attention and worthy of well-informed criticism.’
At the start of the 1980s, the New Zealand Industrial Design Council hastily arranged the creation of the Prince Philip Award for New Zealand Industrial Design so that the Duke could personally present the prize during the 1981 royal tour. With his trademark desire to be involved, the Duke chaired the final stage of the selection process.
The Duke was adamant that each of the design awards presented in his name should be received by the industrial designer of the winning work, rather than an engineer or a representative of the company that manufactured it. At the awards ceremony for the inaugural New Zealand design award, he lamented the lack of recognition of the designer’s role: ‘As far as the development of human civilisation is concerned, design has obviously played a very important part. After all, everything that was not designed by the Almighty has been the responsibility of some sort of designer.’ ■
THE DUKE’S FINAL DESIGN
THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH’S
interest in engineering and design extended all the way to his own funeral. In 2003, the year he turned 82, the Duke began a collaboration with Land Rover to modify one of its vehicles, a Defender, to carry a coffin – his own.
The modifications he designed included an open-top rear section within which the coffin would rest, along with the ‘stops’ – rubber grips on metal pins – that prevent the coffin from moving. He also specified that the original Belize-green bodywork be replaced with dark bronze green, a colour commonly used for military Land Rovers.
The purpose-built hearse was used to transport the Duke’s coffin in the ceremonial procession from the state entrance of Windsor Castle through the castle grounds to the west steps of St George’s Chapel.
‘We are deeply privileged to have enjoyed a very long and happy association with the Duke of Edinburgh over many decades,’ said Thierry Bollore, Jaguar Land Rover’s chief executive. ‘The Duke was a tremendous champion for design, engineering and technology. During his visits to our sites, he engaged with hundreds of employees and demonstrated his impressive knowledge and deep interest in vehicle design, engineering and manufacturing.’ ■
