A nervous John Horn, president of the Malaspina College student council, stood in line at the college campus in 1983 with a welcoming party for the royal couple, Queen Elizabeth II and her consort Prince Philip.
He’d been briefed on protocol, like not speaking until spoken to or gripping the royals’ hands too hard, but it all went out the window when his eyes met with the Queen’s.
“She’s got these eyes. You just look at them and they’re so warm…,” he said. “Because she’s the queen you expect her to be regal and distant, but really this intense sort of charisma and warmth that came off her, it was so relaxing.
“I was like ‘hey how are you doing Queen,’ shaking her hand, blowing off the protocol completely,” he said with a laugh.
Britain’s Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, was convivial, Horn got a sense that “you could have a laugh with the guy,” but he said you could tell he was doing his duty.
“He’s a nice enough man. He was open and asked me questions and greeted me and charming and all that stuff, but the feeling I got from him was I’m wondering when this is over and I can go get my G and T,” Horn said.
As of this fall, Prince Philip, 95, the longest-serving British consort and founder of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, will no longer do public engagements, Buckingham Palace announced today (May 4).
The Duke has the full support of the Queen, who will continue to carry out a full programme of official engagements with support of members of the Royal family, the statement says.
Prince Philip is no stranger to this city, having accompanied the Queen at least four times from 1951 to 1983.
In 1983, an estimated 30,000 people from across the Island crammed into viewing areas to see the royal couple. The Britannia yacht, with the Prince and Queen on board, was escorted by racing bathtubs and when it entered the harbour a fleet of 200 vessels trailed its wake with “crews and friends all straining for a glimpse of the Queen and Prince Philip,” says a Daily Free Press article.
People downtown, at college and at the airport had the chance to give the Queen flowers and Prince Philip, “noted for liking children better than security, several times waved youngsters with bouquets past barricades to give them a chance to give their flowers to the Queen.”
That year royal watcher Sue Gueulette took her little boy to the corner of Wakesiah and Bowen to wait for the royal couple to turn the corner to Malaspina College, which they toured that year.
She said the prince is a tremendous support for the Queen and they are such a pair.
“I guess because of his age, he’s having to maybe not do formal duties anymore,” she said, adding it’s probably realistic.
Horn, who has a photo on his wall of the day he met the Queen, said it’s too bad because Prince Philip is a historical piece of the British Empire, not just because he’s been the Prince but he carried with him a certain British stiff upper lip.