This past Friday April 9, I watched the news of the death of Prince Philip and found it touched me with unexpected sadness. Memory brought to mind my own encounters with the Prince. On both occasions I was struck by Prince Philip’s confidence, knowledge and sense of humour.

    During that same news report former Prime Minister Jean Chreitien was interviewed.  He was asked to give his thoughts of his relationship with the Prince and the first thing he mentioned was the visit of “the royals” during the centennial of the Canadian North West Territories in 1970. I, too was part of that event. As a mater of fact I was in charge of organizing several ceremonies. As part of the overall events I had arranged the unveiling of three plaques in the North West Territories with one at Fort Providence that Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, Prince Charles and Princess Anne would attend. Jean Chretien as then Minister of Northern Affairs was also in attendance.  One never knows when something unexpected will happen and it did; with the Queen and her family there. We found ourselves without the expected school choir to lead the singing of the national anthem. Saving the day, Chretien himself offered to lead the singing and did a surprisingly good job of it. The Queen was said to have reflected on that incident during a later meeting with a new Prime Minister Chretien.

    Prince Philip proved to be knowledgeable and interested in the Native people of the area. He took some time at Fort Providence to talk to the Native people about the construction and designs on their boats assembled on the river shore for a commemorative race following explorer Alexander Mackenzie’s route along what he called the “Disappointment River” because it went to the Artic rather than the Pacific Ocean. It was interesting to watch Philip’s reaction when he questioned one Native man who, maybe only from shyness seemed interested in the ground at Philip’s feet. With great patience Philip repeated the question three times before he got an answer. Philip’s ability to fit into an informal situation and put people at ease was also seen at the tour of the community picnic site when he ducked into the enclosure made of trees from the local woods to ask the ladies about the various dishes prepared. The story has been told that at the meal a server clearing the table in preparation for dessert said to Philip “Keep your fork Duke. We’re having pie.” True or not the saying “Keep your fork Duke” has become a family joke and is invariably used when clearing for dessert.

This link will take you to the Aldergrove Star and a picture of Prince Philip visiting Fort Langley in 1971. I you look you will see me in the background. The guy wearing the brown fedora

Langleyites bid adieu to Prince Philip – Aldergrove Star

  A year later the The Queen and Philip visited Fort Langley, B.C. for an opening there. I was given the honour of showing the Prince around the site.  I was again impressed with Philip’s inteligence and knowledge. He sort of embassed me with his knowledge of West Coast Natives and asked questions that I could not answer. His interest seemed much more in the Native peoples than the history of the fur trade in Canada which was my specialty. A couple of things happened there which showed Philip’s sense of humor. We strolled by the crowd with a little fellow, maybe five or six years old, who gazed away up to Philip and asked. “Are you really the Prince?” Philip’s immediate reply was, “Yes, hard to believe isn’t it?” Later I was quite insulted for the Prince when a man stuck a camera close up into Philip’s face, but Philip only ducked to the side to seem to study the camera and said, “Hmm! Quite expensive!”.

     Prince Philip, as the Queen’s husband almost always traveled with her. He had a supporting role but certainly had a strong presence none the less. We were close in age, he being only a couple years older than I but he left a permanent impression with me as a kind, intelligent, patient man. There was one other time I met The Queen. The Hudson’s Bay Company presented Lower Fort Garry in Winnipeg, Manitoba to the Government of Canada as a National Historic Site. Strangely, I cannot remember If Philip was there, but surely he must have been, playing the important part that was his.

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