During his decades in public life, Prince Philip was known for sticking his royal foot in his mouth with occasional remarks that could be uncomfortable. But his faux pas during a White House dinner with President Richard Nixon in 1969 was enough to really lose Philip.
In a handwritten note to the president uncovered by archivists at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California, the Duke of Edinburgh writes of ‘humble to apologize’ for not praising the president’s health as prescribed by protocol during a ‘deer’. dinner in his honor.
“After the brilliance of other speakers and yourself, I’m afraid my contribution was very lame,” Philip wrote to Greenland’s Nixon on November 7 after completing his solo trip to the US. He added: “That night I woke up cold sweating when I realized I forgot to suggest your health!”
Philip passed away last week at the age of 99 and his funeral is Saturday. He was married to Queen Elizabeth for 73 years.
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“I think the letter itself shows the character of Prince Philip that so much of the public in the UK and across the Commonwealth, and really around the world, has begun to admire,” said Jim Byron, executive vice president of the Nixon foundation, said. He said the letter was discovered before the coronavirus pandemic, but was made public this week as a way to mark Philip’s death.
In this June 2, 1953 file, British Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, wave from the balcony of Buckingham Palace, London, after the coronation of the Queen in Westminster Abbey. Buckingham Palace confirmed Philip’s death last Friday at the age of 99.
(AP Photo / Leslie Priest)
“It expresses some private feelings from a moment that the public does not always get a chance to see,” Byron added.
Known for his quick wit and willingness to be self-impoverished, Philip’s remarkableness did not always go well, and sometimes went into racism. In 1995, he asked a Scottish driving instructor: ‘How can you keep the residents drinking long enough to pass the test?’ Seven years later in Australia, when visiting Aboriginal people with the Queen, he asked, “Are you still throwing spears at each other?”
While visiting a military barracks, Philip asked a sea cadet instructor if she worked in a strip club, and even told a woman who had lost two boys in a fire that smoke alarms were a “deadly nuisance” is. bathroom, and every time I bathe, the steam puts it off. ‘
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President Richard M. Nixon dedicates his new government to the issue of ‘peace between nations’, as former President Lyndon Johnson, right, listens to the inaugural address on 20 January 1969 in Washington. On the right are Vice President Spiro Agnew and former Vice President Hubert Humphrey.
(AP)
During White House dinners, guests of honor usually offer a toast to the president’s health and success. Philip wrote to Nixon that he could not ‘begin to tell you how much I appreciate your kindness and hospitality in the White House. I was quite overwhelmed by the guests, but was delighted to meet such a distinguished company. ‘
He mentions that he then traveled to New York, where he was interviewed by Barbara Walters for NBC’s program “Today”.
“The weather in New York was terrible, but otherwise everything went well,” Philip wrote, “and I found Miss Walters particularly charming and intelligent. I hope we did a good job.”
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The long guest list for the meal was masculine. These included Vice President Spiro Agnew, most members of Nixon’s Cabinet and non-government figures such as business tycoon Ross Perot and British comedian Bob Hope.
Byron said Nixon almost certainly responded to Philip’s letter, but because the library’s archives were closed due to the pandemic, it is unknown. What Philip said in his remarks – apart from wishing Nixon good health – is unknown for the same reason.
The dinner took place a day after Nixon delivered his famous “silent majority” speech in which he begged a national audience to unite behind the ongoing war in Vietnam until his government could achieve “peace with honor”. Byron said HR Assistant HR Haldeman, who later went to jail for his involvement in the Watergate scandal, noted in his diary how joyful the president was that evening as his address was received positively.
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Nixon, who died in 1994 at the age of 81, was a little older than Philip, but the two had known each other for years. As vice president, Nixon and his wife meet Queen Elizabeth and Philip in London. The Nixons gave the royal couple a tour of Washington’s grounds when they paid a state visit to the United States in 1959.
“Philip, he was kind in every way,” Byron said of the letter. “And to really express so much of his character.”