As people are sharing Prince Philip anecdotes... In the early sixties my dad was a very junior UK diplomat and was sent to the Turks and Caicos islands as “deputy governor “ with his new bride. There was no development then and life was v basic. His boss, the governor, got ill 1/

and had to return to London. As there were only the two of them, my father was now in charge. Which would have been fine but a Royal visit was announced and he, age 22, was the host. When the Royal Yacht Britannia arrived offshore the local fishermen decided to provide a 2/

welcome and sailed out to accompany the royal barge ashore. But they had had a drunken reunion with each other all night and were in no fit state, so we’re colliding with the barge and each other all the way in. Once ashore, the best Dad had been able to arrange as formal 3/

welcome to the Queen was a donkey race on the beach (I mentioned life was basic). Said donkey race was solemnly performed in front of the Queen and I gather Philip thought it was all hilarious. So much so that my parents and a few others were invited to lunch. The royal yacht 4/

took them off to a deserted island nearby and a barbecue was sent ashore. My parents then expected the staff to busy themselves with the food, but it was Philip who got the coals going and cooked and served everyone lunch on the beach.

There aren’t that many photos and I can’t find the very cool one of Dad but he’s in the background as Philip and Liz look fascinated at a lobster farm.

As a postscript, he was always rather embarrassed to have received an MBE at 22 for being on point during a royal visit. He received more later in life though.

I have managed to dig out some old cine film of the day. It includes the donkeys, the fishermen and Dad with Phil 'n' Liz. Dad had already done some extraordinary things before this and went on to do even more extraordinary things later in life.

He died four years ago and we miss him terribly. But he had one very cool life.

Well, my mother now knows about this thread (uh oh). Which means there are some clarifications and further photos. First, the photos, including a moment of fishing boat collision with the royal barge (with the Gov of Bahamas in I gather).

And the Governor had returned from London in time for the visit and was in charge of the wider regional tour (including the Bahamas) but Dad was in charge of the Caicos leg. Also, Dad got an MBE for all of the work he did there over 3 years not just this visit!

And this was Feb 1966 so Dad was a little bit older than 22.

And with the serendipity of Twitter, I have found of someone else who had a relative there that day. Who my mother knew! https://twitter.com/alexsstraw/status/1381327947781525513?s=20