Letter shows Duke of Edinburgh apologised over failing to toast Richard Nixon

16 April 2021, 08:24

The Queen, Duke of Edinburgh and Richard Nixon
Politics – President Richard Nixon UK Visit – London. Picture: PA

The newly-unearthed handwritten note to the US leader in 1969 shows the duke ‘woke up in a cold sweat’ when he realised he failed to follow protocol.

A newly-unearthed handwritten note has revealed that a faux pas by the Duke of Edinburgh at a White House dinner with former US president Richard Nixon in 1969 caused Philip to lose sleep.

In a handwritten note to the president uncovered by archivists at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California, Philip wrote to “humbly apologise” for failing to toast the president’s health, as dictated by protocol during a “stag” dinner in his honour.

Writing from Greenland on November 7 of that year after his solo trip to the US had concluded, the duke wrote: “After the brilliance of the other speakers and yourself, I am afraid my contribution was very lame.”

He added: “That night I woke up in a cold sweat when I realised I had forgotten to propose your health!”

Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon (PA)

Philip died last week aged 99, with his funeral due to take place on Saturday. He was married to the Queen for 73 years.

Jim Byron, executive vice president of the Nixon Foundation, said: “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 across the world, have come to admire.”

He said the letter was discovered before the coronavirus pandemic but made public this week, as a way of marking Philip’s death.

“It expresses some private feelings of a moment in time that the public really doesn’t always get a chance to see,” Mr Byron added.

During White House dinners, honoured guests usually offer a toast to the president’s health and success. Philip wrote to Mr Nixon that he could not “begin to tell you how much I appreciated your very great kindness and hospitality at the White House. I was quite overwhelmed by the guests but delighted to meet such a distinguished company.”

The duke mentioned travelling to New York, where he was interviewed by Barbara Walters for NBC’s Today show.

The Queen and Richard Nixon
The Queen with Richard Nixon at Chequers (PA)

“The weather in New York was horrible but otherwise all went well,” Philip wrote, “and I found Miss Walters particularly charming and intelligent. I hope we did a good piece.”

The long guest list for the dinner was all-male. It included vice president Spiro Agnew, most of the members of Nixon’s cabinet and non-governmental notables such as business magnate Ross Perot and British-born comedian Bob Hope.

Mr Byron said Mr Nixon almost certainly replied to Philip’s letter, but, with the library archives remaining closed because of the pandemic, what he might have said is unknown.

What Philip said in his remarks – other than omitting wishing Mr Nixon good health – is unknown for the same reason.

The dinner came a day after Mr Nixon delivered his famous “silent majority” speech in which he implored a US national audience to unite behind the continuing war in Vietnam until his administration could achieve “peace with honour”.

Richard Nixon visit to the UK
The Queen, then-prime minister Edward Heath and US president Richard Nixon and his wife Pat (PA)

Mr Byron said top aide, HR Haldeman, who later went to prison for his involvement in the Watergate scandal, noted in his diary how absolutely joyful the president was that night, given that his address had been positively received.

Mr Nixon, who died aged 81 in 1994, was a bit older than Philip, but the two had known each other for years by then.

As vice president, Mr Nixon and his wife met the Queen and Philip in London.

The Nixons gave the royal couple a tour of Washington’s sites when they made a state visit to the US in 1959.

“Philip, by all measures, he was being kind,” Mr Byron said of the letter. “And really expressing so much of his character.”

By Press Association

Latest World News

See more Latest World News

Virginia Giuffre

Woman driving Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Giuffre during crash that left her with 'four days to live' breaks silence

Exclusive
'Donald Trump has made Putin comfortable,' Mikhail Khodorkovsky has warned

'Trump has made Putin comfortable' despite massive Ukraine war losses, exiled former oligarch tells LBC

The bodies of Andrew Searle and his wife Dawn were discovered by a neighbour.

British couple found dead in south of France home being ‘treated as murder-suicide’

The vehicle was later extinguished after the driver, covered in flames, emerged from the vehicle.

Amsterdam Dam Square car explosion sees driver engulfed in flames - just days after mass stabbing

d

Pictured: US tourist arrested for sailing to remote island and leaving a can of Coke for world's most isolated tribe

The Sentinelese are a pre-Neolithic tribe that rejects contact with the modern world

US tourist arrested for sailing to remote island and leaving a can of Coke for the world's most isolated tribe to try

The Trump administration has been ridiculed after imposing tariffs on uninhabited islands

'No one is safe, not even the penguins': Trump administration ridiculed after imposing tariffs on uninhabited islands

World leaders react to US tariffs

'This is not the act of a friend': World leaders react to Trump's 'unwarranted' tariffs

British couple

British couple found dead in New Zealand named - as police probe possible murder-suicide

Virginia Giuffre said she had been left with 'four days to life' after the crash

Bus driver breaks silence on Virginia Giuffre crash that left her 'with four days to live'

Foreign Secretary David Lammy

David Lammy to urge Nato allies to increase defence spending in bid to make alliance 'stronger, fairer and more lethal'

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen

EU threatens further countermeasures against US tariffs after 'major blow to world economy'

Lord Sugar labels Trump tariffs 'a disaster' as Apprentice star teases potential US Presidential meeting

Lord Sugar labels Trump tariffs 'a disaster' and warns that the president 'hasn't thought it through'

Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations in Gaza

Israel expands ground attack on Gaza to seize 'large areas' - despite pleas from hostage families

Police said two people died on Palliser Road, Roseneath.

British couple found dead at home in New Zealand - just months after moving to 'begin new chapter'

Virginia Giuffre warned it was a "very bad situation" after she claimed a school bus ploughed into her car

Virginia Giuffre was charged with breaching restraining order days before crash that 'left her with days to live'