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A L A M Y, G E T T Y I M A G E S , TO N Y R A M I R E Z /
I M A G E S O F P O LO. C O M
Although no one rode harder or more
competitively than Prince Philip, after
a loss no one was quicker to switch off
and forget any rancour that might have
been engendered on the ground. His
attitude was simply to look forward
to the next game and to enjoy whatever
après-polo parties were on offer.
As well as the many military
appointments, in time the Prince became
Chancellor of four universities and
Patron or President of a string of civilian
organisations, such as the WWF (World
Wildlife Fund for Nature) and the FEI
Cup, and captaining The Welsh Guards
in a match versus The Royal Horse Guards.
The following year he formed his own
‘Windsor Park’ team based on pre-war
international Humphrey Guinness (mounted
as ever by Archie David), whose colours –
dark green with red piping – were similar
to the cassocks worn by the choristers of
the Chapel in Royal Lodge.
His colleagues in The Mariners carried
on, calling themselves ‘The Ancient
Mariners’. Both teams quickly achieved
success in 1956, with Windsor Park
winning the Harrison Cup and The
Ancient Mariners the County Cup.
The following year, Prince Philip made
his first foray into high-goal. His Windsor
Park team contained both Humphrey
Guinness and Tito Lalor – an Argentinean
professional also mounted and supported
by Archie David. Straight away, they
took the British Open (The Cowdray Gold
Cup), beating Baron Elie de Rothschild's
Casarejo in the finals.
Apart from the Vestey brothers, there
are not many English amateurs, or English
professionals for that matter, whose name
can be found on the Gold Cup three times.
Yet that is what Prince Philip achieved,
winning it again with his Windsor Park
team in both 1966 and 1969, still playing
well up to his 1964 handicap of 5 goals.
In those years, there were four other
high-goal tournaments: the Cowdray Park
Challenge Cup, which he won in 1962;
the Warwickshire, which he won in 1966;
the Midhurst Town Plate (a subsidiary of
the Gold Cup, which he won several times);
and the Queen’s Cup, which is notably
missing from his wins and probably the
one he would have valued most.
The nearest he came was in 1964 when,
with Argentinean Juan Carlitos Harriot,
Windsor Park were run out of it by
a half-goal in the finals. Afterwards, when
both teams were in the Royal Box, Prince
Philip asked Harriot, in the presence of Her
Majesty, ‘Juan Carlos, what does that word
“carajo”, which I overheard you muttering
several times, actually mean in English?’ Juan
Carlos had to think pretty quickly, but to his
eternal credit, almost without hesitation,
he replied: ‘It means well played, Sir.’
(International Equestrian Federation),
many of which involved extensive travel
abroad. As a result, whenever in a foreign
country where polo was indigenous, he
generally managed to fit in a game or two.
When he visited Jamaica to open the
Commonwealth Games in 1966, for example,
he took with him a medium-goal Windsor
Park team, soon to be joined by Prince
Charles returning from school in Australia.
And in 1970, he asked the all-English
Windsor Park high-goal team – with whom
he had won the Gold Cup six months earlier
– to accompany him on invitation to Mexico.
