A bylined article by His Royal Highness that nobody knows about…
The year was 1989 and I was the novice editor at a newly-launched New York-based ethnic magazine called India Worldwide which catered to the burgeoning Indian-American community. At this emerging enterprise I was also writer, researcher, fact checker, public relations person, chief dreamer with the task of making the impossible possible.
Not being a brand-name publication nor having a big budget, the challenge always was to find good writing. The 100th birth centenary of India’s first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, was around the corner and I was stressed out, wondering how to make the cover story special. I hit upon the idea of asking famous people to share their memories of Mr. Nehru.
I sat down and wrote request letters to the big names who had an Indian connection, and sent them off with a copy of the magazine. I heard from Indrani Rahman, the late great Odissi dancer, who had danced for President John Kennedy and the First Lady during Mr. Nehru’s visit to the White House in the 60’s. Not only did she share insightful memories but also a photograph with the famous inhabitants of the White House.Next I approached the elusive brilliant writer Ved Mehta, who actually took my phone call, chatted and permitted me to reprint an excerpt from his book in which he recounts his memorable lunch with Mr. Nehru at the prime minister’s residence.
Then my luck ran out. I had a call from the secretary of former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy who said that much as Mrs. Kennedy treasured meeting Mr. Nehru, she would have to decline to write because she never gave interviews and if she did it for one, she’d have to do it for others.
I went out to drown my sorrows in a bowl of hot and sour soup at the neighboring Chinese takeout joint.
I returned from lunch to find the office a-buzz. Buckingham Palace was on the phone!Yes, H.R. H. Prince Philip would write the piece, said His Majesty’s secretary and I should expect the article from him within a few days. True to his word, within a week an impressive looking sealed package arrived from Buckingham Palace, with a typed manuscript of the article by Prince Philip.
As he wrote in his article, he had been invited to India to lead a delegation from the British Association for the Advancement of Science to attend the annual meeting of the Indian Association. “I was naturally delighted to accept the invitation and the chance to visit India for the first time since the end of the war and since India had become independent. While there was no doubt that the reception would be friendly, no one was quite prepared for the really massive and touching welcome I received from huge crowds wherever I went. There could be no doubt that I was basking in the popularity of my uncle, Lord Mountbatten – the last, and much respected, Viceroy.” Prince Philip had met Pandit Nehru several times in Britain and “he was evidently determined that I should experience the traditional warmth of Indian hospitality.” This included the great Republic Day Parade on Rajpath, and as he described in his piece, “there were crowds as one can only see in India and, in spite of the inevitable pushing and shoving in such a mass of humanity, all was peaceful and good-tempered and the front ranks sat down quietly at the invitation of the police, who only needed to wave their ‘lathis’ harmlessly in the air.” A colorful raconteur, Prince Philip went on to describe the adventures that happened next: “The parade was conducted with great smartness and precision and the crowds enjoyed every moment of it. When it was all over, the Prime Minister invited me into his open car to drive back to the President’s house – the Rashtrapati Bhavan –along the parade route. Needless to say, the crowds showed their enthusiasm for their beloved leader and swarmed towards the car in spite of every effort of the police to hold them back. By that time we had climbed out of our seats and were perched on the open hood at the back.” He even added a touch of drama to the story and how his quick thinking helped save the day.“Then just as we got to the slight rise up to the Government offices, the engine stalled!! It stubbornly refused to be coaxed back into life and there was mild panic!! We were so completely hemmed by the crowd that even the policemen in the following car had the greatest difficulty in getting out and struggling through the swarms of delighted people who were pressed up against the cars.
“I guess everyone has a moment of inspiration at some time or other – mine came at that moment. I made gestures to the driver of the police car behind us to use his car to push us up the hill. He made contact with our back bumper like an expert shunting engine driver and off we went, without a great many people realizing what was happening.”And then Prince Philip ended the story with an unexpected happening – almost an anti-climax – and a touch of humor.
“Just to round off the occasion, I noticed that a bird had dropped its ‘visiting card’ onto the Prime Minister’s white Congress cap. I pointed this out to him adding that I was sure that it was a sign of good luck, but I am not certain that he was entirely convinced.”Thank Heavens for spontaneous, whimsical Prince Philip who marched to the beat of his own drummer. I cannot imagine any other world figure being so open-minded as to write up such a personal piece and send it off to the editor of an unknown ethnic publication. Needless to say the piece, with the royal byline, became the showpiece of the magazine, and I was fortunate to find in our photo files a wonderful shot of Pandit Nehru and Prince Philip actually perched on the backseat of the open limousine, waving to the masses.
With a graphic of a red rose, Mr. Nehru’s trademark flower which he wore in his buttonhole, on every page, that issue became one of our best but the highlight was definitely Prince Philip’s article with that famous royal byline.Years have passed since then and the magazine has now joined that Great Newsstand in the Sky but whenever India’s Republic Day rolls around, I think of Prince Philip and his generous act of sharing his special memories of a bygone time with his heartfelt article.
I see in my mind’s eye the colorful folk dancers and the tanks and the tri-color flags waving in the mellow winter sunshine in the Delhi of my youth, and somewhere in that exuberant parade I imagine Prince Philip and Pandit Nehru riding together in an open car.
With all the ups and downs India has gone through since Independence, the country always still manages to come out on top, still a raucous democracy, over a billion strong, each a voice for peace and living together. It might be karma, it might be destiny, or it might be the sheer persistence of her people. Then again, it might be just plain good luck, a bird’s ‘visiting card’ dropped on the Prime Minister’s head, as the Prince attested! I still have Prince Philip’s manuscript draft with its corrections scrawled by pen. After the article was published, I sent his draft back to Buckingham Palace, to Mr. Brian McGrath, C.V.O, requesting the Prince to please sign it for me.Replied Mr. McGrath: “I am so glad to hear that His Royal Highness’s excellent article was well received.” And yes, soon I received another package from the Palace. The Prince had kindly signed the manuscript draft – ‘Philip’.
(This article first appeared in my weekly column ‘India in America’ in CNBCTV18.com )
