PRINCE PHILIP CARVES “PUNCH” ROUND TABLE

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28541, 21 March 1958, Page 11

PRINCE PHILIP CARVES “PUNCH” ROUND TABLE

(Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, March 19. The Duke of Edinburgh finished his lunch today and a mariner’s knife was thrust into his hand. At one end was a sharp blade, and at the other a wicked-looking spike, the “Daily Mail” reported. The Duke grinned. “I’m just given a knife and told to get on with it,” he said. And while his fellow guests went on talking he dug the knife into the table and proceeded to carve the Greek letter Phi (which is short for Philip).

There was no cry of protest from the host, because the occasion was the famous weekly lunch of “Punch” magazine at which the main political cartoon is thought out. Artists, writers, and editors sit at a round table. Only the cream

of them are privileged to carve their initials on the hard deal surface. The Duke saw the initials of former lunch guests today—A. A. Milne, Thackeray, Phil May, Tenniel, and du Maurier among them. Everyone drank claret and hock with the steak and mushrooms—except the Duke. He called for a jug of draught beer.

When the cartoon discussion started no political punches were pulled. The Duke had decided views on matters of the moment —but it wouldn’t be fair to quote him, the “Daily Mail” said.

It is believed that the Duke of Edinburgh was the first “stranger” to attend the luncheon since Mark Twain’s visit to London in 1907 The luncheon was instituted 115 years ago.