Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who passed away on Friday, made three trips to the Cayman Islands over the years – once on a solo visit and the next two with his wife, Queen Elizabeth II.
Philip was the second member of the royal family to visit Cayman, following the visit of Mary, Princess Royal, in 1960. Prince Philip arrived on 3 April, 1962, on board a Royal Air Force plane, which landed at the Owen Roberts Airfield.
He stayed until 5 April, lodging at the recently completed Government House on Seven Mile Beach – home of Cayman’s successive governors over the years.
A grand reception was held for him at the Galleon Beach Hotel. There was also a public gathering in Princess Royal Park to meet the prince.
The Princess Royal Park was named after Princess Mary, who had planted a tree there during her visit. The land later became the site of the current Legislative Assembly building.
On 16 Feb. 1983, Prince Philip returned to Grand Cayman, with his wife Queen Elizabeth II for her first visit to the island.
The royal couple, who spent just one day here during that visit, arrived at Owen Roberts International Airport on board a VC10 aircraft, and were welcomed by elected officials and senior civil servants.
A special Rolls-Royce was brought in by the M.V. Kirk Express for the queen and Prince Philip to make their tours of the island. Features of the car included flag staffs, fluorescent lighting, television, refrigerator, bar and burled-walnut interior. Sergeant Buel Ebanks was the driver.
A welcoming crowd, estimated at 5,000, turned out for the arrival – more than one-quarter of Cayman’s population. Schoolchildren greeted the couple with flags, flowers and applause. During their tour of the island, the royal pair got a glimpse of the simpler side of Cayman as they passed through each district and met Caymanians from all walks of life.
In West Bay, they were waved at by schoolchildren and residents, before the couple boarded Post Time, a 46-foot luxury sport fishing yacht which took them from Morgan’s Harbour to Cayman Kai.
It was during that visit that the queen opened the five-mile-long North Side/East End road – named Queen’s Highway, linking the north and east coasts of Grand Cayman for the first time. She also officially opened The Pines Retirement Home.
The royal couple visited Cayman just one more time – on 26-27 Feb. 1994, on their fifth stop on their eight-country Caribbean tour. They arrived in George Town Harbour aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia, and were greeted by Governor Michael Gore and his wife Monica, who introduced them to local dignitaries.
Prince Philip, who became known for his famous gaffes over the years, reportedly asked a local resident during the 1994 trip, “Aren’t most of you descended from pirates?”
In his subsequent report to the British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd on the royal couple’s visit, Governor Gore stated that the comment was allegedly made when Prince Philip and the queen visited the National Museum to view an exhibition commemorating the ‘Wreck of the Ten Sails’. Gore told Hurd, “neither I nor anyone I have spoken to actually heard him say it”.
During this visit, the queen knighted former Financial Secretary Vassel Johnson, and officially opened the Ed Bush Sports Complex in West Bay and Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park on Frank Sound Road.
While in Cayman on that visit, Prince Philip took the opportunity to meet those involved with the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme and presented gold awards to six young people.
In his report, Gore described the royal visit as “a most happy occasion”. He added, “the programme went like clockwork and it was clear that both The Queen and The Duke enjoyed visiting one of the remaining Dependent Territories where everything works and where they were truly welcome.”
Watch a video of the royal couple’s 1994 trip to Cayman here.
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