Equestrian connections: Prince Philip remembered as great horseman
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip are shown in an undated photo. The Prince died April 9 at age 99, after a life of many accomplishments, including those in the world of equestrian sports. (Photo Provided by Tim Butterfield)
Queen Elizabeth II’s husband Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, lived his 99 years to the fullest, and one of his lasting impacts is in the world of equestrian sports.
Not everyone in the U.S. may be aware of the Prince’s passion for competition carriage driving, the sport he founded in the 1970s. But his global influence on the sport is widely known, and David Saunders is chief among those who know it best. He spent 20 years as Prince’s head coachman at the Royal Mews at Windsor Castle.
Now based in Florida, Saunders lived and breathed the sport alongside the Prince, who started the sport and took it international. Not only was Prince Philip a fierce competitor, but he was an innovator and a trailblazer. As the president of the FEI (International Equestrian Federation), he wrote the first set of international rules for competition carriage driving and shepherded them through the approval process.
“He was the father of the sport,” Saunders said.
Together, Saunders and Prince Philip worked on improving the modern carriage design, and the latter was “always full of ideas,” as Saunders put it. During those years, among many innovations, there needed to be a way to disconnect the horses from the carriage in case of emergencies, and the Prince and Saunders worked together to use boat parts to fix the issue.
Time and again, they would make adjustments, test a new idea, and try different one until something worked. The results were impressive, and lasting.
“We developed the first modern cross-country carriage; everyone copied us,” Saunders said.
The Prince wasn’t shy to share his opinion, but Saunders said he was always open-minded about new approaches to solving problems.
“He wasn’t a boss who came down and said, ‘This is the way I want it done,’” Saunders recalled.
Prince Philip also wrote multiple books about the sport he created, each of which Saunders appeared in. They include the 2004 book, “30 Years On and Off The Box Seat,” which looks back on his career in the sport.
In the book, the Prince recounted his love of competition carriage driving, and said those sports which depended on a relationship between horse and rider were in a class of their own.
“For people who are accustomed to human-only sports, and to the mechanized world, it must be very difficult to appreciate the complexities of the partnership between human and animal,” he wrote. “This partnership is a crucial feature in all the equestrian sports.”
Chris Higgins holds a picture from the Queen’s Silver Jubilee at Glasgow Train Station in 1977, from when he worked at the Royal Mews. (Gareth Henderson Photo)
Not long after the Prince started out in competition carriage driving in 1972, Chris Higgins, who now lives in South Woodstock, Vermont, began working at the Royal Mews as a junior livery servant, a groom, in 1974. He worked primarily on the Queen’s show team during his 3 ½ years at the Royal Mews.
“He was very down to earth,” Higgins said of the Prince. “He just told it as it was — and horse-wise, as well. If he didn’t like the horses, or he didn’t get along with them, you knew about it.”
Higgins also pointed out that being around horses was part of royal life, and kids in the family were expected to learn how to do royal duties on horseback. Prince Philip was dedicated to making sure his kids learned how to ride. Princess Anne went on to win a gold medal in the Olympics in 1971, and Prince Charles is also an accomplished rider.
“He was very supportive of his kids, getting them on horses,” Higgins said.
Prince Philip was competitive, indeed, but he was also a dedicated sportsman and wanted a level playing field when it came to international carriage driving, Higgins recalled.
“He felt that the more wealthy countries by far had an advantage over the poorer countries for buying horses and equipment,” Higgins said. “So he had the rules changed to help balance that out. … Keeping the harness clean and the horses clean, and buying the best equipment and the best horses, certainly comes with money.”
Another Vermont resident who’s seen the Prince’s impact is Tim Butterfield, who now has a farm in Hartland, Vermont. He started going to the UK by invitation about 20 years ago, where he took part in some coaching events. Butterfield’s first membership in Europe was with the Road Club, and he was later invited to join the British Coaching Club, through which he met other coaching enthusiasts and was invited to attend the races at Ascot, the Queen’s race track.
“The Queen was an avid horsewoman, and the Prince was an avid horseman,” Butterfield said. “Because we would be guests of the officers of the British coaching club, they would get to stable their four teams in the Royal Mews at Windsor Castle. To be in the Castle grounds, and past security, and watch the queen coming and going, and watch the Duke driving out, it’s pretty special.”
For Butterfield, a quality that always stood out was the Prince’s natural ability to relate to others, and show interest in them.
“He was an old-world gentleman, but he absolutely had the common touch,” Butterfield said.
Tim Butterfield driving down High Street in Ascot, England. (Photo Provided)
Saunders remembered the day of the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana of Wales in 1981. He played an integral role as head coachman, as there were four processions going to St. Paul’s Cathedral, and two coming back.
“There were 2 million people on the streets; I couldn't hear the horses clopping,” he said.
Later, Prince Philip, always gracious with those who worked for him, made a point of thanking his head coachman. Saunders recalls it very well.
“He took the time in the middle of a royal wedding to come over and say thank-you to me,” Saunders said. “That just tells you a lot about the kind of guy he was.”
— Gareth Henderson
