Among those poets invited to Buck House for the Contemporary British Poetry party were British beat bard Michael Horovitz. “And where do you write?” asked Prince Philip. “In a slightly smaller room than this,” replied Horovitz. Prince Philip: “No, I mean where do you live?” Horovitz: “Oh! Just off Portobello Road ...”
Philip (looking quizzically at name tag): “So not abroad then?”
The party was hosted by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and guests included Ian McMillan, Fleur Adcock and Roger McGough. But given the history of the royal family’s appreciation for modern verse, it was perhaps brave of any poet to venture past the palace guards.
The late Queen Mother’s recollection of hearing TS Eliot recite The Wasteland was of “this rather lugubrious man … Looked as though he worked in a bank, and we didn’t understand a word … First the girls got the giggles, and then I did, and then even the King.” At least Prince Philip didn’t get the giggles.
