Prince Philip on Henry VIII

Antonia Fraser

Pinter & Fraser at home

This is an excerpt from Antonia Fraser's Must You Go ? about her life with Harold Pinter. A lot of the book is diary entries, & this is one for 21 March, 1990. I love it because it rings so true about Prince Philip. I can just see this happening.

Prince Philip c.1990

Vaclav Havel in 1990

"Havel's visit to London. We are asked to a small, i.e. non-State, lunch at Buckingham Palace .... the Queen arrives with the Duke of Edinburgh, into a small sitting room decorated with pictures of the daughters of George III .... I find myself with the Duke of Edinburgh. He asked me what I was writing - I was dreading that. When I revealed that it was The Six Wives of Henry VIII, he said quite angrily & looking irritable too: 'Why do people always say "Henry VIII & his six wives" as though it was all one word ? There is plenty more to say about Henry.' Me, cravenly: 'Oh yes, sir, there is, I mean he was a wonderful musician.' The Duke, sounding even crosser: 'He was a wonderful military strategist, a fighter, he bashed the French.' He repeated the words with great emphasis. 'He bashed the French.'"