Lisa's History Room

Prince Philip, pictured in 2006, took up carriage driving in 1971 after retiring from playing polo

In 1971, Prince Philip of England gave up polo. He was fifty years old. Not one to sit still, he cast about trying to come up with some other exciting activity that best befit his physical abilities. In a 2017 interview, Philip said,

I was looking round to see what next, I didn’t know what there was available. And I suddenly thought, well, we’ve got horses and carriages so why don’t I have a go. So I borrowed four horses from the stables in London, took them to Norfolk and practiced and thought – why not?

The Duke was instrumental in establishing carriage driving as a sport. He gathered a committee of equestrian experts to come up with a set of international rules for the fledgling sport. It involves dressage, time trials, and a challenging obstacle course. The sport involves either two or four-wheeled carriages pulled by a single horse, a tandem or four-in-hand team.

Philip took up the reins, competing on the British team at World and European Championships, touring many countries including Poland, Hungary, and the Netherlands. “It was very entertaining,” volunteered Philip.

What did Philip enjoy most about this thirty years of carriage racing?

They were all fun. I mean – it so happened, I don’t know why – but I always did rather well at dressage.* I didn’t manage the obstacles very well.

Interviewed at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, he shared that his favorite moment in carriage racing was, “Turning over here [Windsor] in the water.” Most of the carriages he raced were antiques and, in the rough and tumble of the sport, were regularly smashed up.

Prince Philip drives the Queen’s Team of part-bred Cleveland Bays at Home Park Windsor in 1974

*Dressage is “the highest expression of horse training” where “horse and rider are expected to perform from memory a series of predetermined movements.”

Source: The Daily Mail