In 2006 Press Gazette ran some excerpts from 'Duke of Hazard, The Wit and Wisdom of Prince Philip', by Phil Dampier and Ashley Walton, which included these three tales of his dealings with the press:
In Bangladesh, the Queen and the Duke were standing in the garden of a government building to meet guests waiting in line for a cocktail party. Ashley Walton, then royal correspondent of the Daily Express, was with other members of the travelling “Rat Pack” of reporters at the end of the line. Philip, not realising he could be overheard, turned to the Queen and grimaced: "Here come the bloody reptiles! ”At a press reception in Windsor Castle to mark the Golden Jubilee: " 'Who are you?' the Duke demanded of Simon Kelner. 'I’m the editor-in-chief of The Independent, sir.' 'What are you doing here?' asked the Duke.'You invited me.' 'Well, you didn’t have to come!' ”
Next victim was Martin Townsend, editor of the Sunday Express: “'Ah the Sunday Express,' said Philip. 'I was very fond of Arthur Christiansen.' 'Yes, there’s been a long line of distinguished editors,' replied Townsend. 'I didn’t say that!' barked Philip, walking away."
Chris Blackhurst on Twitter: "At a media reception at Buckingham Palace, a journalist introduced himself to Prince Philip: 'Hello sir, I’m so and so from the East Anglia Daily Press, do you read us when you’re in Sandringham?' Philip looked him up and down, paused, then said 'certainly not' and walked off."
Polly Toynbee in the Guardian: "Guardian investigations regularly reveal royal embarrassments, so it’s not surprising its journalists are not in favour.When the Queen invited a great gathering of journalists to a golden jubilee reception in Windsor Castle, she and Prince Philip entered the hall looking as if they were sucking lemons. Prince Philip approached the group I was with and asked where I was from. 'The Guardian,' I said, and asked: 'Do you ever read it?' 'No fear!' he said, and spun on his heel."
Giles Coren in The Times [£]: on his Times Radio show being dropped to make way for the coverage of the death of the Duke of Edinburgh: "As the announcement from the Palace came over Sky News and Cathy Newman’s team roared into action, while super-presenter Stig Abell leapt on to his Harley Davidson out in rural wherever-he-lives and powered towards London Bridge to head up the huge emergency media response the occasion required, I was already shuffling towards the lifts and reflecting, not for the first time, on how there are two kinds of journalist in this world: the ones who see a massive news story as an opportunity to be at the centre of things, grappling with the first draft of history; and the ones who see it as an opportunity to get away with doing nothing at all."
David Yelland on Twitter: "If I'd have been editing The Sun in Brexit war the paper would have backed Remain purely because of peace in the island of Ireland. The English Brexit editor class - including Boris - either didn't care or didn't listen. This is a disgrace."
Patricia Devlin on Index on Censorship: "Twenty years ago, Sunday World journalist Martin O’Hagan was assassinated by members of the violent Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF). The killing gang – who have never been convicted – later released a statement saying the reporter had been murdered for 'crimes against the loyalist people'. Two decades on the same type of language is not only bedecking lampposts across Northern Ireland in the form of anti-Irish Sea Border placards, but is also being used by those with influence in unionism and loyalism. It is this type of hard rhetoric that has fed into the hostility to media workers here, who have been murdered and attacked as they go about their jobs. Northern Ireland has paid a very high price for its peace; but what price must it pay to protect press freedom?"
Timothy Garton Ash in the Guardian on the media in Poland: "The ruling Law and Justice party has launched a systematic attack on independent media. The methods are straight out of Viktor Orbán’s playbook in Hungary. Public sector advertising and subscriptions are withdrawn from independent media. All sorts of regulatory chicanery is used against them. Public money is pumped into state television and radio. A “pandemic tax” is proposed on media advertising revenue. A projected law on the “repolonisation” of media would target foreign owners of the biggest independent outlets. A state-owned petrol company, PKN Orlen, whose boss is a Law and Justice party crony, buys both a major press distributor, Ruch, and the largest network of regional newspapers, Polska Press. The most critical papers are bombarded with lawsuits."
Political correspondent Chris Mason on BBC News at Ten on the Cameron-Greensill affair: “There's another point worth making too: journalism matters.The work of the Financial Times and the Sunday Times, ferreting out awkward truths, is what has prompted this.”
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