Personal memories of meeting the Duke

Chris Jinks received his gold award in 1991, a special year in that it marked the 35th anniversary of the scheme.

As a result, Mr Jinks and other gold achievers were invited to Buckingham Palace for a garden party.

‘Back in those days Buckingham Palace wasn’t open to the public,’ he said. ‘So it was extra special.’

At the time he was training to be a police officer with the Hampshire Constabulary and had to obtain special permission to have the day off to attend the event.

This was granted on one condition – that he wear his uniform.

‘The only downside was that everyone came up to me to ask where the loos were.’

The Duke of Edinburgh complimented him on how smart he looked, though.

‘He was a charming and consummate man,’ said Mr Jinks.

‘My first impression of him was “My, he’s really tall.” He had that ability to put everyone at their ease and he knew just what to say.’

Cramming into a Fiat 600 with his mother and step-father to drive to Buckingham Palace is one of former head teacher Paul Steer’s abiding memories of receiving his gold award.

It was in 1962 that Mr Steer was given his medal by Prince Philip at the palace, which he remembered as making a huge impression on him as a teenager.

‘I can remember the size of the room we were in. I was a little bit blown away,’ he said. ‘It was like visiting the Palace of Versailles or somewhere like that, only we got in for free.’

There were hundreds of award recipients there, who stood in circles to receive their medal, with the Duke chatting to them as he moved around the circle and the medal being handed over by an assistant following him.

Mr Steer was wearing a Guernsey Rugby Club tie and he remembered Prince Philip asking him about this.

The occasion was made even more special for Mr Steer’s mother, who was one of three ‘international’ mothers who were invited to have tea with the Duke and DofE Award co-founder Sir John Hunt.

But there was no place at the table for Mr Steer or his step-father, who had to wait in the car until the tea was over.

It was not just DofE gold award winners who had the opportunity to meet the Prince.

During the Royal couple’s visit to the island in 1978, Deborah Gallienne-Ward was 15 and one of the students at La Mare de Carteret Secondary School who met Prince Philip at the school.

She was one of those taking the bronze award and was showing the ‘making the most of yourself’ section of the course at the time, by being shown how to apply make-up by Pat Janes.

‘I can remember him joking and asking “Do you like wearing make-up?”,’ she said. ‘He was really interested to hear if we had enjoyed doing the DofE.’

She also told him she had enjoyed camping in a field at Pleinmont, but she had not liked the long hike with the heavy packs.

‘I said it made my shoulders hurt and he laughed.’

The Duke asked me if there was something in the Guernsey milk – squash star

ASIDE from DofE awards, some islanders came into contact with the Duke as a result of other achievements.

Guernsey squash player Lisa Opie was 27 when she met Prince Philip after triumphing in the British Open tournament at Wembley in 1991.

It was Ms Opie’s fifth final and she became the first British woman to win the title in 30 years.

She remembered that in order to get to the final she had to play every member of the English team on the way, including fellow Guernsey player Martine Le Moignan.

Ms Opie remembered the Duke of Edinburgh saying something like ‘Congratulations, it must feel particularly satisfying after all of those finals especially in a Jubilee year’.

Her parents were also present on the day and said that she told them that after congratulating her, Prince Philip asked: ‘Is there something in the Guernsey milk?’ when he presented her with the trophy.