As I was watching the funeral of Prince Philip on television last Saturday, I recalled the day 20 years ago when my wife Ludie and I saw Philip and his wife, Queen Elizabeth the Second of Great Britain, up close in London.
And I also was reminded of our discovery the following day of a street named “Nevada” in the London suburb of Greenwich, the prominent role a powerful Nevada politician played during the 1939 visit to our nation’s Capitol by British King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth, who were the parents of the present Queen Elizabeth, and my trip 13 years ago to a remote Pacific island nation where Prince Philip, who died 12 days ago at the age of 99, has been worshiped as a god by a bizarre “Philip cult” for many years.
As for our seeing Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Ludie and I, who were spending a week in London, had read in the London Times that the two royals were scheduled to participate in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Boy Scouts by an Englishman.
We arrived at the cathedral about a half-hour before the ceremony was to begin, but were barred from entering because we had no official invitation from Buckingham Palace. We stuck around, however, and in a few minutes Elizabeth and Philip arrived in a Rolls-Royce limousine, the only vehicle in the country that is not required to have a license plate. Out stepped Philip and Elizabeth, who waved to the crowd as they walked up the cathedral steps. It appeared they directed their waves to Ludie and me as we waved excitedly to them! But, alas, they were also waving to the several hundred others clustered around the cathedral’s entrance.
By the way, Elizabeth is one of our favorite names. The oldest of our three children is named Elizabeth, and the middle name of Amy, her middle child and one of our three grandchildren, is also Elizabeth. There are so many Elizabeths in this column that I hope I haven’t confused any of our readers.
As for the street named “Nevada,” it is located near the center of Greenwich not far from the banks of the meandering Thames River, the Royal Observatory, the Maritime Museum and the city’s port, from which British Admiral Lord Richard Howe’s ships containing thousands of troops sailed to North America in 1777 in a futile effort to put down the American rebellion.
Nevada Street also boasts four or five houses and a half-dozen shops, restaurants and bars including Heap’s Sausage Shop, the Spread Eagle Tavern and Oliver’s Wine and Music Bar. In another part of London there is a second street named Nevada, and we hope to visit it on a future London excursion. By the way, no one we spoke with in Greenwich’s Nevada Street cafes and shops had an inkling why it was named Nevada. I did learn, though, that it originally was named Silver Street but its name was changed to Nevada in 1912.
Concerning the role a prominent Nevada politician played in the 1939 U.S. Capitol visit by then-King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth, who were the parents of the present Queen Elizabeth: That politician was Nevada U.S. Sen. Key Pittman, a Democrat, who was chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Affairs Committee who also served as the Senate pro tempore. Pittman, who served in the Senate from 1913 until his death in 1940, also was the brother of future Nevada Gov. Vail Pittman, the owner and publisher of the Ely Daily Times.
When King George and Queen Elizabeth arrived by car at the Capitol steps, the first to greet them was Pittman, who was given the coveted assignment because of his role as Senate Foreign Affairs Committee chairman. He escorted the two royals, who were followed by more than a dozen military aides and ladies-in-waiting, into the Capitol rotunda, where he introduced them to Vice President John Nance Garner, also a Democrat, and members of the Senate, the House of Representatives and the press corps.
That evening, the king and queen and their entourage were the guests of Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat who had been elected president six years earlier, at a White House reception and gala dinner. The visit to the U.S. by King George and Queen Elizabeth was the first to this nation by any reigning foreign monarchs.
Because I am nearly out of space and there is so much I want to write about my trip to the remote Pacific island nation and its bizarre “Philip cult,” I’ll put it on ice for a future column.
David C. Henley is publisher emeritus of the Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle-Standard.
