Queen Elizabeth was just a young princess when she came face-to-face with a 115-year-old tortoise named Jonathan during a royal trip to St Helena in 1947. Now aged 192, that very same tortoise was paid a special visit by the late Queen’s son, Prince Edward, who is visiting the subtropical British overseas territory for the first time as part of a foreign tour.
The Duke of Edinburgh, who was pictured crouching down next to the Seychelles giant tortoise, is spending four days on the South Atlantic island having already completed a two-day tour of South Africa.
The King’s youngest brother, 59, joins a long list of royals to have met Jonathan – thought to be the oldest living animal in the world after hatching in 1832.
The Duke of Edinburgh crouching down next to the 192-year-old tortoise named Jonathan.
The Queen met the tortoise when she was visiting the island as a princess with her father, King George VI, the Queen Mother and her sister Princess Margaret in 1947.
She was filmed laughing hysterically as her mother and father fed the tortoise a meal. Ten years later, she returned to the island as Queen alongside her husband Prince Philip.
Prince Edward has become the first member of the Royal Family to visit St Helena since Princess Anne travelled there in 2002. A public holiday has been announced on the island for Wednesday to celebrate the visit by the Duke, who is 14th in line to the throne. On St Helena, Prince Edward will meet community leaders and celebrate the culture, people and biodiversity of the island. Yesterday, he became the first royal to arrive on the island by air, as the airport only opened in 2017.
Governor Nigel Phillips said: ‘This promises to be a special occasion, with a public holiday allowing the entire community to join this opportunity to celebrate all that is great about the culture and environment of this remarkable island.’
A trip to St Helena follows a visit to South Africa where Prince Edward might have just expressed what many a woman is currently thinking.
Seemingly referring to global crises including the invasion of Ukraine and the Israeli-Hamas war, the King’s brother voiced the opinion that, perhaps, ‘men aren’t doing a very good job at the moment’.
At the British High Commission in Pretoria on Monday night, to announce enhanced scientific collaboration between South Africa and the UK, Edward said: ‘I know the world is not in a happy place at the moment.
‘If I can be quite frank, men aren’t doing a very good job at the moment. So therefore I am not particularly happy about standing up here and speaking [as a man]. But I will say there is more that binds us together, more that brings us together, than separates us.’
It is understood Edward’s comments were in response to speeches made by others, and in the context of a number of international conflicts that had been mentioned. ‘His Royal Highness was reflecting on the need to build bridges and not allow conflict to drive communities apart,’ a source said.
His words are likely to be welcomed by women’s groups, and no doubt his wife, the Duchess of Edinburgh, who has become a global campaigner on gender equality issues, including the disproportionate impact of conflict on women and girls and the positive role women play in building peace.
Sophie is a major supporter of both the Women, Peace and Security agenda and the UK’s Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative.
The overseas tour comes as the Princess of Wales remains in hospital after abdominal surgery, with the Prince of Wales stepping back temporarily from royal duties to care for her and their children, and while the King prepares to be admitted to undergo treatment for an enlarged prostate.
The Duke and his wife the Duchess of Edinburgh, both 59, are the youngest members of Charles’s slimmed down working monarchy who are currently carrying out royal duties.
At just 47 square miles, St Helena is a third of size of the Isle of Wight, and around the same size as Disney World Orlando. Its nearest landmass is Ascension Island, which is 807 miles to the North West. -Daily Mail.uk
