Remembering Prince Philip - Design Ambassador

His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, will be remembered by many people for a host of reasons.  Those in the design community will certainly mourn the loss of an outstanding Design Ambassador, passionate in his belief that good design makes the world a better place and outspoken in his support for British designers and engineers.  He was also Patron of both the Institution of Engineering Designers and of the Chartered Society of Designers.

The Prince Philip Designers Prize (launched in 1959 as the Duke of Edinburgh's Prize for Elegant Design) remains the longest running Design Award in the United Kingdom, and celebrates those whose ‘design career has upheld the highest standards and broken new ground.’  It is perhaps surprising not to find Alex Moulton’s name in the list of designers from all fields who have been awarded the prize, but one must remember that during the 1960s the design profession was poorly recognised and indeed Moulton himself considered himself to be an engineer.  In later years he railed against the term ‘designer’ as he saw it as merely a marketing statement (which in the 1980s, one could conclude it was).  Belatedly, in 2005, Alex Moulton was awarded a Special Commendation in the Prince Philip Designers Prize.

Being contemporary in age and with such shared interests, it was inevitable that Prince Philip and Alex Moulton’s paths would cross many times.  It may well have been one of Prince Philip’s famously outspoken comments that helped to launch Moulton’s automotive career – whilst touring the British Motor Corporation’s Longbridge factory in 1955, the Duke took the Chairman, Sir Leonard Lord to one side.  He told him directly “I think you need to have another look at things because I’m not sure if these are up to foreign competition.”  Lord listened and took action; he was already recruiting Alec Issigonis from Alvis and he (Lord) immediately engaged Batista ‘Pinin’ Farina as a stylist.  Determined to give Alec Issigonis free rein in developing a new range of modern cars, he agreed to Issi’s first demand which was to bring Alex Moulton on board. 

HRH Prince Philip and Alex Moulton discuss the new Moulton bicycle.

Through his role at the Design Council Moulton was present at many design exhibitions and events.  At the 1991 ‘100 years of British Invention’ exhibition at The Design Centre, London, Prince Philip collared Alex with the comment “Ah, A real live inventor!  The trouble is if you attend too many shows like this you will end up fossilised in one of these cases!”  After the two met (for what was to be the final time) in 2010, Prince Philip wrote to Alex: “I look forward to reading them (your memoirs) as I am very conscious of the many innovations in car and bicycle design for which you were responsible.  It was a great pleasure to see you again the Design Centre … I was much encouraged to see that British designers are still leaders in the international profession.”

I met Prince Philip myself at St. James’s Palace in 2017.  After answering the classic “What do you do?” question His Royal Highness remembered Alex Moulton very clearly and asked how one could improve something designed so perfectly; he also recalled that Moulton Developments had won a Queen’s Award for Industry.  After I recalled the year of this award (1967) the Duke suggested that we should try for another, to which I could only reply “Well if you could have a word, Sir…”.  This did raise a laugh; he then complimented me on my suit, suggested that I should wear a bowler hat with it, and moved on.

One is often reminded that engineers and designers are the people who have made modern life possible; in 2016 Prince Philip was more succinct: “everything that wasn’t invented by God is invented by an engineer”.  Wise words from a great and wise man.  May he rest in peace.