Love & War: A Royal Visit to William & Mary

Written by Samantha Haddad Prophet, PhD candidate in History

Two things colored His Royal Highness (HRH) Charles, Prince of Wales’ May 1981 trip to William & Mary, Williamsburg, and the United States more generally: his upcoming nuptials to Lady Diana Spencer that July and the rapidly deteriorating situation in Northern Ireland. 

The four-day sojourn was on the tail end of HRH’s last tour as the world’s most eligible bachelor. The month-long trip included stops for civic engagement and charitable work in Australia, New Zealand, Venezuela, and the United States before returning to his betrothed in Scotland where they would spend time together in Balmoral Castle.[i]

The itinerary for Prince Charles’s tour included stops in Washington D.C., Norfolk, and of course, Williamsburg. Among his engagements were perusing the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum exhibits and participating in various honor ceremonies at NATO’s naval headquarters in southeast Virginia.[ii]

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At 12:35 (five minutes behind his anticipated arrival) Prince Charles’s helicopter, on loan from the White House, landed on Barksdale Field amidst excited crowds. Wearing a grey suit and red-and-white striped tie, HRH was greeted by former Governor of Virginia John N. Dalton and other representatives of the state and College before making his way to greet W&M students.[iii] David Jenkins, commander of the Queen’s Guard, the college drill team, was lucky enough to speak to the Prince of Wales: “’He asked me what I was studying and I told him government and religion’ Jenkins said. ‘He made a joke and told me that it was a good way to get power.’”[iv] The drill team was formed in an effort to “generate interest in the college’s British heritage” and honor the “three queens who played major parts in the college’s history:” Queen Mary, for whom the college is named, alongside her husband King William of Orange; Queen Anne, who helped rebuild the Wren Building after the fire of 1705; and of course the Prince of Wales’ mother, Queen Elizabeth II, who visited the College in 1957.[v] The drill team was formed that year to honor, celebrate, and commemorate Her Majesty (HM) Queen Elizabeth's first visit to the College.[vi] While in Williamsburg, Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh, warmly shared tea with the President of the College, Alvin Duke Chandler, and his wife at the president’s house before taking a carriage ride through Colonial Williamsburg, as is customary for royal visits. The Queen and Duke addressed the campus celebrating the 350th Anniversary of the English settlement in Jamestown. [vii] In 1954, the Queen Mother visited Williamsburg on her month long tour of Canada and the United States.[viii] This made Charles the fourth British royal to visit the campus that year, but both he and his mother would make return trips in 1993 and 2007 respectively.[ix]

From Barksdale Park, Prince Charles accompanied the Governor, the Mayor of Williamsburg, and the President and Board of Visitors of William & Mary for a luncheon in Wren’s Great Hall. Students dressed in 18th-century garb and served guests Chesapeake Bay crabs with capers, beef tenderloin with horseradish, asparagus with hollandaise sauce, mushrooms and artichoke hearts, and for dessert, strawberries and cream. The wine was free-flowing as students poured glasses of Korbel’s Blanc de Noirs, a California pink champagne, selected and ordered by none other than Williamsburg staple, The Cheese Shop.[x] The last order of affairs was a toast by Governor Dalton to HM Queen Elizabeth and by Prince Charles to President Reagan, respectively.[xi]

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Following lunch, Charles made his way to Phi Beta Kappa Hall to receive his honorary fellowship, the first in the history of the College, and to bestow the one millionth book to Swem Library.[xii] The gift, given in conjunction with Mr. and Mrs. Malvern H. Omohundro, is a limited private 1870 edition of Windsor Castle, Picturesque and Descriptive, commissioned by former monarch, Queen Victoria. 

During his convocation speech in the hall, Charles touched on a numerous of relevant topics. HRH offered commentary on the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Yorktown, from which he was “only a few miles away,” joking that he thought he would add a “genuine redcoat […] to your proceedings.”[xiii] The Prince of Wales also made analog comparisons between him and college founder William of Orange, as both men were twelve years older than their youthful brides. Telling the story of William and Mary’s engagement, Charles stated “The poor princess burst into tears and wept all afternoon […].” “The interesting thing is” the Prince of Wales continued, “that there is also a 12-year gap between myself and my fiancée, but ladies and gentlemen, I assure you that there the similarity comes to an abrupt halt.”[xiv]

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William & Mary students and Williamsburg residents alike fawned over Charles and spoke highly of his wife to be, Lady Di: “She’s perfect for the job she’s about to take on […] She is a delight.”[xv] Students held up signs stating, “Chuckie’s in love!” and “William and Mary, Charles and Diana” and asked if when on future trips HRH would bring the “people’s princess,” he responded with a grin, “when its legalized.”[xvi] During his tour of Colonial Williamsburg, Charles witnessed a silver making demo, where he got to bring home a silver pendant for Lady Diana.[xvii]

His upcoming wedding, however, wasn’t the only event that marked his trip to Williamsburg; in fact, a dark shadow loomed over the tour: the impending death of Irish hunger striker Bobby Sands and the rapidly deteriorating political situation in Northern Ireland. In 1981, the Troubles in Northern Ireland (1968-1998) had already been a difficult issue for the Crown to contend with. By the time of Charles's May 2nd trip to Virginia, Sands had been on hunger strike 63 days and was quickly approaching a slow and painful death. Hampton Roads and Newport News' Daily Press, May 3rd Sunday edition has two front-page stories interesting readers in the area: “W&M Gives Prince a Royal Degree,” and “Approach of Sands’ Death Enflames Riots in 4 Cities.”[i]

Sands, a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), was hunger-striking to protest the British policy of criminalization, a decision that relinquished the rights and benefits allotted to Prisoners of War (POWs) to Irish Republican prisoners, as opposed to what were referred to as “Ordinary Decent Criminals.” The issue inflamed the tensions of the North primarily due to the perceived callousness of the Prime Minister, and later Chancellor of the College, Margaret Thatcher. There were five seemingly simple demands: the right not to wear a prison uniform; the right not to do prison work; the right to free association with other prisoners and organize educational and recreational activities as deemed fit by the internal paramilitary structure; the right to one visit, letter, and parcel a week; and the right to remission lost over the course of the protests, which had been going on since 1976.

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Upon Charles's first visit to the White House he was greeted with an estimated 50-100 Irish and Irish American Protestors chanting “Bobby Sands” and “British Terrorism Must Go.”[ii]