It was a day that would live in infamy, at least as far as the Queen was concerned. June 15, 1987 was the date the Royal Family became a laughing stock. It was not the work of paparazzi or republicans but a self-inflicted wound that left the Queen fuming.
The Grand Knockout Tournament, forever remembered as It’s a Royal Knockout, was Prince Edward’s brainchild and will celebrate its 40th anniversary next year. Accidentally or not, it was part medieval joust, part Carry On, part Monty Python, with a cast list that seemed to have been assembled during a fever dream. As a royal reporter I was lucky, or should it be unlucky, enough to be there.
There were royal captains, celebrity contestants, mock chivalry, collapsing props, a misfiring cannon, mud, water, Su Pollard, Les Dawson with his trousers down and Barbara Windsor doing her best to hold the whole thing together.
The Royal Family were no strangers to amateur theatricals. As a young princess, the Queen herself had appeared in wartime pantomimes, including Aladdin. Edward had trodden the boards at Cambridge and appeared in The Wind in the Willows. Later, he would try to carve out a career in television production, a venture that ended with a bollocking from Charles after his company, Ardent Productions, became the only broadcaster to breach a filming embargo surrounding Prince William’s arrival at the University of St Andrews.
As a child, Edward was an It’s a Knockout fan, and had fond memories of watching an episode filmed in the grounds of Windsor Castle. In his early twenties that early enthusiasm for the show sparked a lightbulb moment.
The idea was simple enough. Four royal captains would lead teams of celebrities through a series of medieval games to raise money for charity. Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, Sarah, Duchess of York and Prince Edward all took part as team leaders. The royals did not themselves plunge into the games, which may have been the compromise that persuaded the Palace to allow it.
Prince Charles and Princess Diana had other ideas, as I can exclusively reveal…
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