Alan Titchmarsh, the renowned television gardener and presenter, recently shared details of a “tricky” interview he once conducted with Prince Philip, revealing how Princess Anne provided important context about the encounter.
At 76, Titchmarsh is well-known for his strong ties to the royal family, especially King Charles, with whom he bonds over their mutual love for gardening. He has often praised the King for his commitment to environmental causes and has appeared alongside him on several occasions. However, despite this easy rapport with King Charles, Titchmarsh admits other royal interviews were less straightforward.
Reflecting on his toughest interview, he told Woman Magazine that it was done for Prince Philip’s 90th birthday. “He was tricky,” Titchmarsh said. After the interview, he sent Prince Philip a thank-you note and received a candid reply: “Thank you. As you probably realised, being interviewed is not my favourite occupation.”
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Once the interview concluded at Windsor Castle, Prince Philip swiftly moved on, saying, “That it? Come on.” Titchmarsh followed him without the camera crew and was given a private tour showcasing the restoration work Philip undertook following a fire, a side of the Duke of Edinburgh rarely seen by the public.
Crucially, Princess Anne, Philip’s sister-in-law, later explained to Titchmarsh that the Duke’s reticence was linked to his private nature. “It’s not you,” she told him. “He won’t tell us about his war… He’s never wanted to put himself in front of [others who had served].”
This was not the only time Titchmarsh experienced unexpected moments with royalty. When he received his Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) from the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2000, he found their brief exchange somewhat underwhelming. “When I got up to the Queen she asked me ‘Are you busy?’” he recalled at the Cheltenham Literature Festival in 2014. “I was slightly disappointed by the generality of the question, but I told her about Gardeners’ World and Ground Force, which I was working on then.”
He described how protocol dictated the moment she extended her hand for a handshake, signaling the conversation’s end. However, the Queen surprised him with a personal remark as they shook hands: “Well, you give a lot of ladies a lot of pleasure.”
Recalling this afterwards with his wife Alison, Titchmarsh joked about his preferences for his own memorial. “I said to my wife, ‘You know I’d rather be buried than cremated.’ She said, ‘What brought that on?’ I told her I wanted a headstone which said ‘Alan Titchmarsh MBE 1949–whenever. He gave a lot of ladies a lot of pleasure – Elizabeth R.’”