Philadelphia Inquirer
Prince Andrew's Visit Launches Joint Program for City Students
by Matthew P. Blanchard, Inquirer Staff Writer
To attract a royal, you need to bring the little ones. Adorable children to hold up above the crowd for the royal to see and kiss and say something nice to.
"Otherwise you're lost in the crowd," said Julie Frederick-Zellers, who stood - childless - waving a tiny British flag at Independence Hall yesterday to welcome His Highness, the Duke of York, Prince Andrew, on his first ever visit to Philadelphia. "You really need some kids. We had flags but it wasn't enough."
The chief reason behind Andrew's two-day tour of Philadelphia is, in fact, children: At 9:15 a.m. today the prince is to appear at Simon Gratz High School in Hunting Park to kick off the Jubilee International Education Fund, a new enhanced academic and foreign exchange program between Gratz and Great Britain.
Second son of Queen Elizabeth and fourth in line to the throne, Prince Andrew is the most prominent member of the British royal family to spend so much time in Philadelphia since the then Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VII, came here in 1860.
Yesterday, Prince Andrew's Range Rover raced from Independence Hall to a white-tent, multicultural garden party at the Morris Arboretum and finally to a gala dinner amid the columned grandeur of the Philadelphia Museum of Art - all of it in support of the Jubilee project, undertaken in honor of the queen's 50 years on the throne.
And as history seems to return, time after time, to certain physical spots, Prince Andrew happened to make his first appearance at the base of the bell tower of Independence Hall, above the same patch of paving stones where Col. John Nixon gave the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence on July 8, 1776.
Striding onto a bunting-laden podium beside Mayor Street, Andrew described the Revolutionary War as a "sticky patch" of British-American relations.
"You've demonstrated a delightful disregard for history in inviting me here," he told a crowd of 120 spectators. "I understand you had some British troops occupying Philadelphia... I trust your welcome today shows that it's been forgiven."
Street presented Prince Andrew with the Philadelphia Bowl, a white china salad bowl depicting scenes of city history, described as one of the highest honors in the city's treasure of honors.
Then it was time to review the troops: an honor guard from the First City Troop,resplendent in brocaded jackets and crested helmets after the French martial fashion of the War of 1812.
"Do you do this every Sunday?" Prince Andrew quietly asked Lt. Edward Gobora, gently making light of the Yankee attempt at pomp.
"No," Gobora replied. "The rest of our unit has been deployed to Bosnia."
"Oh, really?" the prince remarked with raised eyebrows. After 20 years in the British Navy and service in the Falklands War, Andrew, 42, retired at the rank of Commander. Philadelphia socialites have been preparing for Andrew's trip for months. At the Art Museum last night, Andrew was to be feted with 150 lamb loins, 50 sides of salmon, 80 pounds of wild mushrooms and about 375 blue bloods, hosted by Leonore Annenberg, wife of Walter Annenberg, the former publisher and U.S. ambassador to Britain.
Today, Andrew gets down to business at Simon Gratz High School unveiling the Jubilee International Education Fund - supported with $2 million mostly donated by sponsors such as Exelon, Peco Energy, Citizens Bank and Right Management Group.
Each year for the next five years, the fund will support a "Jubilee Home Team" of about 30 students selected from the 10th and 11th grades who will study the history and culture of Great Britain and design service projects to benefit the Gratz student body.
At the end of the year, the team will choose six ambassadors for a summer of Outward Bound education in Britain.
Much of the inspiration for that project came from Philadelphian Oliver St. Clair Franklin, 56, who after decades of involvement with the British diplomatic community, bears the title honorary British Consul. Franklin's desire to do something for Philadelphia public school students propelled him to approach Prince Andrew.
"As honorary consul, one of the few things I have the ability to do is get the attention of a member of the royal family," he said.
Contact Matt Blanchard at 215-702-7814 or mblanchard@phillynews.com.