The Duke of Edinburgh has described a ship renaming ritual involving glasses of champagne being thrown as "very Australian".
Philip was left amused by a ceremony to appease the gods of the sea and four winds on Friday, which was held so a 19th-century vessel, believed to be the world's oldest clipper ship, could be given its original name - City of Adelaide.
The Duke, who served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, has been involved in the project to save the ship, which will now be transported back to Australia and preserved.
Built in 1864 as a passenger ship, it carried migrants to a new life in South Australia - taking 65 days to transport people from London to Adelaide.
Its last active employment was as the headquarters of the Clyde Division of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in Scotland but today it is just a shell without its sails, rudder and fittings.
Andrew Chapman, whose great-great-grandfather travelled from Adelaide back to his native England on the ship, performed the ceremony on the banks of the River Thames in London.
With the huge vessel in the background on a transporter ship, Mr Chapman, a marine developer from Adelaide, began by burning the clipper's old name Carrick, written on a piece of paper.
The ashes were thrown into the Thames - to purge its name from the "ledger of the deep" - and then a bottle a champagne was poured on to the foreshore.
Four glasses of bubbly were kept and each was thrown to the four winds - north, east, south and west.
The Duke could not help laughing, and when a glass of bubbly was about to be thrown in his direction he moved backwards in his seat, but he was spared a shower of alcohol.
Sitting next to him was Bill Muirhead, Agent-General for South Australia, who has been involved in the project to save the vessel.
Mr Muirhead said afterwards: "When he was chucking the champagne, the Duke said 'Watch out - we'll cop a glass of champagne'.
"He loved it. He said 'That's very Australian'. He really enjoyed himself. I think he loved seeing the vessel. He thought that was really awesome, and he was interested to know when she would be going to Australia, we hope in May next year."
Share
