After a lifetime spent testing the limits of the British peoples’ unwillingness to wheel a guillotine out in front of Buckingham Palace, Prince Philip died last week. He is survived by his wife/cousin, a (still somehow just alleged) sex criminal son, and a personal legacy of racism, smug imperial self-satisfaction, and the occasional fun story of doing things like sending one of his servants to interview an extraterrestrial.
This last point is explored in a Vice article all about Philip’s fascination with UFOs and aliens. As detailed in a book by biographer Philip Eade, the late Duke Of Edinburgh “was a longtime subscriber to a British quarterly called Flying Saucer Review … and exchanged regular letters with Timothy Good, a ufologist and author.” Sir Peter Horsley, Philip’s equerry (basically a royal assistant or attendant), “shared this enthusiasm” with his boss. Philip had Horsley “invite several people to Buckingham Palace to talk about their extraterrestrial encounters,” and he was allowed to “look into any credible accounts of alien encounters or UFO sightings.” In a particularly fantastic use of his immense power, Philip sent Horsley to meet with “a strange, seemingly telepathic man” called Mr. Janus.
Horsley’s autobiography describes Mr. Janus as a psychic who had requested an audience with Philip. When asked why he wanted the meeting, Horsley wrote that Janus replied by stating that “Prince Philip is a man of great vision, a person of world renown, and a leader in the realm of wildlife and the environment. He is a man who believes strongly in the proper relationship between man and nature which will prove of great importance in future galactic harmony.’”
Later, Horsley returned to Mr. Janus’s home, and found it completely abandoned. “He didn’t say he was a visitor from another planet but I had that impression,” Horsley later recalled. “I believe he was here to observe us. I never saw him again.”
Perhaps encouraged by Janus The Alien’s praise, Philip remained an amateur paranormal investigator for the rest of his life. He apparently kept books on UFOs and aliens in his library, and Vice notes that “he read a book about the Rendlesham Forest Incident” last summer.
For more on Philip’s interest in aliens—as well details on his uncle, Lord Louis “Dickie” Mountbatten’s shared fascination with extraterrestrials—check out the full article at Vice.
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