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DUKE OF EDINBURGH
Cufflinks
1956-57RCIN 250151
A silver model of the yacht Britannia is the first item. Prince Philip was closely involved in her design. His first world tour started in Mombasa, Kenya, and took in the Seychelles Islands, Indian Ocean, Ceylon, Malaya, Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand where the Prince met Sir Edmund Hillary’s party who were about to sail for the Antarctic in HMNZS Endeavour. Britannia herself then sailed to the Chatham Islands and on to the Graham Land peninsula, the northern section of the Antarctic Peninsula, a 13-day sea voyage across the ‘Roaring Forties’. The Duke became the first member of the British Royal Family to cross the Antarctic circle. The photograph shows him approaching Adélie penguins on Penguin Rookery Base W in Antarctica. The first set of cufflinks were made to Prince Philip’s design and presented to those who had accompanied His Royal Highness on the voyage.
