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British RoyalsPrince Philip

Prince Philip sends Telegraph cartoonist a special message for his 30th anniversary

Prince Philip sent a note of congratulations to the cartoonist at the Telegraph, Matt Pritchett, who is celebrating 30 years at the newspaper.

“Successful cartoonists do not only need to be able to draw, they have to think of subjects to illustrate,” read Prince Philip’s note, which was hand signed.

“Matt has shown that he has a genius for both, as well as the ability to think of wonderfully appropriate swipes at the idiocies of contemporary life.”

For Prince Philip’s retirement last fall, Pritchett drew a plaque with the curtains drawn around it that read, “Unveil your own damn plaque.”

Tributes poured in from other high-profile people he’d drawn over the years, including Prime Minister Theresa May, and former Prime Ministers David Cameron, Gordon Brown, Tony Blair and John Major.

May, who was sent a cartoon by Pritchett, told the Telegraph that he is great “at taking major political events and seeing the humour in them. It’s always good for politicians to laugh at ourselves and he helps us do that.”

Former Prime Minister David Cameron added that, “Matt has always been one of my favourites – the way in which he manages to get to the very heart of a scandal or issue with such a light touch and in a very comic way is genius.”

Prince Philip has a passion for cartoons, and is the patron of the Cartoon Museum in London, which is dedicated to “preserving the best of British cartoons, caricatures, comics and animation, and to maintaining a museum…to make the creativity of cartoon art past and present, accessible to all for the purposes of education, research and enjoyment.”

Pritchett joined the Telegraph in February 1988 and has drawn over 8,000 cartoons for the newspaper in that time. Ninety of his favourite cartoons will be featured in a special feature in tomorrow’s newspaper.

 

About author

Jess Ilse is the Assistant Editor at Royal Central. She specialises in the British, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish Royal Families and has been following royalty since Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee. Jess has provided commentary for media outlets in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Jess works in communications and her debut novel THE MAJESTIC SISTERS will publish in Fall 2024.