The Duke of Gloucester's Lilly Pilly: A Royal Joke

The Duke of Gloucester with Prime Minister Joseph Lyons and his wife Enid at the entrance of The Lodge, the Prime Minister's residence in Canberra. Image from National Archives Australia

King George VI once had a joke with his younger brother, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester at the Chelsea Flower Show. The duke, who had gone to Australia in 1934, was showing with pride a Lilly-pilly (Syzygium smithii) he had brought from Australia and was asking other members of the British Royal Family to admire it as they went the round of the stalls.

Finally, he asked the king, "Have you seen my Lilly-pilly?"

"Your what!" the King replied.

"My Lilly-pilly!"

"Oh, you mean your Eugenia Smithii?" the King replied, turning the laugh against his brother.

 Source: 

"Royal Joke". The Daily Telegraph, May 27, 1937. 

Lilly pilly


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