Knotty sculpture puzzles Duke

The Duke of York faced a knotty problem at the unveiling of a sculpture in New Zealand today to mark the 200th anniversary of the death of Admiral Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar.

The key moment came as the Duke – in the city of Nelson on South Island – was asked to say something about the sculpture commemorating the links between New Zealand and England.

“This sculpture is, um, interesting,” he said as he looked back at a tangled knot of grey rods behind him.

“Having looked at it now… “ he began – only to have the rest his words drowned out by laughter from the crowd.

“Those ties finally bind victor and defeated,” he ventured as clapping broke out, adding “they also bind countries like the United Kingdom and New Zealand together.”

The Duke of York was on the third day of a four-day visit to New Zealand, where he has spent most of his time with the army’s Logistic Regiment, of which he has been colonel in chief since 1996.

Prior to unveiling the sculpture the Duke watched a troop training exercise and was given a traditional Maori welcome at Nelson’s Whakatu meeting house.

He later took part in a commemorative service in the city’s Anglican Cathedral where new stained glass windows were unveiled as part of the Battle of Trafalgar bicentennial.

Tomorrow he is due to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at the National War Memorial in Wellington, as the Prince of Wales and Prince William have both done this year.

Nelson’s Trafalgar victory arguably ended any chance of an invasion of Britain by France’s Napoleon Bonaparte and enabled the British empire to extend its reach down to Australia and New Zealand.

The Duke was to leave New Zealand on Sunday for Britain.