Industrialist J. R. D. Tata once "saved the life” of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Queen Elizabeth II when the royal was on a visit to Jamshedpur in 1959. Tata Group stalwart and author Russi Lala recalled the incident narrated by Tata in Joy of Achievement: A conversation with J. R. D. Tata. The Duke passed away in the UK at age 99 on April 9, 2021.
Lala quotes Tata as saying: "When (the Duke) came to Jamshedpur I received him at the airport with (senior Tata executive) Sumant Moolgaokar and (another). The whole town of Jamshedpur had been prepared to receive him. Thousands of children (had gathered) holding little Union Jacks made of paper. And we were to take him to TELCO (Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company, now Tata Motors), to the hospital, to the plant. To take him around, we needed an open car. And we found one.”
Reportedly, the Duke decided to sit on the back of the rear seat and put his feet on the seat so that he could be seen and could wave. "Moolgaokar decided that he would drive the car, though he had never driven that particular car. There were a lot of journalists, about 20 or 30… They had apparently hired a truck and when the Duke saw them pulling up, he tapped Moolgaokar on the shoulder and said: ‘Let’s get the hell out of here.’ He had a phobia of journalists.
Prince Philip (l) with J. R. D. Tata in Jamshedpur (1959)
"So Moolgaonkar accelerated, let go the clutch, and the car jerked forward. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a pair of legs going up. The Duke was falling out of the car. We were accelerating and he would have fallen on his head. So, I just grabbed the legs and brought him down. He thanked me.”
F. J.