The following excerpt is from "Surf, Sweat and Tears," Andy Martin's 2020 biography of British surfer and wayward royal Ted Deerhurst.

There are a number of crucial turning points in Ted’s life. Mostly involving waves. One that didn’t come with an ocean and a beach attached was cocktails at the Palace in the summer of '78. Buckingham Palace. The London residence of the British royal family. Unless a tsunami came crashing up the Thames (as in my childhood dream), it was a long way from any kind of decent wave. Ted wasn’t going to meet the Queen. His host at the Palace was Prince Charles, then 30, a decade older than Ted, and patron to the British Surfing Association. Charles was (and still is, as of time of writing) next in line to the throne. Ted was somewhere much lower down the King-in-Waiting rankings (one source reckoned 60th, another 700th, another still maintained he simply had no chance). But still, there was an affinity, a faint sense of mutual recognition between the two men. There was also an odd connection between surfing and the royals.

Surfing has long been known (together with horse racing, the Queen’s preference) as “the sport of kings.” It acquired the tag because 

 was practiced and privileged by Hawaiian royals over the centuries. Perhaps the best surfer got to be king. Certainly, the king got the best waves, even if he had to be carried down the beach and ushered into the water by courtiers and flunkies. And then have his exploits set down in verse (no doubt hyperbolic) by his personal surf bard or chanter. Princess Kaiulani contributed to the rise of surfing in England when she gave a demo off Brighton in the 1890s. Also in unbuttoned Victorian England, two Hawaiian princes—David Kawananakoa and Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole—took surfing north to Bridlington on the gale-lashed shores of Yorkshire. But, going in the other direction, British royals had also dabbled in surfing in Hawaii. There is a grainy photo, dating from 1920, of the young Prince of Wales—who would become King Edward VIII and later abdicate to marry his American divorcee Wallis Simpson— surfing Waikiki under the eye of legendary Hawaiian surfer and Olympic gold medallist Duke Kahanamoku (himself named after a visiting British dignitary). Peter Robinson of the British Surfing Museum reckoned that it was the earliest picture ever of a Brit riding a wave.

So it was natural that another Prince of Wales, Charles, should become patron of the British Surfing Association. And therefore, in the summer of 1978, invite the GB surfing team, captained by surf shop owner and Welsh national champion Pete "PJ" Jones, and featuring Ted, before they took ship to the World Surfing Championships in South Africa, to join him for drinks at the Palace. Ted and PJ had hired a silver-green Mercedes for the purpose. And a chauffeur. The gates of Buckingham Palace were guarded by sentries in red coats and bearskin hats, armed with rifles. It was a warm summer’s evening and hundreds of tourists were staring through the railings hoping for a glimpse of the Queen. Then the gates swung open to let the silver-green Mercedes through. Ted was inside the grounds of the palace. PJ thought they were probably mistaken for some visiting rock band. They all had long hair and droopy Magical Mystery Tour mustaches. And, for once, suits and ties.

But there was a difference between the two surfers. Ted virtually belonged here. It was almost like going home for Ted. The long corridors and the portraits on the walls of obscure grandees of old all looked familiar to him. He felt as if he was in a dream of some kind. Or like he was going back in time.

Charles, exercising the privilege of princes, was 90 minutes late. Prince Phillip, meanwhile, landed in a helicopter on the lawn outside. Ted, who normally preferred orange juice, found himself drinking a lot of sherry in a vast room lined with tapestries of epic battles and vertiginous romance — reminiscent of the Tapestry Room at Croome Court, his family's ancestral seat. Maybe he needed the stiffer drink. When His Royal Highness finally arrived, he apologized profusely and welcomed these “modern-day Neptunes” with a short speech, anticipating their imminent achievements on far-flung shores. Then he mingled with the members of the team and spoke to them individually.

Ted was standing with fellow surfer Graham Niles. Charles asked Niles if the lump on his head was caused by a surfboard hitting him. “Not exactly,” he replied. It turned out that it was caused by his girlfriend when, for reasons unknown, she hit him over the head with a telephone. Charles turned his attention to Ted, who appeared unscarred.

“I notice a lot of surfers have rather splendid mustaches,” Charles said. “Is that to keep you warm in the water?” That got a good laugh.

Ted asked if the Prince ever went surfing himself. Charles replied that he had surfed in the past—at Constantine Bay in Cornwall (and there are pictures online to prove it too)—but that he was now officially retired and therefore very glad that Ted (Viscount Edward Deerhurst, formally speaking) was surfing in his place, on behalf of the nation. In effect, standing in for Charles.

When they were leaving the Palace in the silver-green Mercedes, Ted may have said exactly what he said to me more than a decade later in Hawaii: “I don’t understand how the dude can live in London all the time when he could go and live anywhere he likes.” Prince Charles was next in line to be King; Ted was next in line to be the Earl of Coventry. But Prince Charles took his destiny seriously and thought of little else, even if the longevity of the Queen would force him to be patient. Whereas Ted, in contrast, had no ambition to become Earl. He did not want to sit in the House of Lords. He did not want to live in London. He was always a beachboy at heart. To him, Buckingham Palace was a symbol of his servitude in England. He was glad to be heading for East London, South Africa, which at least had a beach and an ocean.

Ted preferred the sport of kings to any actual king.

THE VISCOUNT AND THE PRINCE: TED AND CHARLES TALK SURF AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE

Subscribe or Login

Subscribe or Login

Encyclopedia of Surfing

Interviews

Features

The Sunday Joint

Videos