King Charles shocked by rugby player’s act of violence

King Charles recently made a welcome return to public duties after announcing his cancer diagnosis in February. This week he entertained guests at a Buckingham Palace garden party while visiting a military barracks in Hampshire where he joked he was “allowed out of my cage”.

As the King was led to the officers’ mess at Gibraltar Barracks at Minley by Lieutenant-Colonel Grant, he said to him: “I apologize for taking you by surprise, when this opportunity presented itself and I “I was allowed out of my cage, I wanted to come and see.”

A visit to a military barracks will no doubt have been a tamer affair than when the royal fulfilled another commitment by attending a rugby match some 55 years ago, when a shocking incident is said to have left the king perplexed and provoked repercussions in the world of rugby.

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The incident dates back to 1969, when the late Brian Price, often compared to Alun Wyn Jones, delivered what is now known as the most infamous punch in Five Nations history, knocking down the Irishman Noel Murphy.

It happened right in front of a young Charles, sitting in the stands at Cardiff Arms Park. The then 20-year-old man, a few months before his inauguration as Prince of Wales, could have been surprised by this spectacle.

Charles had previously mentioned his introduction to rugby at Gordonstoun School, where he claimed that malicious masters had placed him in the second row so that “systematic attacks on me in the scrum would remain invisible”.

Now he witnessed the harsh nature of the sport. At the start of the match, just in front of the royal box, second row Price landed a right hook that floored Murphy’s flank.

It would later be said of the Irish player: “He turned towards the stand, his head held high and dignified, as befits a prince of Irish players, as if to implore the sympathy of the young Prince of Wales seated in the royal enclosure, then crashed on the ground like a felled oak! How the crowd roared!

Surprisingly, the referee decided not to send Price off. This prompted an incredulous BBC presenter and commentator David Coleman to ask: “What do you have to do to get sent off in rugby?”

Meanwhile, The Times sternly declared “it was a deplorable act of Ruffianism”, adding in a special note that “it was the depths of bad manners”.

Murphy probably felt this as more than just a breach of etiquette.

Years later, Price, one of the greatest figures in Welsh rugby and not known for being involved in on-field brawls or violent behavior, admitted there had been a game plan before the match aimed at targeting Murphy, who is considered an expert in the art of killing the ball.

“There was a Murphy plan, let’s admit it at the beginning,” he confirmed. “It was quite simple. Gareth Edwards would collect the ball from the scrum, go around the side where Noel would tackle it. Then we all trample on Noel a bit.”

However, this resulted in the Welsh team’s center of attention being punched right in front of a prince. “I got the ball after a lineout and then found fingers around my eyes,” Price said.

“I turned around and punched it. The referee (the late Doug McMahon of Scotland) looked at me and I said to myself, ‘I’m going. In front of the Prince, I’m going.’ Fortunately the referee realized it was a retaliatory measure, warned me and awarded Ireland a penalty.”

The king was never asked his opinion on the controversy which marked his first visit to the Parc des Armes. But many others still remember the match which prompted the South Wales Echo to headline its match report ‘A real royal punch’.

It was won 24-11 by Wales, denying Ireland a Triple Crown. Referee McMahon never whistled another international match.