Such Was Life: A Right Royal Train Wreck

A stray cow on a railway track near Bridgetown, Western Australia, almost killed the future
King of England and changed British history.
Were it not for a stray cow, the railway near Bridgetown might be remembered as the place where Edward, Prince of Wales, died. In which case there would have been no King Edward the Eighth, no Wallis Simpson, no abdication and no British Royal praising Hitler and the Nazis. It was 1920 and Prince Edward, heir to the British throne, was sent on a tour of the Empire to shore up support after the horrors of the first world war. Styled as the Digger Prince for his service in the Grenadier Guards during the war, Edward led a colourful life of scandal, controversy and glamorous extravagance.
But he was incredibly popular among large sections of Australian society. The 1920 royal tour of Australia lasted for 3 months and took the prince and his entourage to over 100 cities and towns throughout Australia. It was highly planned and very tightly scheduled. It involved a seemingly endless series of receptions, balls, race meets and welcomes by local notables. To our modern eyes perhaps the most notable feature of such tours were the elaborate decorations that greeted the prince in every town and city.
A Right Royal Train Wreck includes images of the huge decorated arches. These were lavish and were often used as a form of advertising for local companies or industries and were a source of pride and competition between towns and states. The prince and his entourage were travelling near Bridgetown to engagements in the South West on the royal train when the rails splayed under the weight of the train. Suddenly the last two carriages derailed and fell down a small embankment onto their sides. Inside the ministerial and royal carriages, the fate of the prince was unknown for over ten minutes until Colonel Peck climbed onto the top of the carriage. Inside the prince was reclining among the wreckage, smoking a cigar. The Colonel called out asking if he was hurt, and the Prince was reported to have replied, ‘Hurt. No! I am glad that my whiskey flask is not broken.’ In fact, the Prince seemed to rather enjoy the break in what was an otherwise highly structured tour. ‘Later commenting: ‘At last, we have done one thing that wasn’t on the official programme!’
And the cow? That no one was killed or seriously injured was described at the time as ‘semi-miraculous’ however, the unlikely real saviour was a lone cow that had strayed on the track a few miles back. The driver of the train had to bring the train to a full stop, get out, and throw rocks at the cow to make it move off. Because of the unplanned stop, the train had not yet reached its full speed before travelling over the damaged section of the line, which was weakened by the heavy rain.