NARRATOR: London, England, June 30, 2021.
At a meeting of the House of Lords,
the second chamber of Parliament, Minister of Defense
Baroness Annabel Goldie is questioned
about the just-released report on unidentified aerial
phenomena issued by the United States
and is asked if the UK plans on issuing a report of its own.
GARY HESELTINE: Baroness Goldie answered in a way
that said there is no threat.
She was very careful how she phrased it.
She said, there has never been a proven threat.
Reading between the lines, that said
to me that unless these things are going
to start shooting at our aeroplanes,
they're not considered a threat.
NARRATOR: But while the British Parliament has no plans
to release its own UAP report, it was recently discovered
that for more than 70 years, UFO activity was closely
monitored by some of the most prominent
members of the royal family.
April 9, 2021--
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,
passes away at the age of 99.
As publications across the world report on his incredible life,
it comes to light that the prince
had a long-held fascination with the UFO phenomenon.
When Prince Philip died in the spring of 2021,
there was a bit of a surprise to the British public,
and that was that Prince Philip had a huge collection of books
on UFOs that went right back to the mid 1940s.
RICHARD DOLAN: He had an associate
named Sir Peter Horsley who was a former RAF pilot.
He was a good friend of Prince Philip
and back in the mid-1950s was charged by the prince
to do a lot of research into this
whole flying-saucer situation.
The two of them over the years researched and investigated
this quietly, kept an eye on all the developments, secretly
subscribed to various UFO magazines and newsletters,
and even had witnesses interviewed.
But a lot of this, of course, was highly sensitive.
I mean, here you have the queen's husband,
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,
researching and investigating UFOs.
Had the news got out, it would have caused a sensation.
NARRATOR: While those within the UFO community
had long been aware of Prince Philip's investigations
into strange phenomena, most of the public
only learned of it with his passing.
And it also came to light that another member
of the British royal family was responsible for one of Great
Britain's earliest UFO reports.
Hampshire, England, 1955.
On the morning of February 23 at 8:30 AM,
bricklayer Frederick Briggs is riding his bike
when he encounters a startling sight,
an enormous object in the sky above his employer's estate.
NICK POPE: He said this thing was huge.
It was hovering a short distance above the ground.
Some sort of column descended, and a figure
emerged, a humanoid figure wearing
some sort of dark uniform and perhaps
wearing a hat or a helmet.
And at one point he talks about a force knocking him
off his bicycle and holding him down,
and he talks about the UFO as having
windows around the side of it and seeing a strange light.
It's a quite extraordinary account.
This close-encounter event was so remarkable to Fred Briggs
that he thought it was necessary to tell the actual owner
of this estate, and that just so happened to be Lord
Mountbatten, who was the uncle of Prince Philip, who
was married to Queen Elizabeth.
NARRATOR: At the time of the sighting,
Lord Louis Mountbatten, former governor general of India,
was the first sea lord of the British Royal Navy.
This is a UFO sighting at the home
of one of the most senior figures
in the British establishment.
We know so much about this because they
recorded the whole thing.
They actually took a statement from the bricklayer.
Lord Mountbatten wrote up a report.
They all signed them all.
RICHARD DOLAN: This apparently was a very credible account,
according to Lord Mountbatten, and he talked extensively
to Prince Philip about this.
I mean, you have to assume this whole thing
went through the entire royal household.
You have to assume Queen Elizabeth knew all about this.
LINDA MOULTON HOWE: Lord Mountbatten
would have access, as friends and colleagues,
to the people in the MOD who were
keeping the secret information about UFOs and ETs.
And that is my guess is the fuel that kept Prince Philip so
interested because they were telling each other,
this is real.
This is true.