Japan and the United States were frustrated by Queen Elizabeth's husband, Prince Philip, attempting to stop a new runway in Japan in the 1980s, according to recently released files at the National Archives in London.
The documents, released in November following the prince's death in April, show former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone was "concerned" about the intervention and the U.S. State Department feared the prince could jeopardize the entire project.
As president of the World Wildlife Fund International, the prince wrote to Nakasone in 1986 asking him to rethink the new airstrip on Miyake Island, some 180 kilometers south of Tokyo, to be used by U.S. Navy carrier-borne aircraft for training.