Duke passes on the possum

Guests invited to a Buckingham Palace garden party for Prince Philip were asked not to wish him happy birthday. Photo / AP

A plucky Kiwi mum presented the Duke of Edinburgh with a surprise birthday gift, but the famously grouchy royal asked her to get someone else to carry it.

Prince Philip prefers low-key celebrations, but Samantha Webster could not resist giving him the present at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday when he turned 93.

Webster was one of four women representing the New Zealand Society. Guests were asked not to mention his birthday.

Webster, however, defied orders by handing him a burgundy possum-and-merino-wool scarf her mother, Janet, bought in Warkworth.

"I turned 47 on the same day the Duke was 93 and I thought I'd give him a present as it was his birthday and mine," Webster said. "He made us laugh when he said, 'Could you hand it to someone? I don't want to lug it around the garden.'

"Some people might have been offended but I was delighted to be on the receiving end of one of his famously sharp remarks. He is quite a character."

Webster, from Matamata, has lived in England for 19 years.

She was invited to the palace because of her work with the New Zealand Society, a voluntary organisation that raises funds for deserving Kiwis in Britain.

Webster was shocked to be just one of 20 guests from 8,000 at the party invited to meet the Duke.

"We were told not to mention his birthday because he wanted the day to be about his guests and their achievements," she explained. "But I was determined to give it to him."

Webster said Prince Philip was initially intrigued by the gift. "He was surprised how smooth and soft it was and said 'very nice', before suddenly asking for it to be taken away. It was an unforgettable birthday for me."