Deputy Head of Sport David Prentice accompanies his old pal David France to Buckingham Palace for a Royal Appointment

PRINCE CHARLES isn’t renowned for his sense of humour, but he understood the joke when David France gazed wistfully at his OBE and quipped: “I’m very proud, Your Royal Highness, but don’t you have one with a blue ribbon?”

David was only half-joking. He was at Buckingham Palace by royal appointment, but his blood flows Royal Blue.

“He got the joke,” explained David. “He knew all about Everton and he understood Everton was a compassionate club. He said that it was tremendous how Everton is showing other clubs in Europe the way forward when it comes to showing compassion.”

For Everton, read David France, this former gas fitter from Widnes who left school at 14 labelled a ‘slow learner’ – but became an advisor to NASA, an author, an innovator, a philanthropist and oil industry inventor – and last Friday a proud recipient of the Order of the British Empire.

Not that his acceptance of the honour was a formality.

“I found out in November last year that I was in the New Year’s Honours list,” he explained. “I live in the United States and I received a phone call from the British ambassador to ask me, if it was offered to me, would I accept it?

“I put him on hold and I had to talk about it with my wife.

“Some of the people I admire, the artists David Hockney and Francis Bacon, they’ve turned it down, but of course they didn’t have to live with Elizabeth France once they’d done so!

“So I can assure you it was a very fast response once I’d spoken to her.”

The award was bestowed for “Services to Football” – on the same day that former Aston Villa chairman Doug Ellis was knighted “For Services to Charity.”

David could argue to have filled both criteria. Amongst his many achievements outside his successful oil industry career was the creation of the Everton Former Players’ Foundation – the first registered charity to look after the needs of old footballers.

The model proved so successful that the idea spread across Europe and was embraced by giants like Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.

David explained that one of the most respected of old Evertonians helped him with its genesis.

“I had tremendous friends at Everton,” he said. “I’ve followed the club for 55 years now and travelled more than two million miles from my home in America to Goodison. I had a season ticket for years and during that period of time I had met some of the old players. Brian Labone, in particular, became a great friend of mine – and Brian would point out some of the old players who life had not been kind to – I’m talking about players from the 30s, the 40s and the 50s, who needed a bit of a helping hand, some encouragement.

“I took care of that on an as needed basis and it proved so successful that we decided we’d better do this on a more formal business-like way. So it was 1999 that we decided we’d register a charity.

“It had never been done before, a charity to look after old footballers who had chronic injuries and other hardships, and we were knocked back a couple of times.

“The Charity Commission didn’t think it was an appropriate area initially and through perseverance – as an Evertonian you learn perserverance – we got it accepted. I then went round and encouraged half a dozen businessmen, people from the Merseyside community who had the skills to run a charity, and we went out looking for people to help.

“Old footballers are very proud, but we went out looking for them, in order to make their lives pain free.

“Everton was the first club, the first family let’s say, to introduce such an organisation, but other people have copied it and it’s spread across Europe now. Most of the leading clubs have embraced our idea and in some cases have certainly improved upon it.

“Barcelona take one per cent of every player’s wages – that’s one per cent of the salaries paid to Lionel Messi and co. – to fund their own former players’ foundation.”

David’s own payback came at the Palace – and predictably he wanted to share the honour. He was accompanied by his devoted and astonishingly understanding wife Liz, loyal friend Norman Jones and myself – one of the original trustees invited by David to help run the Foundation.

He strode into the Palace as Dr David France. He left it, David France OBE – One Big Evertonian.

Further honours will surely follow.