Prince Philip’s most outrageous public moments
During his decades-long career as a working royal, Prince Philip always had his own unique style, and it led to headline-making moments.
Oh Prince Philip … For decades and decades during his career as a working royal, the Greek-born Prince who married a future Queen managed to regularly hit the headlines for putting his (bespoke shod) foot firmly in his mouth.
With the sort of regularity that must have perturbed even his long-suffering wife, the Duke of Edinburgh’s blazing lack of tact was an enduring feature of his life as a working royal.
While his love for Queen Elizabeth has never been called into question, his apparent ambivalence toward public life (and the great unwashed masses) was reflected in decades of decidedly un-PC quips, witticisms and asides, often uttered during official events and tours.
With the Prince passing away, it would be impossible to remember his legacy without looking back over some of his most famous gaffes.
Buckle up kids. This is going to be a bumpy ride.
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Speaking to the General Dental Council, 1960: “Dontopedalogy is the science of opening your mouth and putting your foot in it, a science which I have practised for a good many years.”
Speaking at the Scottish Women’s Institute, 1961: “British women can’t cook.”
When shown art during a trip to Ethiopia, 1965: “It looks like the kind of thing my daughter would bring back from her school art lessons.”
Speaking on American TV about the Windsor family’s finances, 1969: “We go into the red next year … I shall probably have to give up polo.”
During a visit to Canada, 1969: “I declare this thing open, whatever it is.”
When asked about visiting the Soviet Union, 1969: “I would like to go to Russia very much – although the bastards murdered half my family.”
To Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner: “It’s a pleasant change to be in a country that isn’t ruled by its people.”
Speaking during an official trip to Canada, 1976: “We don’t come here for our health. We can think of other ways of enjoying ourselves.”
Accepting a gift from a woman in Kenya, 1984: “You ARE a woman, aren’t you?”
To a British student during visit to China, 1986: “If you stay here much longer, you will go home with slitty eyes.”
When asked his thoughts on Beijing during a tour of China, 1986: “Ghastly.”
During a visit to the city of Xian in China, to a group of British exchange students, 1986: “If you stay here much longer you’ll all be slitty-eyed.”
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At a World Wildlife Fund meeting, 1986: “If it has got four legs and it is not a chair, if it has got two wings and it flies but is not an aeroplane, and if it swims and it is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it.”
When asked if he would like to touch a koala while in Sydney in 1992: “Oh no, I might catch some ghastly disease.”
While chatting to a fashion writer Serena French, 1993: “You’re not wearing mink knickers, are you?”
Chatting to a British man during a visit to Budapest, 1993: “You can’t have been here that long – you haven’t got a pot belly.”
To a group of businessmen in the Cayman Islands, 1994: “Aren’t most of you descended from pirates?”
While speaking to female solicitor: “I thought it was against the law these days for a woman to solicit.”
Shouting at the Queen, from the deck of the Britannia, while she spoke to their hosts on the quay during an official visit to Belize, 1994: “Yak, yak, yak; come on get a move on.”
Of daughter, Princess Anne: “If it doesn’t fart or eat hay, she isn’t interested.”
In a conversation with a Scottish driving instructor, 1995: “How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test?”
Addressing German chancellor Helmut Kohl during a speech, 1997: “Reichskanzler.” (Which was actually Hitler’s title …)
While speaking to a British student who had hiked in PNG, 1998: “You managed not to get eaten then?”
While inspecting a factory in Edinburgh and spying an old-fashioned fuse box, 1999: “It looks as if it was put in by an Indian.”
After presented with a hamper of goods form the American south by the American Ambassador in London, 1999: “Where’s the Southern Comfort?”
When he asked politician Lord Taylor of Warwick, whose mum and dad are Jamaican, 1999: “And what exotic part of the world do you come from?” To which Lord Warwick replied: “Birmingham.”
During a visit to Cardiff, to children from the British Deaf Association, who were standing near a Caribbean steel band, 1999: “If you’re near that music it’s no wonder you’re deaf”.
Speaking to a group of female politicians at a Buckingham Palace party in 2000 whose name tags had ‘Ms’ on them: “Ah, so this is feminist corner then.”
Spying two robots bumping into each other at a science museum, 2000: “They’re not mating are they?”
When offered some fish by Rick Stein, 2000: “No, I would probably end up spitting it out over everybody.”
To a guest in Berlin after the Queen had just opened the new $32 million British Embassy in Berlin, 2000: “It’s a vast waste of space.”
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Reflecting on his role as a working royal: “Any bloody fool can lay a wreath at the thingamy.”
In a curiously prescient aside, 2000: “People think there’s a rigid class system here, but Dukes have even been known to marry chorus girls. Some have even married Americans.”
To Elton John, who lived near Windsor, 2001: “Oh, it’s you that owns that ghastly car is it? We often see it when driving to Windsor Castle.”
Speaking to Aboriginal elder William Brin in Queensland, 2002: “Do you still throw spears at each other?”
Address a 14-year-old member of a Bangladeshi youth group, 2002: “So who’s on drugs here? … HE looks as if he’s on drugs.”
To the Aircraft Research Association, 2002: “If you travel as much as we do you appreciate the improvements in aircraft design of less noise and more comfort – provided you don’t travel in something called economy class, which sounds ghastly.”
Speaking to a 13-year-old named Andrew Adams who wanted to go into space: “You could do with losing a little bit of weight.”
While chatting to a young fashion designer at Buckingham Palace, 2009: “Well, you didn’t design your beard too well, did you? You really must try better with your beard.”
To a young female police officer wearing a bulletproof vest, 2002: “You look like a suicide bomber.”
Speaking to Susan Edwards, who is blind and wheelchair-bound and has a guide dog, 2002: “Do you know they’re now producing eating dogs for the anorexics?”
To businessman Atul Patel at a Palace reception for British Indians, 2009: “There’s a lot of your family in tonight.”
After being told that then-President Barack Obama had just met with the British, Chinese and Russian leaders: “Can you tell the difference between them?”
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To a 25-year-old woman wearing a dress with a zip on its front during a Jubilee event, 2012: “I would get arrested if I unzipped that dress.”
While meeting a Filipino nurse at a hospital, 2013: “The Philippines must be half empty as you’re all here running the NHS (National Health Service).”
Chatting to Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by the Taliban for campaigning for girls’ education, 2013: “(Children) go to school because their parents don’t want them in the house.”
During an event to mark the 50th anniversary of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards scheme, 2016: “Young people are the same as they always were. They are just as ignorant.”
Daniela Elser is a royal expert and writer with more than 15 years experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.
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