We have all grown up and lived
with the curious presence of the Queen and Prince Phillip in our lives. That he
is ninety and obviously in good health is outstanding and a clear example that
good care and a moderate life make longetivity possible.
This is an excellent and
extensive collection of some of his more famous gaffes. They are fun to read and a reminder that
he succeeded in making sure that no one
took the Royal Family too seriously, let alone themselves.
We are quietly entering the Age
of Plenty, we have actually been there for some time. We have simply yet failed to establish a new
base that properly reflects that reality.
The lesson from the royal Family is that it is possible to live a live
of duty and to be completely productive.
That will be the measure of our civilization from now on.
Enjoy a good chuckle.
As Prince
Philip turns 90, relive some of his most hilarious gaffes
Last updated at 3:09 PM on 9th June 2011
His incredible
energy, remarkable good health and strong sense of public duty have seen Prince
Philip through countless official engagements over the course of his 64-year
marriage to our Queen.
Yet it is the
unashamedly politically incorrect comments he makes that have attracted the
most attention over the years.
As the Prince
celebrates his 90th birthday tomorrow, we pay tribute to what Philip himself
described as ‘Dontopedalogy . . . the science of opening your mouth and putting
your foot in it, a science which I have practised for a good many years . . .’
Prince of gaffes: The Duke of Edinburgh
has become infamous for his politically incorrect comments while on official duties
ON
STATE VISITS
‘You look like you’re ready for bed!’ To the President of Nigeria , who
was wearing traditional robes.
‘Do you still throw spears at each other?’ To Aboriginal leader William
Brin during a visit to the Aboriginal Cultural Park
in Queensland ,
2002.
‘We don’t come here for our health. We can think of other ways of
enjoying ourselves.’ On a trip to Canada in 1976.
‘You managed not to get eaten then?’ To a British student who was
trekking in Papua New Guinea ,
during an official visit in 1998.
‘Aren’t most of you descended from pirates?’ To residents of the Cayman Islands in 1994.
ON EUROPE
‘I would like to go to Russia
very much — although the bastards murdered half my family.’ In 1967, when asked
if he would like to visit the Soviet Union .
‘Damn fool question!’ To a BBC journalist at a banquet at the Elysée Palace
in Paris after
she asked the Queen if she was enjoying her stay.
‘It’s a vast waste of space.’ To guests at the opening reception of a
new £18 million British Embassy in Berlin
in 2000.
‘You can’t have been here that long — you haven’t got a pot belly.’ To
a British tourist he met during a tour of Hungarian capital Budapest in 1993.
One of a kind: The prince described himself as suffering from
'Dontopedalogy . . . the science of opening your mouth and putting your foot in
it, a science which I have practised for a good many years . . .'
ON
‘How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to pass the
test?’ To a Scottish driving instructor in 1995.
‘It looks as though it was put in by an Indian.’ The Prince’s verdict
on a fuse box given during a tour of a Scottish factory in August 1999. He
later apologised: ‘I meant to say cowboys. I just got my cowboys and Indians
mixed up.’
‘People usually say that after a fire it is water damage that is the
worst. We are still drying out Windsor
Castle .’ To survivors of
the Lockerbie bombing in 1993.
ON CHINA
‘Ghastly.’ Prince Philip’s opinion of Beijing ,
during a tour of China
in 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.’ To a meeting of the World Wildlife Fund
in 1986.
‘If you stay here much longer, you will go home with slitty eyes.’ To a
British student on a visit to China
in 1986.
ON
MULTI-CULTURAL BRITAIN
‘There’s a lot of your family in tonight.’ After noticing business
leader Atul Patel’s name badge during a Buckingham Palace
reception for 400 influential British Indians in 2009.
‘So who’s on drugs here? He looks as if he’s on drugs.’ To a
14-year-old member of a Bangladeshi youth club in 2002.
‘Are you all one family?’ Said to mixed-race dance troupe Diversity at
the 2009 Royal Variety Performance.
Energetic, remarkable good health and a strong sense of public duty:
The Duke has attended countless official engagements over the course of his
64-year marriage to our Queen
ON
WOMEN
‘British women can’t cook.’ Endearing himself to the Scottish Women’s
Institute in 1961.
‘Ah, so this is feminist corner then.’ To a group of female Labour MPs
at a Buckingham Palace drinks party in 2000.
‘You are a woman, aren’t you?’ To a Kenyan woman in 1984, after
accepting a state gift.
‘If it doesn’t fart or eat hay, she isn’t interested.’ On his daughter,
Princess Anne.
‘When a man opens the car door for his wife, it’s either a new car or a
new wife.’
ON
CELEBRITY
‘What do you gargle with — pebbles?’ To Tom Jones, after the Royal
Variety Performance, 1969. He later added: ‘It is very difficult at all to see
how it is possible to become immensely valuable by singing what I think are the
most hideous songs.’
‘Oh, it’s you that owns that ghastly car, is it? We often see it when
driving to Windsor
Castle .’ To
near-neighbour Elton John after hearing that he had sold his Watford
FC-themed Aston Martin in 2001.
‘I wish he’d turn the microphone off!’ During Elton John’s performance
at the 73rd Royal Variety Show in 2001.
ON
FOOD & DRINK
‘Get me a beer. I don’t care what kind it is, just get me a beer!’ On
being offered fine Italian wines by Prime Minister Giuliano Amato at a dinner
in Rome in
2000.
‘Don’t feed your rabbits pawpaw fruit — it acts as a contraceptive.
Then again, it might not work on rabbits.’ To a Caribbean rabbit breeder in Anguilla in 1994.
ON
CLASS & MONEY
‘People think there’s a rigid class system here, but dukes have been
known to marry chorus girls. Some have even married Americans.’ In 2000.
‘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.’ To the Aircraft Research
Association in 2002.
‘All money nowadays seems to be produced with a natural homing instinct
for the Treasury.’ Lamenting the rate of British tax in 1963.
‘We go into the red next year. I shall probably have to give up polo.’
On the Royal Family’s finances in 1969.
‘Everybody was saying we must have more leisure. Now they are complaining
they are unemployed.’ Said at the height of the recession in 1981.
ON
ART & FASHION
‘You didn’t design your beard too well, did you? You really must try
better with your beard.’ To a young fashion designer at Buckingham Palace
in 2009.
‘It looks like the kind of thing my daughter would bring back
from her school art lessons.’ On seeing an exhibition of ‘primitive’ Ethiopian
art in 1965.
ON THE PRESS
‘You have mosquitos. I have the Press.’ To the matron of a hospital in
the Caribbean .
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