While Queen Elizabeth II has always been a prime example of politeness and discretion, the same can’t be said for her husband.

Prince Philip has completed thousands of solo engagements since his wife took to the throne in 1952.

But not all of them went to plan. The Duke of Edinburgh is prone to gaffes and has never been afraid to speak his mind.

The 98-year-old has on several occasions amused with one-liners and frank remarks – and the occasional insult.

Many of the comments have been controversial, while others have simply made people laugh.

Here is a reminder of Prince Philip’s most outrageous gaffes and controversial comments.

• 

  What happens when the Queen dies? Secret 'London Bridge' plan in place since 1960s

• 

  Queen is 'having a very difficult time' and 'struggling to write Christmas speech'

1. While chatting to Tom Jones after the Royal Variety Performance in 1969, he said: “What do you gargle with, pebbles?”

He also added later: “It’s hard to see how he is popular. He sings the most hideous songs.”

2. In 2001 he asked Sir Elton John, “So it’s you that owns that ghastly car is it?”

3. After finding out Madonna would sing the Die Another Day theme song in 2002, the Duke of Edinburgh asked: “Are we going to need earplugs?”

4. At the Scottish Women’s institute in 1961, he said: “British women can’t cook.”

5. Prince Philip told British exchange students Xian, China, in 1986: “If you stay here much longer you will all be slitty-eyed”.

When he was asked his opinion of Beijing, he replied: “Ghastly.”

• 

  Princess Diana would be ‘so proud of Harry and Meghan's Instagram account'

6. Prince Philip told 13-year-old Andrew Adams: “You could do with losing a little bit of weight,” after he said he wanted to become an astronaut in 2001.

7. The Queen’s husband said of a 14-year-old boy at a youth club in Bangladesh in 2002: “So who’s on drugs here? He looks as if he’s on drugs.”

8. Getting impatient, he told a photographer during a Battle of Britain event in 2015: “Just take the f***ing picture!”

9. Philip said in 1967: “I would like to go to Russia very much, although the bastards murdered half my family.”

10. At the Duke of Edinburgh Awards scheme in 2006, he said: “Young people are the same as they always were. Just as ignorant.”

• 

  Prince Philip told Prince Andrew to 'take his punishment' ahead of Panorama doc

11. After being asked when the Prince of Wales would succeed to the throne, he said: “Are you asking me if the Queen is going to die?”

12. While talking to a Scottish driving instructor in 1999, he said: “How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test?”

13. When addressing the World Wildlife Fund meeting in 1986, he said: “If it has four legs and it is not a chair, if it has two wings and flies but is not an aeroplane, and if it swims and is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it.”

14. During a visit to Canada in 1969, the Duke of Edinburgh simply said: “I declare this thing open, whatever it is.”

15. After seeing the plans for the Duke and Duchess of York’s house in Sunninghill Park in 1988, he said: “It looks like a tart’s bedroom.”

• 

  The Queen flogs Christmas hampers that cost £70 more than their contents

16. On the deck of the Britannia in Belize 1994, Philip was said to have shouted to the Queen: “Yak, yak, yak, come on get a move on,” when she was chatting to her hosts.

17. While pointing at an old-fashioned fusebox in a factory near Edinburgh in 1999, he said: “It looks as if it was put up by an Indian.”

18. Speaking to young deaf people in Cardiff, he said: “Deaf? If you are near there, no wonder you are deaf.” He was referring to the school’s steel band.

19. When he was asked to stroke a koala in Australia in 1992, he said: “Oh no, I might catch some ghastly disease.”

20. Philip said: “You look like a suicide bomber” to a young female officer wearing a bullet-proof vest on Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, in 2002.

Source: Read Full Article