These Are Prince Philip's Most Controversial Moments

While Queen Elizabeth has always been the model of decorum and discretion, her husband, Prince Philip, has never shied away from controversy and always says what's on his mind—with seemingly little thought about the consequences. The Brits have dubbed him the "Iron Duke," thanks to his incredibly resilient physical condition. (For example, in 2018, just few months after hip replacement surgery, he was up and about at the wedding of his grandson, Prince Harry, and Meghan Markle.) But Philip has also spent decades confounding royal watchers by making some wildly inappropriate statements at the least opportune times. In celebration of Philip's 98th birthday on June 10th, here's a look at his most controversial moments. We suspect these gaffes won't be his last.

A notoriously tough father to Prince Charles when he was a little boy, Prince Philip gave people a glimpse of what Charles endured growing up during a visit to Salford University in 2001. Philip stunned 13-year-old Andrew Adams when he looked the boy up and down and then told him, "You could do with losing a little bit of weight," according to the Daily Mail.

According to Newsweek, Philip once told the Rocketman himself he wasn't a fan of his Aston Martin. "Oh, it's you that owns that ghastly car, is it?" he said. "We often see it when driving to Windsor Castle."

Then at the Royal Variety Performance during the singer's set in 2001, Philip said, "I wish he'd turn the microphone off," according to The Guardian.

At the 1969 Royal Variety Performance, where Prince Philip apparently loves to diss singers, he alleged asked Tom Jones, "What do you gargle with, pebbles?"

To add insult to injury, the next day, he apparently said at a luncheon: "It is very difficult to see how it is possible to become immensely valuable by singing what I think are the most hideous songs."

Apparently, Prince Philip didn't know that the events of the Disney ride-based film franchise are fiction. According to The Daily Beast, during a 1994 trip to the Cayman Islands, he asked a native, "Aren't most of you descended from pirates?"

During a 2003 visit to the African country, Philip reportedly took one look at Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was dressed in traditional robes, and observed, "You look like you're ready for bed!"

When Philip spoke to some British exchange students who were staying in Xian, China, in 1986, he reportedly told them, "If you stay here much longer you will all be slitty-eyed." He also offered his opinion on Beijing, calling the country's capital city "ghastly."

On that same trip, when he addressed a World Wildlife Fund meeting, Philip said, "If it has four legs and it is not a chair, if it has two wings and flies but is not an airplane, and if it swims and it is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it."

In a BBC documentary to mark his 90th birthday in 2011, Philip said, "I'd forgotten about it. But for one particular reporter who overheard it, it wouldn't have come out. What's more, the Chinese weren't worried about it, so why should anyone else?" Hindsight isn't always 20/20, it seems.

During a very politically unsettled period in 1967, Philip offered this insight on Russia, according to The Telegraph: "I would like to go to Russia very much, although the b******* murdered half my family." Alrighty then.

In 2002, his comment to a group of Aboriginals while on a visit to Australia with the Queen made international headlines. According to The Telegraph, he asked the indigenous peoples, "Do you still throw spears at each other?" The founder of an Aboriginal culture park responded: "No. We don't do that any more."

In 1995, Philip offered his take on soldiers dealing with PTSD after going to war. "It was part of the fortunes of war," he allegedly said in a TV documentary on the 50th Anniversary of D-Day. "We didn't have counselors rushing around every time somebody let off a gun, asking, 'Are you all right—are you sure you don't have a ghastly problem?' You just got on with it!"

Perhaps Prince Harry's work with wounded veterans and the young royals' Heads Together mental health campaign has changed his thinking—one can only hope.

In 2010, Philip met a 24-year-old female sea cadet named Elizabeth Rendle at Wyvern barracks in Exeter, according to The Telegraph. She told him she worked in a nightclub and he allegedly joked, "Is it a strip club?" When she looked shocked, he noted that it's "probably too cold for that anyway."

In 1961, Philip told the Scottish Womens' Institute, "British women can't cook," according to The Independent. That explains why he always mans the barbecue at Balmoral Castle.

It's hard to believe the Prince uttered these words, but in 2000, he reportedly told a group of hearing impaired school children who were standing near a Caribbean steel drum band: "Deaf? If you're near there, no wonder you are deaf." Yikes!

In 1998, he spoke to a British student who had been trekking in Papua New Guinea, according to The New York Times. After hearing where he'd been, Philip cracked, "You managed not to get eaten then?"

Upon inspecting some works of Ethiopian art in 1965, Philip observed, "It looks like the kind of thing my daughter would bring back from her school art lessons." We're not sure who should be offended—the Ethiopians, a young Princess Anne, or both!

In 1995, according to the BBC, Philip asked a Scottish driving instructor: "How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test?" And for punch lines that'll actually make you smile instead of cringe, here are 50 Dad Jokes So Bad They're Actually Hilarious.

Diane Clehane is a New York-based journalist and author of Imagining Diana and Diana: The Secrets of Her Style.

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