Princely Gaffes

Britian's Joe Biden (but with a touch of class) As Prince Philip turns 90, relive some of his most hilarious gaffes

A few samples .... “ 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. ‘ 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. ‘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. ON SCOTLAND ‘How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test?’ To a Scottish driving instructor in 1995. ON CHINA ‘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 WOMEN ‘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. 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. ON THE PRESS ‘You have mosquitos. I have the Press.’ To the matron of a hospital in the Caribbean The Full Monty GrinninCelt