McZaki

George W. Bush has said some stupid shit, but Prince Philip* may have him beat. He is a constant source of amusement; here are some of his pearls of wisdom:

“Brazilians live there”
-On key problems facing Brazil.

"If you stay here much longer, you’ll all be slitty-eyed."
-To British students staying in China, during a royal visit, 1986.

“If you see a man opening a car door for a woman, it means one of two things: it’s either a new woman or a new car!”

“You look like you’re ready for bed!”
-To the President of Nigeria, dressed in traditional robes.

“Do you still throw spears at each other?”
-To an Australian Aborigine during a Royal visit in March, 2002.

“The problem with London is the tourists. They cause the congestion. If we could just stop tourism, we could stop the congestion.”
-When asked about traffic jams in London.

“Oh, it’s you that owns that ghastly car – we often see it when driving to Windsor Castle.”
-To Elton John after hearing he had sold his Gold Aston Martin.

“You managed not to get eaten, then?”
-To a student who had been trekking in Papua New Guinea.

“If a cricketer, for instance, suddenly decided to go into a school and batter a lot of people to death with a cricket bat, which he could do very easily, I mean, are you going to ban cricket bats?”
-Amid calls to ban firearms after the Dunblane shooting, 1996.

“How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to get them through the test?”
-To a driving instructor in Oban, Scotland.

“You can’t have been here that long – you haven’t got a pot belly.”
-To a Briton in Budapest, Hungary.

"It looks as if it was put in by an Indian."
-Referring to an old-fashioned fuse box in a factory in Edinburgh.

"You are a woman, aren't you?"
-To a native woman who presented him with a small gift in Kenya, 1984.

"If it has got four legs and it is not a chair, if it has got two wings and it flies but it is not an aeroplane, and if it swims and it is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it."
-At a World Wildlife Fund meeting, 1986.

"Deaf? I'm not surprised with that bloody racket!"
-To a class of deaf children sat next to a brass band.

"Do you have a licence for that?"
-To a man in a motorised wheelchair.


One of my favorites: "In the event that I am reincarnated, I would like to come back as a deadly virus, in order to contribute something to solve overpopulation." an absolute legend...

What's your favorite Prince Philip moment?






*For those not in the know, Prince Philip is the husband of HRH Queen Elizabeth II, making him the Duke of Edinburgh.

Pulaski

A breath of fresh air in an overly PC world.

md95065

Certainly, "Phil the Greek" can usually be relied upon to call a spade a bloody shovel ...

McZaki

“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 a woman solicitor: “I thought it was against the law for a woman to solicit.”

Nutek

yep.

robin1234

I've always liked the cantankerous old madman. I met him once, 1964 maybe, I was so in awe I forgot to salute (we were both in uniform.. Needless to say he was the higher in rank). He didn't seem to mind and was perfectly polite and friendly. A bit out of character really!

scrubbedexpat099

At a project to protect turtle doves in Anguilla in 1965, he said: “Cats kill far more birds than men. Why don’t you have a slogan: ‘Kill a cat and save a bird?’”

To black politician Lord Taylor of Warwick, 1999: “And what exotic part of the world do you come from?”

Awesome

Lion in Winter

I don't think he's trying to be funny. He's just utterly oblivious to other people - so sometimes what he says comes out as funny, sometimes it's just rude, insensitive, or even offensive. He doesn't mean to be rude I don't think - he just doesn't care or even notice.

scrubbedexpat099

There is some of it that is obviously self deprecatory, but yes one of the few major public figures who sees no need to bow to the PC crap.

treasuredr

Thanks for starting this thread. I was feeling a bit low this monday morning but this has made me laugh and has cheered me up!!

Happy Birthday Prince Phillip!

Lion in Winter

I doubt he even knows what PC means.

Sally Redux

He's just plain rude.

scrubbedexpat099

Once he would have been in the majority, happy days.

yellowroom

He's pretty much the mad opinionated uncle that every family has, only while the rest of us only get to see them at christmas and family weddings, HRH is under constant public scrutiny. I've met him, he was pretty much as you'd expect, but shorter than you think. He looks tall next to the Queen, but she's tiny.

Lion in Winter

The podium that will live in infamy.