You know how sometimes elderly people say things they really shouldn’t? Well we’re hoping that’s the reason Prince Philip asked a bunch of women yesterday at an official do, “Who do you sponge off?”
The Prince and his missus, the Queen, were attending a dance performance at an east London community centre when Philip asked members of an Asian women’s group whether they met to “have a gossip”.
Nusrat Zamir, a trustee of the Chadwell Heath Community Centre, said: “The Duke said to us ‘who do you sponge off?'”
When asked if she was offended by the question, Ms Zamir explained the group had just presented the Queen with a sponge cake and the gaffe was in fact a joke. “He was just teasing and it’s similar to what I call my husband – the wallet,” she told Sky News.
You could almost hear the royal aides’ sigh of relief. Prince Philip made headlines around the world last week for yelling at a photographer “just take the f****** picture” during a photocall for the Battle of Britain anniversary.
However, he wasn’t quite done yet. When the Prince met a full-time fundraiser for the centre who told him about his job he said, “‘do you have any friends left?”
Fortunately the man caught on that it was a joke and replied, “not many”.
Unfortunately, the Queen’s hubby has a bit of a track record of speaking before thinking, so much so the Mirror newspaper was able to compile a list of 90 of his top gaffes to celebrate Philip’s 90th birthday in 2011.
Here are ten of our favourites:
Tell us, have you ever said something that you shouldn’t have?