Prince Philip's racist quotes compiled in a book

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

'Philipisms' Gathered in New Book

Article Tools Sponsored By
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 31, 2006

Filed at 3:34 p.m. ET

LONDON (AP) -- Oft-quoted remarks branded inappropriate, offensive or racist have earned Prince Philip a politically incorrect reputation over the years. Now, they're a book.

The ''Duke of Hazard: The Wit and Wisdom of Prince Philip,'' was released Wednesday and compiled by two British journalists who gleaned remarks from six decades of royal visits and engagements he's made abroad.

In 1986, for example, the queen's husband remarked to a British student during a visit to China: ''If you stay here much longer, you will go home with slitty eyes.''

In 1998, during a tour of Papua New Guinea, he told another British student, ''You managed not to get eaten then?''

Co-author Phil Dampier, who has written about the royal family for 20 years, said the 100-page collection was inspired by the reaction of his friends to his tales about the Duke of Edinburgh.

''He's not afraid to speak his mind,'' Dampier said. ''Most of the time he intends it as a joke. But at least he insults everyone. He's insulted everyone from literally dozens of countries, so it's certainly not focused on one group of people, including himself and his own family.''

The ''Philipisms'' have earned the prince the moniker ''Duke of Diplomacy.'' They have been widely reported over the years and criticized as inappropriate, offensive or racist.

Like the time he told a British tourist who was visiting Budapest, Hungary: ''You can't have been here that long -- you haven't got a pot belly.''

The book is out just in time for the prince's 85th birthday on June 10. Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II's official residence, had no comment about its publication.

Dampier, who wrote the book with fellow royal correspondent Ashley Walton, said there is a refreshing quality to the prince's bluntness.

''It's lighthearted, it's not meant to knock him, it actually shows him in quite an affectionate light,'' Dampier said. ''He's a national treasure.''
More Articles in Arts »
Need to know more? 50% off home delivery of The Times.

― shookout (shookout), Thursday, 1 June 2006 15:53 (eighteen years ago)

oh royalpaws

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 1 June 2006 15:57 (eighteen years ago)

Just a bit of fun, so lets be cool.

― i am not a nugget (stevie), Thursday, 1 June 2006 15:58 (eighteen years ago)

Ah, ~~Shoot~~ Bless him...

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 1 June 2006 15:58 (eighteen years ago)

Does Prince Philip post to the noise board?

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 1 June 2006 15:58 (eighteen years ago)

Apparently he watched the TV broadcast of "1984" in the 1950s and thought it was very good.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Thursday, 1 June 2006 15:58 (eighteen years ago)

If ''You can't have been here that long -- you haven't got a pot belly.'' is one of the most noteworthy quotations they've got, then this promises to be extraordinarily dull.

― erklie (erklie), Thursday, 1 June 2006 16:01 (eighteen years ago)

I don't get it... Are Hungarians stereotypically pot-bellied?

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 1 June 2006 16:03 (eighteen years ago)

Goulash, etc...

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 1 June 2006 16:05 (eighteen years ago)

Not eating Britishes food, etc.

― Courtney Gidts (ex machina), Thursday, 1 June 2006 16:08 (eighteen years ago)

Should we brace ourselves for the possibility that that was the world's most non-sensical Hungary/hungry pun?

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 1 June 2006 16:13 (eighteen years ago)

They have been widely reported over the years and criticized as inappropriate, offensive or racist.

Like the time he told a British tourist who was visiting Budapest, Hungary: ''You can't have been here that long -- you haven't got a pot belly.''

dad joek!

― gear (gear), Thursday, 1 June 2006 16:15 (eighteen years ago)

Smoking pot gives you a belly???

― Dan (Someone Had To, Okay?) Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 1 June 2006 16:57 (eighteen years ago)

listening to Belly makes you wanna smoke pot

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Thursday, 1 June 2006 16:58 (eighteen years ago)

melvin belli had a pot belly!

http://www.cyberbohemia.com/Media/portfolio/belli.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/91/Belli_And_the_Children_Shall_Lead.jpg

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 1 June 2006 17:01 (eighteen years ago)

He visited a kid in a school who wanted to become an astronaut, and remarked "You'd better lose some weight first!"

― JTS (JTS), Thursday, 1 June 2006 17:15 (eighteen years ago)

B-b-but in space you're weightless!

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 1 June 2006 17:16 (eighteen years ago)

and in space prince philip would still be a cunt.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Thursday, 1 June 2006 17:28 (eighteen years ago)

a very youthful and boyish me, circa 2002 (i think), ignoring prince philip. the speech bubble was added by our erstwhile picture editor, i think.

the royal twat stood behind my fucking desk for five minutes while my then boss (in the blue frock) tried to explain to him the subeditor's noble art. i attempted to run over his foot with my chair at one point, but it didn't work.

he did try to speak to me; i studiously ignored him.

stet wore a fucking suit specially for the occasion, the big royalist MOOK.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Thursday, 1 June 2006 17:47 (eighteen years ago)

er, sorry. got so cross i forgot to include the pic.

http://sparky.thehold.net/pix/duke.jpg

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Thursday, 1 June 2006 17:47 (eighteen years ago)

in fact, that's stet's great big ginger royal-arse-licking head in the foreground. forelock, for tugging, sadly not visible.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Thursday, 1 June 2006 17:49 (eighteen years ago)

And that's GF's sole white T-shirt. Now, thankfully, binned.

I'm a royalist because being a Lord looks cool on bank cards etc. That's all. Plus they have nice big houses, and might give me one if I chop their heads off.

― stet (stet), Thursday, 1 June 2006 18:37 (eighteen years ago)

GF, WHEN DID YOU SWOP TO HOTT BOSS?

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Thursday, 1 June 2006 18:51 (eighteen years ago)

The silly sod can't even iron his ties properly.

― JTS (JTS), Thursday, 1 June 2006 18:58 (eighteen years ago)

Like he's ever wielded an iron!

― M. White (Miguelito), Thursday, 1 June 2006 19:02 (eighteen years ago)

remind me again why the British royal family have not all been taken out and shot?

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 1 June 2006 19:06 (eighteen years ago)

Too much upheaval for phlegmatic Britain.

― M. White (Miguelito), Thursday, 1 June 2006 19:19 (eighteen years ago)

Also, there's always someone else down the pecking order from the last one you shoot, so it could take a while to eradicate the whole lot of them.

― ailsa (ailsa), Thursday, 1 June 2006 19:22 (eighteen years ago)

you could always make a game out of it. y'know, like fox hunting. ("Look lively, chaps! I believe I spy a Windsor buttering crumpets in the hedgerow!")

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 1 June 2006 19:36 (eighteen years ago)

remind me again why the British royal family have not all been taken out and shot?

Because we can't work out whether to shoot, gas or hang them.

― Treblekicker (treblekicker), Thursday, 1 June 2006 21:02 (eighteen years ago)

I've read about the 'pot belly' comment before but I think it was then refering to Ethopians rather than Hungarians. Not sure where they got Hungarians from.

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Thursday, 1 June 2006 21:04 (eighteen years ago)

Plus they have nice big houses, and might give me one if I chop their heads off.

Yes, the Tower of London's quite big, I hear.

― ailsa (ailsa), Thursday, 1 June 2006 21:07 (eighteen years ago)

GF, WHEN DID YOU SWOP TO HOTT BOSS?

about a year after that picture was taken. however, "hott" boss (cozen's words, i should add, not mine) is no longer my boss. o well.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Thursday, 1 June 2006 21:09 (eighteen years ago)

Dawn did a really good close-up photo of Prince Philip, recently.

Want a see?

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 2 June 2006 07:14 (eighteen years ago)

Oooh yes. Please.

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Friday, 2 June 2006 07:20 (eighteen years ago)

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y161/MarkGrout/phil.jpg

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 2 June 2006 07:24 (eighteen years ago)

"I'm afraid I've just done a whoopsie in your beret."

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 2 June 2006 07:29 (eighteen years ago)

Also, there's always someone else down the pecking order from the last one you shoot, so it could take a while to eradicate the whole lot of them.

and we'd end up with Dan from Roseanne.

http://www.famouslocations.com/images/movies/kingralph_.jpg

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Friday, 2 June 2006 08:43 (eighteen years ago)

Grimly, I am weeping real tears of laughter at that captioned photo.

― suzy (suzy), Friday, 2 June 2006 09:10 (eighteen years ago)

twelve years pass...

Prince Philip should really not be driving at his age/health.

― Your dad's Carlos Boozer and you keep him alive (fionnland), Thursday, 17 January 2019 18:22 (six years ago)

he should be driving faster and more recklessly at every opportunity imo

― Effectively Big Jim with a beard. (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 17 January 2019 18:35 (six years ago)

Preferably a coach with his entire family on board.

― Never Turn Your Back On Virginia Woolf (Tom D.), Thursday, 17 January 2019 18:41 (six years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.