‘You’re too fat to be an astronaut’ – his best (and worst) gaffes

PRINCE Philip has never been afraid to speak his mind – and this has resulted in headlines around the world, as well as a substantial amount of outrage and laughter. Here are some of his gaffes and funny moments.

“What do you gargle with, pebbles?” (Speaking to singer Tom Jones after the 1969 Royal Variety Performance)

“I declare this thing open, whatever it is.” (On a visit to Canada in 1969)

“Yak, yak, yak; come on get a move on.” (Shouted from the deck of Britannia in Belize in 1994 to the Queen who was chatting to her hosts on the quayside)

“How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to get them through the test?” (To a driving instructor in Oban, Scotland, during a 1995 walkabout)

“Deaf? If you are near there, no wonder you are deaf.” (To young deaf people in Cardiff, in 1999, referring to a school’s steel band)

“You are a woman, aren’t you?” (In Kenya, in 1984, after accepting a small gift from a local woman)

“If you stay here much longer, you’ll all be slitty-eyed.” (To British students in China, during the 1986 state visit)

“You’re too fat to be an astronaut.” (To 13-year-old Andrew Adams who told Philip he wanted to go into space in Salford, 2001)

“I wish he’d turn the microphone off.” (As he watched Elton John perform in 2001) “Do you still throw spears at each other?” (In Australia in 2002 talking to a successful aborigine entrepreneur)

“Do you know they’re now producing eating dogs for anorexics?” (To a blind woman outside Exeter Cathedral, in 2002)

“Do you have a pair of knickers made out of this?” pointing to some tartan (to Scottish Conservative leader Annabel Goldie at a papal reception in Edinburgh in September 2010)

“If the man had succeeded in abducting Anne, she would have given him a hell of a time while in captivity.” (On a gunman who tried to kidnap the Princess Royal in 1974)

“Where did you get that hat?” (supposedly to the Queen at her coronation) (© Daily Telegraph, London)