The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Farage slams royals during Australia tour
Politics: Charles and Meghan targeted
Nigel Farage said the Queen Mother was an “overweight, chain-smoking gin drinker” in a series of incendiary remarks about members of the royal family, it has been claimed.
The Brexit Party leader – in a speech in Australia to Sydney’s Conservative Political Action Conference – reportedly ridiculed comments by the Duke of Sussex that he and wife Meghan planned to have a “maximum” of two children for the sake of the planet.
And Mr Farage – who described the Queen as an “amazing, awe-inspiring woman” – said he hoped she would live a “very long time, to stop the Prince Wales becoming king.
Media were not present at the event, but the Guardian newspaper said it had heard a recording of part of Mr Farage’s speech.
“When it comes to her son, when it comes to Charlie Boy and climate change, oh dear. Her mother, Her Royal Highness the Queen Mother, was a slightly overweight, chain-smoking gin drinker who lived to 101 years old,” he reportedly said.
“All I can say is Charlie Boy is now in his 70s – may the Queen live a very, very long time.”
In reply to a question about women choosing not of to have children because of climate change, Mr Farage said: “Well, if I want the Queen to live a long time to stop Charlie Boy becoming king, I want Charlie Boy to live even longer and William to live forever to stop Harry becoming king.
“Terrifying! Here was Harry, here he was this young, brave, boisterous, allmale, getting into trouble, turning up at stag parties inappropriately dressed, drinking too much and causing all sorts of mayhem.
“And then – a brave British officer who did his bit in Afghanistan – he was the most popular royal of a younger generation that we’ve seen for 100 years.
“And then he met Meghan Markle, and it’s fallen off a cliff. We’ve been told in the last week that Meghan and Harry will only have two children . . . and we’re all completely ignoring the real problem the Earth faces.
“The population of the globe is exploding but no one dares talk about it, no one dares deal with it, and whether Prince Harry has two kids is irrelevant given there are now 2.6 billion Chinese and Indians on this Earth.”
Last month, Harry told activist and chimpanzee expert Dr Jane Goodall he will only have two children for the sake of the planet.
Harry said he now views the natural world differently since becoming a father to three-monthold son Archie, and when quizzed by the primatologist about how many children he is planning to have with Meghan, he replied “two, maximum”.