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Photo: ADRIAN DENNIS / AFP
At the Hanover Fair 1997 it happened for the first time in Germany: Prince Philip afforded one of his derailments.
When he greeted him, he called Helmut Kohl "Chancellor".
According to reports at the time, it is unclear whether this was an accident or a tip of the man who speaks fluent German.
There are some indications that it was deliberate: the inappropriate slogan was part of the brand essence of the Duke of Edinburgh.
His jokes were racist, misogynistic, crude.
They met Fergie, deaf people, Scots.
After all: Philip didn’t stop at his humble self: he once called himself a "grumpy old villain".
There is "no constitutional basis" for his career.
That he also set his sights on himself makes the following more bearable.
Humor even before the wedding
It became apparent early on that he has a stubborn sense of humor.
As early as 1947, when Philip and Elizabeth were not yet married, he was sarcastic about his life as the future husband of a queen.
At an event, he asked a railroad worker about his career opportunities.
"Oh, my boss would have to die there," answered the questioner.
"Just like me," said Philip.
No redhead cocktail sausages
The prince made no secret of his aversion to ex-daughter-in-law Sarah Ferguson ("Fergie").
He displayed this particularly openly in 2001 at a reception at Windsor Castle.
At that time he snubbed a red-haired waitress in a large group who offered him cocktail sausages.
“Good Lord, I can't have nibbles from you;
you're Fergie! "When the flushed-faced young woman turned away, the prince followed up with roaring laughter and explained to his guests:" She works everywhere for money now. "
The thing with the »pissometer«
During his visit to Australia in 2000 he earned the nickname "Philip the Tactile" with several incidents: The owner of a cotton farm showed the nobleman a device for measuring soil moisture, a so-called piezometer.
"A pissometer?" Asked the distinguished visitor and laughed.
Shortly afterwards he commented on the packing and canning of fruit in an orchard: “You do it so that people don't get anything to eat?
You never get the damn things open. "
Australian javelin throwing
During a visit to Australia in 2002, his verbal club hit the Aborigines.
"Do you still throw spears at you?" Prince Philip asked a group of elderly men in an Aboriginal park.
However, the park's founder didn't consider this an insult.
"I would rather call that naive," the Guardian quoted the man as saying.
And shared his probably correct assessment: "He has something of a nerd for me."
Speaking of visits abroad: Philip often made slips, especially far away from his British homeland.
To the President of Nigeria, who wore national costume, he said during a visit in 2003: "You look like you are about to go to bed."
Blown fuse
As early as 1999, he had lost it with the Indians.
When visiting a factory, he said of a fuse box that it looked like it was "built by an Indian."
The protest became loud and moved the prince to take a rare step: he apologized publicly.
It wasn't the only racist derailment.
In Beijing in 1986, according to the BBC, he said to British students: "If you stay here longer, you will get slanted eyes."
You don't have a beer belly yet. "
The Scots and the driver's license
But nobody is safe from him at home either.
In 1995, Prince Philip asked a driving instructor in Oban, Scotland, "How do you keep the locals from drinking long enough to pass the test?"
The destruction of a career aspiration
At a meeting with young people in July 2001, a 13-year-old told him that he would later become an astronaut.
"You'd have to lose some weight to do that," said Prince Philip.
Unsuccessful contact with the deaf
One of the most frequently told stories happened in Cardiff at a concert by a loud band playing.
Prince Philip addressed a group of deaf children who were standing near the musicians: “Deaf?
No wonder with the noise! "
No wind turbine in the front yard
Wind energy is safe, environmentally friendly and inexhaustible.
Some say.
The others apparently included Prince Philip.
Onshore wind farms are "completely useless, completely dependent on subsidies and an absolute shame," said Philip in 2011 to Esbjorn Wilmar of Infinergy, a renewable energy company.
In response to Wilmar's reply that wind energy was very profitable, the prince asked if he believed in fairy tales, Wilmar said in an interview.
In response to the proposal to build wind turbines on his land too, the prince said: "Stay away from my property, young man."
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