Prince Philip in Polish research student gaffe

photo - wikicommons

The 92 year-old prince, husband to Queen Elizabeth II, made the remark when visiting the prestigious Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology, where the structure of DNA was first discovered, Cambridge News reports.

Prince Philip may have become confused when meeting the Polish research student after hundreds of thousands of Poles migrated to the UK after joining the EU in 2004 – with many taking up temporary work such as fruit picking.

The gaffe-prone prince has developed a talent of putting his foot firmly in his mouth over the years, especially when making small talk with ethic minorities or on Royal trips abroad to exotic destinations.

"If you stay here much longer, you will go home with slitty eyes," the prince said to 21-year-old British student Simon Kerby during a visit to China in 1986.

In 1995, when confronted by a Scottish driving instructor, Prince Philip, also known as the Duke of Edinburgh enquired: “How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test?"

In 1967, when asked if he would like to visit the then Soviet Union, the prince said: "I would like to go to Russia very much – although the bastards murdered half my family."

“And what exotic part of the world do you come from?" Prince Philip asked Conservative Party politician Lord Taylor of Warwick, whose parents are Jamaican, who replied: "I’m from Birmingham."

And in 2000, the prince pontificated on the British class system: "People think there's a rigid class system here, but dukes have even been known to marry chorus girls. Some have even married Americans," he said. (pg)