Philip's down-to-earth manner was attested to by a
White House butler, who recalled that, on a visit in 1976, Philip engaged him and a fellow butler in a conversation and poured them drinks.
[193][fn 5] As well as a reputation for bluntness and plain speaking,
[195] Philip was noted for occasionally making observations and jokes that have been construed as either funny, or as gaffes: awkward, politically incorrect, or even offensive, but sometimes perceived as stereotypical of someone of his age and background.
[196][197][198][199][200] In an address to the General Dental Council in 1960, he jokingly coined a new word for his blunders: "Dontopedalogy is the science of opening your mouth and putting your foot in it, a science which I have practised for a good many years."
[201] Later in life, he suggested his comments may have contributed to the perception that he was "a cantankerous old sod".
[202]
During a state visit to China in 1986, in a private conversation with British students from
Xi'an's
Northwest University, Philip joked: "If you stay here much longer, you'll go slit-eyed."
[203] The British press reported on the remark as indicative of
racial intolerance, but the Chinese authorities were reportedly unconcerned. Chinese students studying in the UK, an official explained, were often told in jest not to stay away too long, lest they go "round-eyed".
[204] His comment had no effect on
Sino-British relations, but it shaped his own reputation.
[205] Philip also made comments on the eating habits of
Cantonese people, stating: "If it has four legs and is not a chair, has wings and is not an airplane, or swims and is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it."
[206] In Australia he asked an Indigenous Australian entrepreneur: "Do you still throw spears at each other?"
[207]
In 2011, the historian
David Starkey described him as a kind of "HRH
Victor Meldrew".
[208] For example, in May 1999, British newspapers accused Philip of insulting deaf children at a pop concert in Wales by saying: "No wonder you are deaf listening to this row."
[209] Later, Philip wrote: "The story is largely invention. It so happens that my mother was quite seriously deaf and I have been Patron of the Royal National Institute for the Deaf for ages, so it's hardly likely that I would do any such thing."
[210] When he and the Queen met Stephen Menary, an army cadet blinded by
a Real IRA bomb, and the Queen enquired how much sight he retained, Philip quipped: "Not a lot, judging by the tie he's wearing." Menary later said: "I think he just tries to put people at ease by trying to make a joke. I certainly didn't take any offence."
[211] Philip's comparison of prostitutes and wives was also perceived as offensive after he reportedly stated: "I don't think a prostitute is more moral than a wife, but they are doing the same thing."
[206]
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