A Diplomat, He Isn’t: Prince Philip’s Tongue Remains Sharp as Ever

LONDON — In a rare move by a man who appears to despise few activities more than speaking to the news media, Prince Philip recently agreed to cooperate in the making of a television documentary about his life. Although “cooperate” might be too strong a word.

“Well, so what? You just get old,” a testy Philip is shown barking at the hapless interviewer, Alan Titchmarsh, who has just mentioned an award the prince received from The Oldie magazine. Asked if it was hard to give up his naval career when his wife became queen, Philip snorts, “How long is a piece of string?”...

It is this mind-set, and his years immersed in naval humor, it seems, that cause Prince Philip to fall back on the nearest available stereotype when he meets people who are not like himself (which is almost everyone). It is what undoubtedly was behind his query — “Aren’t most of you descended from cannibals?” — to a museum curator in the Cayman Islands, and what inspired him to ask a Scottish driving instructor: “How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to get them to pass the test?”...