Prince Philip of Greece - Personality and Image

Personality and Image

Philip played polo until 1971, when he started to compete in carriage driving, a sport which he helped expand; the early rule book was drafted under his supervision. He was a keen yachtsman, striking up a friendship in 1949 with Uffa Fox in Cowes. He and the Queen regularly attended Cowes Week in HMY Britannia. His first airborne flying lesson took place in 1952; by his 70th birthday he had accrued 5,150 pilot hours. He has painted with oils, and collected artworks, including contemporary cartoons, which hang at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Sandringham House, and Balmoral Castle. Hugh Casson described Philip's own artwork as "exactly what you'd expect ... totally direct, no hanging about. Strong colours, vigorous brushstrokes."

In 1979, when Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were guests of U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Prince Philip was approached by White House butler Lynwood Westray and another unnamed butler. Westray asked him "Your majesty, would you like a cordial?", and Prince Phillip responded, "I'll take one if you'll let me serve you". "Oh my God, this had never happened before," said Westray. "There we were standing there. I was holding the glasses and my buddy was holding the liqueurs and we looked at each other, and I said 'If that's the only way you'll have it, we'll go along with it.' And the prince served us what he was having, and the three of us had a drink and a conversation. It was an honour to let him do it."

Over his sixty years as royal consort, Philip became famous for making remarks that were often construed as being offensive or stereotypical in nature. Some of them were immediately interpreted as gaffes; but other awkward observations were construed by apologists as merely odd, off-colour, and often funny. In his own words, comments attributed to Prince Philip have contributed to the perception that he is "a cantankerous old sod". The historian David Starkey has described him as a kind of " H.R.H Victor Meldrew". 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." 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." During a state visit to the People's Republic of China in 1986, in a private conversation with British students from Xian's North West University, Philip joked, "If you stay here much longer, you'll go slit-eyed." 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". His comment had no effect on Sino-British relations, but it shaped his own reputation.