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The day gaffe-prone Prince Philip told blind IRA hero: 'You can't see a lot judging by that tie'
By Beth Hale
14th December 2009

He's notorious for his ability to put his foot in his mouth at the drop of a brick.
And now another tale of Prince Philip's astonishing gaffability has emerged.
Meeting a teenage Army cadet who lost nearly all his sight in an IRA bomb attack, the prince managed to poke fun at his dress sense.

Prince Philip made the gaffe when meeting Stephen Menary in 2002

Stephen Menary had just been asked by the Queen how much he could still see.
To which Prince Philip quickly interjected: 'Not a lot, judging by that tie.'
Stephen was in fact wearing the uniform of the Middlesex and North-West London Army Cadet Force, which includes a red, blue and yellow tie.
The blunder happened at a tree-planting ceremony in Hyde Park in London when Stephen was only 15.



Last night his mother Carol described the moment the remark slipped out - to the apparent horror of the Queen.
'I was gobsmacked,' said Mrs Menary.
'The Queen looked like she wanted to plant Philip next to Stephen's tree.
'Maybe it was a joke to put us at ease, but it was the wrong sort of joke.'
Mrs Menary, a 48-year-old clerk from Acton, West London, added that she did not think Philip's remark had been malicious.
'It's just how he is,' she said. 'His brain is not in gear.
Stephen Menary meets the Queen and Prince Philip, wearing the tie in question
She added: 'I always had respect for the Royal Family and I have not lost respect but he's a strange man with a strange sense of humour.
'We were not expecting anything like it. You just have to laugh at these things because it's Prince Philip all over.'

Mrs Menary recounted the story of the 2002 incident on BBC1's Graham Norton Show.

It was revealed that her son, who is now 23, had got his own back later that year when he took part in an ex-serviceman's march along The Mall for the Queen's golden jubilee celebrations.

As he passed the royal box at Buckingham Palace he flashed a giant Union Jack tie at the watching prince.
Mrs Menary said: 'Stephen said, "If he thought that other tie was bad, then this one's even worse".'

Her son, who had always dreamed of being a soldier, lost his sight and had an arm amputated after picking up a disguised Real IRA bomb at his cadet hall in White City, West London, in February 2001.

Mr Menary, who has recently become a father for the first time and is looking for work as a computer consultant, is now a volunteer for the St Dunstan's charity for blind former soldiers.
Speaking from his home in Sutton Coldfield, in the West Midlands, he said: 'I don't think what he said was offensive, he just said it to be humorous because I was so obviously nervous.
'I know some people don't like the things he says, but personally I find it quite amusing.'
The Queen is said to be unimpressed by her husband's frequent blunders
Philip has never been shy about expressing his opinions on a huge range of subjects - often with cringe-making results.
On a visit to China in 1986 he told British students: 'If you stay here much longer, you'll all be slitty-eyed.'
He once asked a Kenyan dancer during a state visit: 'You are a woman, aren't you?', and on another occasion he said to a student who had been trekking in Papua New Guinea: 'You managed not to get eaten then?'
At a recent Buckingham Palace garden party, he told a designer: 'Well, you didn't design your beard too well, did you?'
Speaking to a driving instructor in Oban, Scotland, he asked: 'How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to get them through the test?'



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1235517/Prince-Philip-causes-controversy-joking-blind-IRA-heros-tie-choice.html#ixzz0ZcblPNGO

He's a tactless idiot. Age cant even excuse him as he's been opening his big mouth all of his married life,

Hi Claire, he's hopeless isn't he? Sadly, my o.h. is a bit like this, opens his mouth before his brain is in gear!

I would imagine most people are used to Philip by now lol wonder if the Queen tells him off afterwards lol

Lizx

Yes, I bet she does!

Then he goes and does it again...and again....

Oh dear..... that is such typical military dark humour... just the sort of humour squaddies use all the time when they are scared and injured, and I note that the young cadet actually appreciated it, it relaxed him enough to feel he had a rapport with Phillip, going by his reaction a couple of years later, lolol!!

Yes. Philip is gaffe-prone... but I suppose it would depend on his audience... squaddies would have appreciated the humour. One of our close friends lost an eye and a hand.... you should have heard the banter.. still goes on, and he is very high up now! lol

Love

Daff xxxx

Some people have a sense of humour by-pass. Everyday male banter, and I'm surethere was nothing malicious in it. Strikes me the press make a field day out of almost nothing.
Life would be very dull if everyone practised political correctness.

Happy days

I think Philip is just one of those people who say what they think without considering the other person's possible reaction, and he has certainly done it often enough lol

Lizx

Claire, "a tactless idiot"?

Well you should have said so earlier!

For heaven's sake, why on earth are these old threads coming back - Philip hasn't and won't change now, at his ripe old age.

I think he and the Queen really love one another and she did beautifully refer to him in one speech as her rock or her strength and stay, or words to that effect.

They still seem to give little glances as if to reassure each other that they are at each other's side, or Philip is a few paces behind lol

Lizx

well, at least the old boy hasnt quite lost his marbles yet!!


whose to blame for this nearly 2 yearold thread being raked up? well it appears Jc found it.........
but liz "Could've" deleted it.........

Bob
ps a thread is never dead until its gone down the GC plug 'ole""

lol Liz

The last post was on the 12th and you have just brought it up again :-S

Actually I didn't go as far back as the 12th as I was only catching up with a few days worth of threads having been on holiday so someone else must have deleted a post made later in the week after I went to bed!

I don't know why there is a problem anyway, no one complained when I first started the thread but why on earth Janey dug it up anyway is beyond me.

Liz