Why was Prince Philip allowed to keep saying offensive things?

[SewANeedlePullingThread]

There are so many examples of Philip saying offensive things such as:

"If you stay here much longer you'll all be slitty-eyed." This was said to a group of students during a royal visit to China.

"If a cricketer, for instance, suddenly decided to go into a school and batter a lot of people to death with a cricket bat, which he could do very easily, I mean, are you going to ban cricket bats?" This was said in response to calls to ban guns after the Dunblane incident.

"It looks as if it was put in by an Indian." This was Philip talking about a fuse box in a factory.

There are so many more examples. Why was he allowed to act this way whilst representing the Royal Family? I like a laugh, I can take a joke, but he was so often just really offensive.

You are calling the late queen's husband a racist. That's it. A racist. He was many, many things, including an inspiring leader of young people via the D of E awards...

It's rubbish, one sided posts that gain traction, brainwash younger people and incite hate... Whatever issues you have with the royal family, stop advocating that your life was so influenced in a bad way by this man. It's nuts. Boris was only talking about 'letterboxes' 6 yrs ago. Blame him more

Oh, and a non police investigated or court appearance car accident.

He could quite easily have killed those people. Of course it wasn't investigated, it wasn't investigated because of who he was.

And why was he driving? Because of who he was. Anyone else who couldn't see properly would most likely have had their licence revoked by the DVLA before it got to the stage where they were involved in accidents.

I haven't called him a racist, however he made blatantly racist comments.

I can only think you are somehow connected to him to be so vociferous in your defence of him.

I think he deserves praise for supporting QE2 for so long, along with his naval career. However, his comments were awful and nothing you say will change my mind on that.
And no I am not brainwashing young people, they don't think much of the Monarchy as it is! Support for the royal family in 16-24 year olds is low

Oh god, another conspiracy theory.

It was an accident. He was elderly. The other people concerned didn't want to press charges or make a fuss. Why? They were there. ACCIDENT

I can only think you are somehow connected to him to be so vociferous in your defence of him.

There is a lot of investment in denigrating anyone (and everyone!) who says anything unsupportive.

I think you've just made up this 18-24 support stat.

Yes I'm related to him. My grandma once knew a man who was the nephew of the gardener who walked the quuen's corgi in 1956. It may have been a racist corgi though, so my source may be biased.

Stats

No, I haven't made it up. It's everywhere. 42% of 18-24 year olds would prefer an elected Head of State to a Monarch.
Thank you @BoxingHare for the graph

'And why was he driving? Because of who he was. Anyone else who couldn't see properly would most likely have had their licence revoked by the DVLA before it got to the stage where they were involved in accidents.'

Sadly we see many elderly people still driving who shouldn't be. I hope the proposed eyesight tests for over 70s come in.

It wasn't because of who he was, many people just will not do the right thing and stop driving when unsafe to do so.

I agree on some elderly people needing checks, but surely he didn't need to drive. Imagine having your own personal driver to take you anywhere anytime.

I hope the Govt also concentrate on young drivers who disproportionately cause accidents. I live rurally, the number of cars I see in hedgerows or ditches is unbelievable.
(Sorry to derail)

We do indeed see this. However, a whole load more will have given up their licence, or been reported by family.

I think Philip was one of those who wouldn't accept he was no longer safe, and what was the DVLA going to do about unless he did have an accident. He didn't have to account for himself to anyone.

When he did stop driving publicly, it would likely have been one of those voluntary arrangements the RF seem to regularly have, rather than the DVLA stopping him.

So yes I do think it was partly to do with who he was that he drove in public when he was no longer capable.

Analysing this question is actually fairly relevant for a socio-anthropological understanding of British society and the UK post-WW2. And all the apologists coming up with excuses for why the matter somehow shouldn’t be mentioned or it was all perfectly ok are part of that too.

An anecdote about Phil that AFAIK has never made it into the public sphere. Told to me by a colleague from when he was in a previous job, working abroad for a company with a British connection. So everyone was lined up to be presented while Phil made small talk:
Phil: So, did you come here to X with your wife?
Colleague: No sir, I met my wife here, she‘s X nationality.
Phil: <mock outraged> What, couldn’t you find a nice English gal to marry?
Colleague: <practices his best rictus grin>.
Comparatively mild by Phil‘s standards. At least it was just xenophobic rather than outright racist.

Does everyone who was “mentioned in dispatches” get a life long free pass to be as racist as they like? Because that’s a hell of a lot of people!

Is that why Harry gets to call people 'rag heads' and 'p*kis', then,?

No. Harry hasn't been mentioned in despatches. He has a campaign medal for Afghanistan and a few jubilee and coronation medals.

He hasn't been officially brave or meritorious, unlike Philip, rather he served his nation, like Captain Tom who had three ww2 campaign medals

Possibly. Or it could be that he is as much of a racist dickhead as his grandfather was.

He made errors, yes, but any error was cancelled by his bravery and service... And being a good husband to the quuen 70+ years.

Errors? And these ‘errors’ get cancelled? 🧐

Nope.

Apparently as long as he’s brave and is a good husband, these things get cancelled out so it’s fine. 🤨

"Officially brave."

Okay.

😂

I feel sorry for Philip having to represent us at times!!!!

He bleated royal poverty in an interview and happily pocketed £300k+ a year in an annuity granted outside official funding for his lifetime.

He was very amply recompensed for his time and could easily have bitten his tongue on occasion in recognition of it.

He couldn't be arsed though.

This. He was knowledgeable enough to know an old Chinese joke and turned it around. And most people reading this don’t know the original joke and thus the context.

It just screams ‘not very bright or able to read a room.’

Braying toffs, really, aren’t they?

Yep officially recognised with a mention in despatches for brave and/or meritorious service in the London Gazette. It's represented by the oak leaf on Philip's ww2 1939-45 war medal.

So yes, you've learnt something.

A very uncommon award today. Scarce even. Not handed out with the rations.

Of course, you are charming and delightful at all times, as exemplified by your own use of language.

A breath of joy.

I’m obviously not “charming and delightful at all times”. But when I meet people from a different race or ethnicity to me I don’t deliberately say something offensive. So there’s that.