Why was Prince Philip allowed to keep saying offensive things?

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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.

Don’t the royals have the view.. Explain yourself to no one, no matter what.
I agree Op, he was a nasty racist and in no way funny or of his time.
My FIL used the N word in my house once and then tried the excuse… It was okay when I was younger to say it!
He was told very firmly to fuck right off and I will not have any form of racism in my home or around my children.
For some reason whenever anyone slags of the royals the racists come out in force, the responses on your post aren’t surprising but do prove my point.

I think he got away with it as he wasnt Head of State as such .The Queen was effortlessly charming and attentive, and this excused a lot of his behaviour.

With attitudes like this, I can see how he produced a son like Andrew and why there are so many wealthy and corrupt people. It explains a lot.

I have an extremely privileged life. I do the right thing and act like a decent human being because I am one, not because of the consequences if I didn’t. I still wouldn’t take my opportunity to be racist if there were no consequences, because I don’t want to be racist as it’s a terrible thing to be.

Because most of us didn’t find what he said was offensive.

He should have been cancelled. The way anyone else ( celebrities) would be if they said it
I just saw a nurse was struck off for posting about the boats . So it’s in the same vein as this

Are you high?

He died in 2021. That's five years ago, not fifty. He was saying the same sorts of things right up to the end.

My favourite response to the whole thing was the episode of HIGNFY, just after he died. I forget who was presenting, but whoever it was closed the section with 'and if anyone watching is offended by these jokes about Prince Philip ... remember, it's what he would have wanted.'

You are judging past comments by today’s norms.
Not only were these things said in a very different era Prince Philip himself would have grown up in an era before that.
Don’t you know any older people at all who say things now which younger people mostly wouldn’t say?
Whilst there is a line which shouldn’t be crossed we should all have a bit of resilience and think about the context.
I get so bored of professional offence takers flouting their moral superiority.
Often wonder if those doing so actually do anything practical to help anyone or just like to pose.

It’s not people’s attitudes, they are simply saying why they consider he said those things and got away with it.

Its simply because he didn’t give a shit, nobody was going to sanction him and if he was told he would do “no more royal duties”, he wouldn’t have given a shit about that either, as I bet he didn’t want to be in 99% of the places he went.

Who was going to “cancel” him?

To reiterate, the comments in my OP were said between the mid 80s and the year 2000 ish. The one about the Indian was in 1999. It was not acceptable then. the Black and White minstrels show finished in the 70s!

I'm not disagreeing - I grew up in the 70s/80s in a pretty racist area and am well aware of what people said and let slide, though by 80s-2000s it was also known what one should/shouldn't say, hence his remarks making the news so much.

My point wasn't about whether it was acceptable or not, it was about the OP's notion that he shouldn't be 'allowed', as if there's some way to stop him saying what he wanted. Even hate crimes only came into being as a concept here in the 90s and none of his comments passed the test for legal action so beyond that (which wouldn't have happened anyway, given that royals have done far worse and got away with it, Andrew, ahem!), how does one not 'allow' him??

But @AmberSpy Andrew ISN’T the only one.

Mountbatten was a described by the FBI as a ‘prolific pedophile’ . Some believe Saville was used by Mountbatten as a ‘ supplier’.
Mountbatten targeted boys in care homes . Absolutely heartbreaking.

Charles defended Peter Ball after his offences were known .

Im sure Andrew knows a lot more about what goes on in his dysfunctional privileged ‘family’ . That’s partly why he is being so closely protected- the display of ‘removing titles’ was a side show to fool the stupid .

I’ve even seen several reports stating William is very concerned about Andrew’s mental health .William is certainly unfeeling and stupid enough to make a remark like that . Not a word for Andrew’s victims . And more importantly, not the slighted attempt to hep the investigation.

Gollywogs were on jam pots long after that and were still on sale in some places in the UK even recently. The idea of being cancelled is extremely recent and irrelevant to the era in question.

Such a weird response, which still does not answer the question. It's all about you.

Again, how do you think the queen's husband could have prevented from speaking?

Loved his dry wit -

Fabulous -

It was never acceptable or amusing. I am 55 years of age and never took to him for this exact reason. A member of the RF, representing our country should have known better. It was, and is, embarrassing and must surely have been very difficult for QEII.

🤣

The issue to my mind is not that he said these things-it’s the fact that they made him popular. I’ve even been on Mumsnet threads where people said he was their favorite royal….

Good! Lots of people would agree with you, but obviously not everyone and it's always worth trying to expand your sphere of understanding beyond just the people who share your viewpoint on the world. Otherwise the division only grows. Which isn't to say you have to share their views or condone them, but it's good to acknowledge that humanity is more complex than everyone being 'a decent human who does the right things' by whatever definition you're using to deem yourself such. Some terrible people do great things, some decent people do terrible things, and a whole spectrum between. Black and white thinking (no pun intended) can be limiting and cancelling points of view rarely helps them to go away, often quite the opposite.

I don't see the problem with most of those.

Because most people did back then. It didn’t suddenly change overnight.

He wasn’t “hilarious”. He was a soppy old duffer

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

The way this one was reported in the press really annoyed me at the time, I actually felt FOR him.

A common phrase (which is still in use today) is refer to substandard work as being done by a cowboy. PH was not exactly a man of the people and quite simply used the wrong term (i.e. cowboys & indians) while trying to be relevant to the people he was meeting.

I think he thought he was a comedian.