Philip's media retreat

Sep 28, 2006, 14:46 GMT

The Duke of Edinburgh has revealed he deliberately retreated from the media spotlight to avoid "embarrassment".

Britain's Prince Philip - who has become known for making public gaffes - made the comments in an interview with Jeremy Paxman, for the British TV presenter's new book, 'On Royalty'.

He said: "I reckon I have done something right if I don't appear in the media. So I've retreated quite consciously - so as not to be an embarrassment."

The 85-year-old prince - who once told a group of British students in China, "If you stay here much longer, you'll all be slitty-eyed" - also blamed the arrival of TV and the decline of print media for the breakdown of relations between the royal family and the press.

He had particularly words of criticism for media mogul Rupert Murdoch, owner of News International, which publishes Britain's The Sun and News of the World newspapers.

He fumed Murdoch's "anti-establishment attitude" had "really pulled the plug on an awful lot of things that we hold to be quite reasonable and sensible institutions."

The royal then rubbished rumours that he was a womaniser.

He added: "As far as I'm concerned every time I talk to a woman, they say I've been to bed with her - as if she had no say in the matter.

"Well I'm bloody flattered at my age to think some girl is interested in me. It's absolutely cuckoo."

(C) BANG Media International