Royal Watch News

Prince Philip calls torch bearer 'old'

Jul 11, 2012, 12:02 GMT

Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth

Britain's Prince Philip told an Olympic torch bearer he looked 'old' as he carried the flame through Windsor Castle.

The 91-year-old royal accompanied wife Queen Elizabeth to watch the torch go through the grounds of the royal residence in Berkshire, South East England, yesterday (10.07.12) and couldn't resist making a comment to Charles McIlvenny.

Charles - who is in his seventies and ran with the torch in 1948, when the Games were last in London - said: 'It was an experience I wouldn't miss at all. The queen congratulated us. She was very thrilled and we had a little five-minute chat. Prince Philip told me 'You look quite old' and I was going to say, 'Well not quite as old as you.''

The torch is making its way across the UK ahead of the London 2012 Games, which start on July 27.

This is not the first time Philip - who was recently released from hospital following a bladder infection - has made a public gaffe.

In 1999, he told children from the British Deaf Association, who were standing by a Caribbean steel band: 'If you're near that music it's no wonder you're deaf.'

During the 1981 UK recession he mused: 'Everybody was saying we must have more leisure. Now they are complaining they are unemployed.'

When accepting a figurine from a woman during a visit to Kenya in 1984 he asked: 'You are a woman aren't you?'