Carly Newton
As one monarch falls, the royal family mourns. Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh, has died at the age of 99. He was married to Queen Elizabeth for 74 years. Including the Queen, he leaves behind many royal family members such as his grandchildren Prince William and Prince Harry.
Recently abdicated Prince Harry will be in attendance at the funeral. Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, had previously accused members of the royal family of saying racist remarks during an Oprah Winfrey interview that aired in March. While it was unclear who made the remarks, it’s hard to deny that members of the royal family, such as Prince Phillip, have said some questionable and uncalled for things over their reign.
Mirror News listed some of Prince Phillip’s worst, cringe-worthy quotes. Some of his “gaffes” show just how out-of-touch and tone-deaf he could be when he was around different kinds of people.
“You look like you’re ready for bed!” Prince Phillip said in 2003 to the President of Nigeria who was in national dress, which consists of colorful, wrapped clothing.
If you think this is bad, don’t worry, it gets even worse.
“Deaf? If you’re near there, no wonder you are deaf,” Prince Phillip said in 2000 to a group of deaf children standing near a steel drum band.
“And what exotic part of the world do you come from?” Prince Phillip said in 1999 to Black politician Lord Taylor of Warwick.
Anti-American bias was on display in his next quote.
“People think there’s a rigid class system here, but dukes have even been known to marry chorus girls. Some have even married Americans,” Prince Phillip said in 2000.
Prince Harry and his American wife Meghan Markle probably didn’t like that one too much.
Finally, the worst has been saved for last.
“I don’t think a prostitute is more moral than a wife, but they are doing the same thing,” Prince Phillip said in 1988.
There’s plenty more awful quotes where that came from, 90 to be exact. This is why Prince Harry and Markle’s accusations of racism within the royal family isn’t surprising. Prince Phillip, for many decades, has gotten away with uncultured, sexist and borderline racist comments for years. These are all comments he has made publicly, so imagine what he had said in private.
After the news of Prince Phillip’s passing went viral, social media didn’t hesitate to begin sharing memes about him. Are people just using humor to cope with his death or do they genuinely believe Prince Phillip didn’t deserve respect? It’s hard to say, but some of the memes were clever.
One Twitter user @FullofFrap shared a picture of Queen Elizabeth on the dating app Tinder with a bio that reads “Liz 94, recently widowed, loads of money.” Before Prince Phillip died, one TikTok user @andrewjsacks shared a video compilation of “things I believe would kill Prince Phillip.” In the video, a single mint breath strip and the radar iPhone alarm were among things listed. This is just two examples of the many memes that are currently floating around the internet.
The Prince Phillip memes began back in December when a picture of him looking ghostly and skeleton-like in a car went viral. It’s not shocking to see that his death had the same effect on the internet months later.
Regardless of the memes trending online, the royal family’s reign may be coming to an end. Prince Phillip’s death being treated as a joke is a sign of that. It seems the younger generations are beginning to have less respect for the royal family and are done tolerating their long history of hypocrisy.
It is unsure what the future holds for the royals, but their influence over the public and the public’s respect for them will continue to trend downward, if change does not happen soon at Buckingham Palace.
