The Duke of Edinburgh has been
accused of using his famously ascerbic tongue to put a gardener
back in his place at the Chelsea Flower Show.
The Prince apparently took exception to being corrected
when he complimented Australian Jamie Durie on the fine
tree fern in his gold-medal winning display.
When Mr Durie informed him that the plant was actually a
Macrozamia moorei, part of the cycad family, the 86-year-old
Prince is said to have muttered: "I didn't come here
to get a lesson".
The celebrity gardener said: "It was my first experience
of Prince Philip. I didn't hear him say it, one of the boys
heard him.
"I thought, 'Well, you did ask.' I was trying to be
as courteous as I could and give him the right information.
I was a bit shocked, I didn't mean to offend him. Maybe
he was a bit tired, I don't know."
Prince Philip was accompanying the Queen on her visit to
the show when his comment was overheard.
His off-the-cuff remarks have got him in trouble over the
years.
In 1999, he said that an old fashioned fuse box in Edinburgh
looked as though "it was put in by an Indian",
while during a visit to China in 1986 he described Peking
as "ghastly" and told British students: "If
you stay here much longer you'll all be slitty-eyed."
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