And now, a word or two from His Royal Highness Prince Phillip

Prince Philip is to retire from his public duties. The prince has never been afraid to speak his mind, resulting in outrage and laughter.

He's not been afraid to insult some of the world's biggest stars and is famous for his politically incorrect quips. Here are some of the most memorable:

• "British women can't cook." (In Britain, 1966)

• "What do you gargle with, pebbles?" (To singer Tom Jones, 1969)

• "I declare this thing open, whatever it is." (On a visit to Canada, 1969)

• "Everybody was saying we must have more leisure. Now they are complaining they are unemployed." (During a recession, 1981)

• "If it has got four legs and it is not a chair, if it has got two wings and it flies but is not an aeroplane, and if it swims and it is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it." (At a World Wildlife Fund meeting, 1986)

• "It looks like a tart's bedroom." (On seeing plans for the Duke and Duchess of York's house, 1988)

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• "Yak, yak, yak; come on, get a move on." (Shouted from the deck of Britannia in Belize to Queen Elizabeth, chatting on the quayside, 1994)

• "We didn't have counsellors rushing around every time somebody let off a gun, asking: 'Are you all right? Are you sure you don't have a ghastly problem?' You just got on with it." (About World War 2 and modern stress counselling for servicemen, 1995)

• "How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to get them through the test?" (To a driving instructor in Scotland, 1995)

• "Bloody silly fool!" (Referring to a Cambridge car park attendant who did not recognise him, 1997)

• "It looks as if it was put in by an Indian." (Pointing at an old-fashioned fuse box in a factory near Edinburgh, 1999)

• "Deaf? No wonder you are deaf." (To young deaf people in Cardiff, referring to a school's steel band, 1999)

• "Oh no, I might catch some ghastly disease." (In Australia when asked to stroke a koala bear, 1992)

• "Aren't most of you descended from pirates?" (To a wealthy islander in the Cayman Islands, 1994)

• "You managed not to get eaten, then?" (To a student who had been trekking in Papua New Guinea, 1998)

• In Germany, in 1997, he welcomed German Chancellor Helmut Kohl as "Reichskanzler". The last German leader to use the title was Adolf Hitler.

• "I wish he'd turn the microphone off." (Muttered at the Royal Variety Performance as he watched Sir Elton John perform, 2001)

• "You look like a suicide bomber." (To a female police officer wearing a bulletproof vest, 2002)

• "Do you know they're now producing eating dogs for anorexics?" (To a blind woman, 2002)

• "You didn't design your beard too well, did you?" (To designer Stephen Judge about his tiny goatee, 2009)

• "Do you work at a strip club?" (To a female sea cadet who told him she also worked in a nightclub, 2010)

• "Do you have a pair of knickers made out of this?" (To Scottish Conservative leader Annabel Goldie, while pointing to some tartan, 2010)

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• "Bits are beginning to drop off." (On approaching his 90th birthday, 2011)

• "How many people have you knocked over this morning on that thing?" (Meeting disabled David Miller, who drives a scooter, 2012)

• "I would get arrested if I unzipped that dress." (To 25-year-old council worker Hannah Jackson, who was wearing a dress with a zip running the length of its front, 2012)

• "The Philippines must be half-empty as you're all here running the NHS." (On meeting a Filipino nurse at a Luton hospital, 2013)

• "Most stripping is done by hand." (To 83-year-old Mars factory worker Audrey Cook discussing how she used to strip or cut Mars Bars by hand, 2013)

• "Just take the f***ing picture." (Losing patience with an RAF photographer at events to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, 2015)

• "You look starved." (To a pensioner on a visit to an almshouse, 2017)

• "I'm just a bloody amoeba." (On the queen's decision that their children should be called Windsor, not Mountbatten)

• "Are you asking me if the queen is going to die?" (On being questioned on when the Prince of Wales would succeed to the throne)

• "If the man had succeeded in abducting Anne, she would have given him a hell of a time while in captivity." (On a gunman who tried to kidnap the princess royal, 1974)

• "I hope he breaks his bloody neck." (When a photographer covering a royal visit to India fell out of a tree)

• "If it doesn't fart or eat hay, she's not interested." (On the princess royal)

• "When a man opens a car door for his wife, it's either a new car or a new wife." (On marriage)

• "It's a pleasant change to be in a country that isn't ruled by its people." (To Alfredo Stroessner, the Paraguayan dictator)

• "Where did you get that hat?" (Supposedly to the queen at her coronation)