Prince Philip strikes again with another 'Philipism.'

[Blackleaf]

The Times July 08, 2006


Duke shocks with Romania quip
By David Sanderson

The Queen's husband in renowned for saying the wrong things at the wrong time in the wrong place.



After verbal indiscretions involving the “slitty-eyed Chinese”, “potbellied Hungarians” and “drunken Scotsmen” one would think that the Duke of Edinburgh had learnt to keep foot well away from mouth.

But at an awards ceremony yesterday Prince Philip again stunned onlookers with his controversial sense of humour.

When a prizewinner told him that he had worked in Romania, he replied: “Romania? You didn’t go across to help in one of those orphanages, did you?” When the winner said that he did not, the Duke allegedly replied: “Ah good, there’s so many of those orphanages over there you feel they breed them just to put in orphanages.”

The comments were said to have been made at a ceremony for the Duke of Edinburgh Awards scheme at Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh.

Tony Allen, of the Romanian Orphans’ Appeal, called them disgusting. He added: “It just goes to show the Prince has no idea what he is talking about.”

Buckingham Palace said that it never commented on the Duke’s private conversations.

timesonline.co.uk

 

[#juan]

Prince Philip's comments,

while insensitive, were not that unreasonable. There are approximately 14,000 young children in orphanages in that country. This is a huge number for a country the size of Romania.

 

[glossprincess]

Oh, a lot of what he is says is completely true! I'm probably gonna get myself in a lot of trouble here.....but the Chinese do have smaller eyes than caucasians, Scots do tend to be drunk a lot of the time, and as the daughter of a Hungarian, and having visited all his family in Hungary last year, I can say that a lot of Hungarians are potbellied lol.

But he is the Duke of Edinburgh for Christ's sake and he needs to learn that comments like those that can offend sooo many people all at once are not appropriate things to say in public.

 

[Said1]

Like #Juan said, while crass, the sheer numbers are staggering. It's almost like the 18-35 demographic is missing from their society. Kind of scarry when you think about it.

 

[#juan]

This, would have been frightening

Also known as: Elena Petruscu; nickname Lenuta
About Elena Ceausescu:

Elena Ceausescu came from a small village where her father was a farmer who also sold goods out of the home. Elena was failing in school and left after the fourth grade. She worked in a lab then in a textile factory. She became active in the Union Communist Youth and then in the Romanian Communist Party.

Elena met Nicolai Ceausescu in 1939 and married him in 1946. She worked as a secretary in a government office as her husband rose to power.

Nicolai Ceausescu became first secretary of the party in March 1965 and president of the State Council (head of state) in 1967. Elena Ceausescu began to be held up as a model for women in Romania. She was officially given the title "The Best Mother Romania Could Have."

Elena Ceausescu was given many honors for work in polymer chemistry, claiming education from the College of Industrial Chemistry and the Polytechnic Institute, Bucharest. She was made chairman of Romania's main chemistry research lab. Her name was put on academic papers actually written by Romanian scientists. She was chairman of the National Council of Science and Technology. In 1990, Elena Ceausescu was named deputy premier.

Elena Ceausescu is usually assumed to be responsible for two policies which in the 1970s and 1980s, coupled with some of her husband's policies, were disastrous. Romania under the Ceausescu regime outlawed both abortion and birth control, with Elena Ceausescu's urging. Women under the age of 40 were required to have at least four children, later five.

Nikolai Ceausescu's policies, including that of exporting much of the agricultural and industrial output of the country, caused extreme poverty and hardship for most citizens. Families could not support so many children. Women sought illegal abortions, or gave children up to state-run orphanages.

Eventually, parents were paid to give children to the orphanages; Nikolai Ceausescu planned to create a Romanian Workers Army from these orphans. However, the orphanages had few nurses and had food shortages, causing emotional and physical problems for the children. The Ceausescus endorsed a medical answer to the weakness of many children: blood transfusions. The poor conditions in orphanages meant that these transfusions were often done with shared needles, resulting, predictably and sadly, in AIDS being widespread among the orphans. Elena Ceausescu was head of the state health commission which concluded that AIDS could not exist in Romania.

Anti-government demonstrations in 1989 led to a sudden collapse of the Ceausescu regime, and Nikolai and Elena were tried on December 25 by a military tribunal and executed later that day by a firing squad.

Just in time for many, I might add.

 

[tamarin]

Good for Philip! At least, the man's authentic. And not some twerped up, politically correct moron.

 

[Blackleaf]

Re: RE: Prince Philip strikes again with another 'Philipism.

Good for Philip! At least, the man's authentic. And not some twerped up, politically correct moron.

That's true. He's like a breath of fresh air in one of the world's most polically correct countries.