The Duke of Edinburgh would get into trouble with his wife of more than 70 years by playing practical jokes on his grandchildren which involved squirting mustard on the ceiling.
The Duke of Cambridge recalled memories of his late grandfather in a BBC One documentary being screened on Wednesday which features personal and poignant tributes to the duke, who died in April, from more than a dozen members of the royal family.
Both William and his brother Prince Harry appear in the documentary with the Duke of Sussex describing how he Queen and Philip would enjoy it if things went amiss on royal engagements, while the Prince of Wales said his father’s attempts to teach him carriage driving failed because Charles kept laughing hysterically.
Prince William recalls funny memory of Prince Philip
Prince William said: “He used to take the lid off and put it in your hands… and then he’d squish your hands together to fire the mustard onto the ceiling.”
He added: “He used to get in a lot of trouble from my grandmother for covering most of the places we had lunch and things with mustard on the ceiling.”
Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall also told of the mustard escapades, with Zara saying: “I can’t remember exactly what he says but he ends up slamming your hands together…. It goes all over the ceiling.”
Mr Phillips added: “I actually think the marks are still there.”
The Queen and Prince Philip’s secret love
Both William and Harry said the Queen and Philip looked forward to unexpected events while carrying out their official duties together over the decades.
William said: “My grandfather loved things when they go wrong.
“Both my grandparents love that because you can imagine, they’ve lived a life where everything has to go right the whole time and so when things go wrong, they both chuckle an awful lot.
“Everyone else gets mortally embarrassed. They love it.”
Harry, who was filmed separately, chuckled and echoed William’s thoughts, saying: “The two of them are going ‘Well I wonder if something’s gonna go wrong this year? How exciting’.”
Harry, using a cricket analogy, said Philip, who died two months before his 100th birthday, had a “fantastic innings”, scored a six, but “didn’t actually wanna get to a century”.
The Queen will be ‘OK without Prince Philip
Prince Harry spoke of the Queen’s bond with the duke, but said he knew the monarch would be “OK” without him.
“More than anything I miss his humour but I miss him, I miss him more for my grandmother because I know how incredibly strong she was with him there. I also know that she’s gonna be ok without him,” Harry said.
He described the Queen and Philip as “the most adorable couple”, who were very much in love.
Harry revealed how Philip would get his flying hours in while on official tours.
“I just imagine my grandmother sitting in the back of the plane having a cup of tea and going through turbulence and going “Oh Philip, what are you doing?” he said.
William described his grandfather as “the heart of the family” and expressed his admiration for Philip giving up his very successful career in the Navy to support a woman – the Queen – in the 1950s.
“It was very much a man’s world back then. And so for a man to give up his career to support a woman, albeit the Queen, was still quite a big step,” the duke said.
Prince Philip: The Royal Family Remembers will air on Wednesday at 9pm on BBC One.
