Time Philip entered real world

INCORRIGIBLE: Prince Philip needs to be censured. PHOTO/AP

Oh the irony - Prince Philip asking a group of female community workers: "Who do you sponge off?"

The duke was visiting Chadwell Heath Community Centre in London when he met members of the Chadwell Heath Asian Women's Network and popped the question.

It's a pity they didn't answer: "No one - what about you?" Because this dinosaur has never had to earn a living since the day he married the Queen.

And he also gets a free pass for his rudeness, which is glossed over as wit, teasing or a quaint throwback to a bygone era. "He's as incorrigible as ever," the write-ups of his latest blunder witter away. Bollocks, he's an idiot and has never been censured for his chauvinist, racist thinking.

It is time he was. Being 94 years old is no excuse - in fact, it is well overdue that he knew better.

The world has moved on since the heydey of the empire, when British was best and the rest of the world was a rag-tag collection of races to be reduced to a stereotype.

Whether he is telling a group of British students during a 1986 state visit to China that they would become "slitty-eyed" if they remained any longer, or having a pop at the Scots for being drunkards, Prince Philip has a put-down for everyone.

He probably fancies himself as a bit of a rogue and the last of the straightshooters. Clearly he doesn't care and certainly doesn't care to change. His appalling attitude to the photographer at a recent photo shoot shows a large degree of contempt for those just doing their job.

Does it matter? Of course it does - far too many people put up with his buffoonery and show undeserved deference. It is time he stepped out of the royal bubble and into the real world.