Prince Philip

Occasionally I get fed up, going to visit a factory, when I am being shown around by the chairman, who clearly hasn't got a clue, and I try to get hold of the factory manager, but I can't because the chairman wants to make sure he's the one in all the photographs.

I didn't want to be president of the World Wildlife Fund. I was asked to do it. I'd much rather have stayed in the navy, frankly.

You can't just decide you want to do this or that. You have to be invited.

If anything, I've thought of myself as Scandinavian. Particularly, Danish. We spoke English at home.

All these other creatures have an equal right to exist here. We have no prior rights to the Earth than anybody else, and if they're here, let's give them a chance to survive.

There was no precedent. If I asked somebody, 'What do you expect me to do?' they all looked blank. They had no idea; nobody had much idea.

The man who invented the red carpet needed his head examined.

I can't remember names and things.

I reckon I've done my bit. I want to enjoy myself a bit now, with less responsibility, less frantic rushing about, less preparation, less trying to think of something to say.

Everything that wasn't invented by God is invented by an engineer.

Everybody was saying we must have more leisure. Now they are complaining they are unemployed.

In the first years of the Queen's reign, the level of adulation - you wouldn't believe it. You really wouldn't.

Everyone has to have a sense of duty. A duty to society, to their family. I mean, you name it.

I have frequently been misrepresented. I don't hate the press; I find a lot of it is very unpalatable.

It's better to get out before you reach the sell-by date.

You don't really want nonagenarians as heads of organisations which are trying to do something useful.

It's much better to go when you are still capable than wait until people say you're so doddery it's time you went.

It would have been very easy to play to the gallery, but I took a conscious decision not to do that. Safer not to be too popular. You can't fall too far.

We don't come to Canada for our health. We can think of other ways of enjoying ourselves.

I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his children.