Happy Birthday!

credit: dpa

The toddler depicted here was born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark on the 10th of June 1921. Shortly after his birth his maternal grandfather Prince Louis of Battenberg anglicised his name to Mountbatten. When Prince Philip became a naturalised British subject he took on the surname of his grandfather.

But enough of this!

He is famous for his unconventional statements such as:

(when asked whether he ever read the Guardian) "No fear!"
(1986 during a visit to China) "If you stay here much longer, you’ll all be slitty-eyed."
(to a student trekking in Papua New Guinea) "You managed not to get eaten, then?"
(to the president of Nigeria, dressed in a white robe) "You look like you’re ready for bed!"
(March 1988) "When a man opens the car door for his wife, it's either a new car or a new wife."
(addressing members of a Dental Council) "Dontopedalogy is the science of opening your mouth and putting your foot in it, a science which I have practiced for a good many years."
(on Chinese eating habits) "If it has got four legs and is not a chair, if it has two wings and it flies but is not an aeroplane, and if it swims and is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it."
(May 1963) "All money nowadays seems to be produced with a natural homing instinct for the Treasury."

credit: picture-alliance/dpa

Happy Birthday, Your Royal Highness!