Prince Philip will perform his last official engagement before his retirement on Wednesday. The Duke of Edinburgh, 96, has been carrying out royal engagements since 1952. In total, he has attended a total of 22,219 solo engagements and 637 solo overseas visits. He is patron of 785 organisations and will continue to be associated with them, although he will no longer play an active role by attending engagements.
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© Photo: Getty ImagesWatch Prince Philip's most memorable quotes
The Queen's husband is well known for his tongue-in-cheek, cheeky sense-of-humour (which has occasionally gotten him into trouble!), while carrying out official engagements. HELLO! has put together his top ten most memorable quotes, which include gaffes going all the way back to 1966 when he joked that "British women [can't] cook," and a visit to Canada in 1969, where he said: "I declare this thing open, whatever it is."
READ: Prince Philip's final engagement before he retires revealed
The Duke has also been caught asking his wife, the Queen, to hurry up as she spoke to her hosts in Belize. Shouting from the deck of Britannia in 1994, he said: "Yak, yak, yak; come on, get a move on." He also caused a stir when he refused to stroke a koala bear in Australia, saying: "Oh no, I might catch some ghastly disease." Furthermore, Prince Philip supposedly joked to the Queen about her crown on her coronation day, asking her: "Where did you get that hat?"
© Photo: Getty ImagesPrince Philip carries out his final engagement on Wednesday
The Duke announced his plans to retire in May. Buckingham Palace released a statement at the time which read: "His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh has decided that he will no longer carry out public engagements from the autumn of this year. In taking this decision, The Duke has the full support of the Queen. Prince Philip will attend previously scheduled engagements between now and August, both individually and accompanying The Queen. Thereafter, The Duke will not be accepting new invitations for visits and engagements, although he may still choose to attend certain public events from time to time."
