Prince William recalled a hilarious moment when Prince Philip was told to ‘jog on, grandpa’ by schoolchildren on a Duke of Edinburgh expedition.
The Duke of Cambridge, 39, shared the funny anecdote in Prince Philip: The Royal Family Remembers on BBC One last night, saying how the cheeky students left his grandfather chuckling.
Speaking on the show, William explained he was driving through the countryside with Prince Philip and other family members on a visit to Balmoral when they bumped into the schoolchildren.
Prince William recalled a hilarious moment when Prince Philip was told to ‘jog on, grandpa’ by schoolchildren on a Duke of Edinburgh expedition. Pictured in 2004 in Crimea
He said: ‘We were travelling together as a family driving out in Scotland. And we came across what very obviously was some Duke of Edinburgh people, with rucksacks on, and he spotted them and stopped and wound down his window.
‘He said, “Good morning how are you getting on?” To which the smallest young chap at the back effectively said, “Jog on grandpa!”
‘To which my grandfather wound the window back up, drove off smiling and said to everyone in the car, “The youths of today!”.
‘For the purposes of this film, I thought jog on was a more appropriate way of saying it.’ He added: My grandfather has a very good sense of humour.’
Speaking in the BBC documentary Prince Philip: The Royal Family Remembers last night, Prince William, 39, recalled how Duke of Edinburgh Award participants told his grandfather to ‘jog on’ when he stopped to asked them how they were getting on
Prince Philip created the Duke of Edinburgh’s award in 1956 with the aim of encouraging young people’s development through volunteering, going on adventures, learning new skills and practicing physical activities.
His grand-daughter Lady Louise Windsor, 17, who also spoke in the documentary, revealed she took part in the programme to make Philip proud.
During the film, she recalled her close bond with the Duke and their shared-love of carriage driving, as well as her decision to do the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme.
She confidently told the camera: ‘There was certainly an element of making my grandfather proud and honouring him by taking part in the award that has been so much of his life’s work. I definitely hope I have made him proud.’
‘I’d always wanted to do it because of the skills you develop as a result.’
She continued: ‘My favourite part was my expeditions. Just having that level of independence and self sufficiency and having that sense of achievement when it was finished.
The appearance from the young royal comes mere weeks ahead of Lady Louise’s 18th birthday, when she can decide whether to legally entitled to style herself Her Royal Highness Princess Louise, in the same way as her cousins are known as HRH Princess Beatrice and HRH Princess Eugenie.
In the documentary, the second-in-line for the throne called his late grandfather the ‘heart of the royal family,’ and recalled some of the pranks the Duke of Edinburgh pulled on his family members.
William revealed how the Duke of Edinburgh would get his grandchildren to hold a tube of mustard in their hands and then take the lid off when they were BBQ-ing at Balmoral.
William laughingly recalled: ‘He would squish your hands together to fire the mustard up into the ceiling.
‘He used to get into a lot of trouble with my grandmother for covering most of the places where we had lunch with mustard on the ceiling.’
His cousin, Peter Phillips, added that the marks are still there.
Charles said: ‘He was always arranging silly games, the fun of having young parents was there was lots of chasing around and mad things.’
Meanwhile Prince William and Harry recalled how both the Queen and Prince Philip ‘love when things go wrong’.
The Duke of Cambridge said: ‘He enjoys playing practical jokes and foolery. He loved when things go wrong.
‘My grandparents love when things go wrong. You can imagine, they have lived a life where everything has to go right the whole time, so when things go wrong, theory both chuckle. Everyone else is mortified embarrassed. They love it.’
Harry said: ‘I think there is an imbalance of there is everyone doing everything like, “The Duke of Edinburgh is coming, let’s make sure we get everything absolutely right. Remember every single year we’ve got it right, let’s do that.”
Lady Louise said she took part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award to make her grandfather proud and said she liked the expedition parts best
Louise, pictured, is a keen equestrian and inherited the Duke of Edinburgh’s love for carriage riding
‘But the two of them are going, “I wonder if something is going to go wrong this year. How exciting.”
‘What I remember now is the expressions on his face to the things that went wrong. He would just sit there completely calmly and just watch us run by.’
Princess Beatrice added: ‘I think he has a very good observational humour but you’ve really got to be quick, you’ve really got to be paying attention.
‘I think he uses humour to make people feel at ease. He is always there to break the ice as well.
Meanwhile William commented: ‘He’s brilliant at finding amusing moments and teasing people. if you try to be too clever with him and say something a bit silly, he will jump on it.’
William went on to call him ‘the heart of the family’, adding: ‘He’s always been a huge presence behind everything we’ve done really.’
William added: ‘He would always make everyone very clear where they stand. I think people find that refreshing that they know nothing else is going on. There’s no games played.
‘He’s very honest, he’s very upfront and he’s very matter of fact.’
Anne said her father was ‘fundamentally a problem solver’, adding: ‘A lot of that stemmed from his early experiences and the problems of his early life.’