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Marie Claire
Marie Claire
Lifestyle
Iris Goldsztajn

Prince Philip Started a Very Niche, Mustard-Based Prank With His Grandchildren

Prince Philip and Prince William.

Prince Philip, in his lifetime, loved nothing more than a good prank.

Speaking on the documentary Prince Philip: The Royal Family Remembers several months after the late Duke of Edinburgh's death in April 2021, some of the royal's grandchildren recalled hilarious anecdotes about Philip—including a very niche, mustard-based prank he would play during family lunches.

"Instead of like a mustard pot we'd have a mustard tube, a squeezy mustard tube," Prince William explained in the doc (via the Mirror).

"And then he'd squish your hands together to fire the mustard onto the ceiling. He used to get in a lot of trouble from my grandmother [the late Queen Elizabeth II] for covering most of the places we had lunch and things with mustard on the ceiling."

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip pose for a photo. (Image credit: Getty Images)

Zara Tindall added about the prank, "I can’t remember exactly what he says but he ends up slamming your hands together.... It goes all over the ceiling." Her brother Peter Phillips added, "I actually think the marks are still there." LOL, ew.

Philip was far from the only elder royal with a keen sense of humor.

The Queen herself once famously trolled some American tourists in Balmoral. They didn't recognize her and struck up a conversation with her, asking if she had ever met the Queen, and she told them of the royal protection officer who was with her at the time, "Well, I haven't, but Dick here meets her regularly."

Queen Elizabeth pictured at Balmoral in 1967. (Image credit: Central Press/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, the Queen Mother was also quite the fun-loving woman. After her death in 2002, Prince William recalled his great-grandmother's farewell to him as he was leaving for university. He recounted, "As she said goodbye, she said: 'Any good parties, invite me down.' But there was no way. I knew full well that if I invited her down, she would dance me under the table."

And nobody wants to be out-danced by their great-grandmother.

A portrait of the Queen Mother as a young woman. (Image credit: Getty Images)
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