Prince Philip used to get into ‘a lot of trouble’ with the Queen over palace pranks

A palace prank used to get Prince Philip in “trouble” with the Queen according to their grandchildren who were thoroughly entertained by his humorous antics. 

• The late Duke of Edinburgh used to enjoy playing a mustard-focussed prank on his grandchildren at the palace. 
• According to Prince William this delighted them but didn’t go down quite so well with the Queen. 
• This royal news comes as Prince William and Kate Middleton’s heartbreak over Prince George ‘burden’ was revealed. 

The late Duke of Edinburgh’s death last year might not have changed the royal line of succession but it certainly changed The Firm as we know it. In a heartfelt speech during the Jubilee Platinum Party at the Palace in June, Prince Charles remarked upon how his father was “much missed”. Whilst the Queen secretly mourned Prince Philip with a special detail on her outfit for her second balcony appearance. 

But whilst these are very poignant moments, the royals did share some incredible light-hearted anecdotes about him in a Prince Philip BBC documentary, Prince Philip: The Royal Family remembers. Partially filmed before his passing, his family reflected on their wonderful memories. 

And according to his and the Queen’s grandchildren, there was one palace prank which got Prince Philip in “trouble” with the monarch…

Initially the documentary was intended to mark Philip’s 100th birthday in June 2021, though the focus understandably changed after his death. The likes of Prince William, Prince Harry, Prince Charles and Zara Tindall and many other royals all spoke about the late Duke.

And it was William, Zara and her brother Peter Phillips who shared a hilarious anecdote about his attempts to make them laugh. The Duke of Cambridge, who is second in the royal line of succession, revealed that his grandfather used to take the lid off a tube of mustard and then convince his grandchildren to put the mustard between their hands.

The results apparently didn’t win the Queen’s approval as he explained, “[T]hen 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 for covering most of the places we had lunch and things with mustard on the ceiling.”

"He enjoyed those jokes; he enjoyed messing around with the children and being a grandfather,” William later added.

Despite Her Majesty’s apparent distaste for the prank, William’s cousins Zara and Peter also remembered it fondly. 

“I can’t remember exactly what he says but he ends up slamming your hands together.... It goes all over the ceiling,” Zara shared as Peter added, “I actually think the marks are still there.”

According to William, Philip’s vibrant sense of humor also extended beyond the palace walls to the possibility of things going wrong even on meticulously-planned engagements.

“My grandfather loved things when they go wrong,” the Duke of Cambridge said. “Both my grandparents love that because you can imagine, they’ve lived a life where everything has to go right the whole time and so when things go wrong, they both chuckle an awful lot. Everyone else gets mortally embarrassed. They love it.”

Whilst Prince Philip’s mustard prank’s messiness in the royals’ historic homes might not have gone down that well with the Queen at the time, he certainly seemed to have entertained his excited grandkids with his antics. All these years later, it’s clear they still hold these memories close to their hearts as they miss this remarkable royal figure.