Nigel Farage has made a series of incendiary remarks about members of the royal family at a conference and during a live television interview.
The Brexit Party leader – in a speech in Australia to Sydney’s Conservative Political Action Conference – reportedly ridiculed comments by the Duke of Sussex that he and wife Meghan planned to have a “maximum” of two children for the sake of the planet.
And Farage – who described the Queen as an “amazing, awe-inspiring woman” – said he hoped she would live a “very, very long time” to stop the Prince of Wales becoming king.
Media were not present at the event, but the Guardian newspaper said it had heard a recording of part of Farage’s speech.
“When it comes to her son, when it comes to Charlie Boy and climate change, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Her mother, Her Royal Highness the Queen’s mother was a slightly overweight, chain-smoking gin drinker who lived to 101 years old,” he reportedly said.
https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1160858460608761857
“All I can say is Charlie Boy is now in his 70s… may the Queen live a very, very long time.”
In reply to a question about women choosing not to have children because of climate change, Farage said: “Well, if I want the Queen to live a long time to stop Charlie Boy becoming king, I want Charlie Boy to live even longer and William to live forever to stop Harry becoming king.
“Terrifying! Here was Harry, here he was this young, brave, boisterous, all-male, getting into trouble, turning up at stag parties inappropriately dressed, drinking too much and causing all sorts of mayhem.
“And then – a brave British officer who did his bit in Afghanistan – he was the most popular royal of a younger generation that we’ve seen for 100 years.
“And then he met Meghan Markle, and it’s fallen off a cliff. We’ve been told in the last week that Meghan and Harry will only have two children… and we’re all completely ignoring the real problem the earth faces.
“And that is the fact the population of the globe is exploding but no one dares talk about it, no one dares deal with it, and whether Prince Harry has two kids is irrelevant given there are now 2.6 billion Chinese and Indians on this earth.”
Farage went on to make repeat some of the remarks on Sky News Australia.
On Prince Charles Farage said: “He came to the European parliament 10 years ago to tell us that within seven years the polar ice cap would disappear completely.
“At the end of his speech I refused to stand.
“All I can say about the Queen and his succession is this: The Queen Mother was a chain-smoking gin-drinker who did not look after herself at all and lived to 101.
“The Queen is 93 and looks fit. May she reign for a very long time.”