* "The bastards murdered half my family.." (1967)

    When asked if he would like to visit the Soviet Union

    * "You must be out of your minds.." (1982)

    To Solomon Islanders, on being told that their population growth was 5% a year.

    * "You are a woman, aren't you?" (1984)

    Said in Kenya, to a native woman who had presented him with a small gift.

    * "If you stay here much longer you'll all get slitty eyed." (1986)

    Said to British students in China.

    * "If it has four legs and is not a chair, has wings and is not an aeroplane, or swims and is not a submarine the Cantonese will eat it." (1986) [I have heard a different version of this with table instead of chair and I believe he is quoting that badly]

    Said at a World Wildlife Fund meeting.

    * "Your country is one of the most notorious centres of trading in endangered species in the world." (1991)

    Said in Thailand, after accepting a conservation award.

    * "You can't have been here that long - you haven't got a pot belly." (1993)

    Said to a Briton in Budapest, Hungary.

    * "Aren't most of you descended from pirates?" (1994)

    Said to an islander in the Cayman Islands.

    * "How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to get them through the test?" (1995)

    Said to a driving instructor in Scotland.

    * "You managed not to get eaten, then?" (1998)

    Said to a student who had been trekking in Papua New Guinea.

    * "It looks like it was put in by Indians." (1999)

    Said after he saw a poorly constructed fusebox.[Presumably a wierd reference to "cowboy builders]

    * "Deaf? If you are near there, no wonder you are deaf." (1999)

    Said to young deaf people in Cardiff, referring to a school's steel band.

    * "Do you still throw spears at each other?" (2002)

    To an Aboriginal man on Australia's Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park.

    * "You were playing your instruments, weren't you? Or do you have tape recorders under your seats?" (2002)

    Said to a children's band in Australia.

    * "Do you know they have eating dogs for the anorexic now?" (2002)

    Said to a blind woman with a guide dog.

    * "The problem with London is the tourists. They cause the congestion. If we could just stop tourism we could stop the congestion.." (2002)

    Commenting on the London traffic debate, after mayor Ken Livingstone forced through his plan to charge motorists £5 to enter the city.

    * "French cooking's all very well, but they can't do a decent English breakfast.." (2002)

    Aboard the floating restaurant 'Il Punto' on the river Orwell in Ipswich, after thoroughly enjoying an excellent full English breakfast (Il Punto is owned by Frenchman Regis Crepy).

    * "You look like you're ready for bed!"

    Said to the President of Nigeria, who was dressed in traditional robes

Now these were either cases of engaging mouth before putting brain in gear or him not quite getting the very dry English sense of humour quite right. You may remember that when someone asked Noel Coward who the small man (the Tongan Prime Minister) was sitting next to the rather portly Queen of Tonga in the carriage procession at the last Coronation, he replied "Lunch". I must admit remarking to a work colleague when I first heard of the Challenger crash that it was a bloody expensive way of making a teacher redundant. You may remember that the 7/7 bombins in London occured the day after the city was awarded the 2012 Olympics and apparently a common remark among those evacuated from the stations was "I did not think the French were such bad losers". Mostly these are attempts to defuse tension through humour are certainly not intended to offend. Unfortunately Princes Philip and Harry get reported when they say or do things that are just a bit too far. After all, why did Harry have to go and hire the uniform when he could have borrowed a far more accurate one from his Great Aunt Michael (of Kent)?

If there are actions and words that we accept cause great offense to others, albeit unwittingly, we should apologise for that hurt. Most of the cartoons originally published were fairly innocuous but the one "Turban bomb" one was particularly offensive not only for the depiction of Mohammed but also because it had the central pillar of the religion on it in Arabic (There is no god by Allah and Mohammed is his messenger") which directly ties the religion to violence.  I would agree with others that even disregarding the blasphemy many Muslims consider any depiction of any prophet is, this libel is the main reason for the depth of the upset. After all