Prince Philip Gaffe: 'Who Do You Sponge Off?'

The Duke of Edinburgh has added to his long list of social gaffes by asking a group of women: "Who do you sponge off?"

Philip also asked the volunteers for an Asian women's group at an east London community centre whether they met to "have a gossip".

His questions came less than a week after he was filmed yelling "just take the f****** picture" during a photocall for the Battle of Britain anniversary.

His latest gaffe happened during a tour of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham to mark its 50th anniversary, with the Queen.

Nusrat Zamir, a trustee of the Chadwell Heath Community Centre, said: "The Duke said to us 'who do you sponge off?' We're all married so it's our husbands.

"He was just teasing and it's similar to what I call my husband - the wallet."

Mrs Zamir, who founded the Chadwell Heath Asian Women's Network which meets at the centre, had just presented the Queen with a sponge cake.

The trustee, 35, from Chadwell Heath, added: "He also said to us 'do you meet to have a gossip?'

"It's a familiar question, a lot of people say what the Duke said but we do a lot of work."

The Duke chatted with other guests at the volunteer-run centre, which opened in September.

One of them, Martin Shaw, said Philip poked fun at his job.

Mr Shaw said: "I told Philip I'm a professional fundraiser and he said 'do you have any friends left?' I said 'not many'."

The Queen's consort even "told off" the centre's chair Anne Estlea for using the word community.

She said the royal couple put her at ease and seemed to enjoy touring the building.

"It felt comfortable, it felt easy, it felt right. They were so interested in everything we had to show them, what we've been doing and how we worked with the council to create the community centre," she said.

She added: "The Duke told me off for using the word community so many times, so I asked him what I was supposed to say and he just laughed at me.

"And as they left and I was shaking his hand I told him I was going to find a thesaurus to find a different word for community and he just laughed."

A royal aide said later that Philip's "who do you sponge off?" remark was not meant to offend.

The aide said: "There's a context here, they were talking about a sponge cake, no offence was intended or taken.

"The whole visit took place in a wonderful atmosphere."