Nigel Farage has refused to backtrack on his criticism of the British royal family, publicly mocking Prince Charles’s commitment to environmental causes just one day after lashing out at the heir apparent and his children in leaked remarks.
Speaking to Sky News on Monday, Nigel Farage recalled how he was the only MEP who refused to applaud Prince Charles following his climate change speech in February 2008.
Farage said of Prince Charles: “He came to the European Parliament ten years ago to tell us within seven years the polar ice cap would disappear completely, and at the end of his speech, I refused to stand, I just sat there like that.”
He continued: “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.”
.@Nigel_Farage criticises Prince Charles' views on climate change and describes the Queen's late mother as "a chain-smoking, gin drinker".
— Sky News (@SkyNews) August 12, 2019
More on Mr Farage's comments on the Royal Family here: https://t.co/ii85fKsl9q pic.twitter.com/k8n534t9fT
It is reported that Buckingham Palace has refused to comment on the remarks.
It comes after several media outlets divulged the details of an incendiary speech Farage delivered at Sydney’s Conservative Political action Conference last week.
Media were barred from the gathering, but The Guardian claimed to have heard a partial recording of Farage’s speech there.
The former UKIP leader, who now leads the Brexit Party, allegedly praised Queen Elizabeth II but was less supportive of other royals: "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. All I can say is Charlie Boy is now in his 70s... may the Queen live a very, very long time".
Farage was also quoted by The Sydney Morning Herald as branding Prince Harry the “prince of wokeness” over his joint pledge with Meghan Markle to have only two kids due to climate change concerns, but his spokesman denied that he had made “derogatory comments” about Prince Harry.
Nigel Farage has in the past expressed a lack of interest in climate change policies adopted worldwide by left-wing and green parties. He has called wind energy “the biggest collective economic insanity I've seen in my entire life” and framed green movements in Europe and Australia as “Marxist socialism coming back in a different guise”.
