Fears that the Duke of Edinburgh may have returned to rude health were strengthened yesterday when he told a nurse from the Philippines that her country must be 'half empty' because so many of her compatriots have come to the UK to work for the NHS.
'Unfortunately,' said psychiatrist Dr Karen Young, 'the Duke seems to be back to that previous period of robust health when, during a state visit to China, he told a group of British students: 'If you stay here much longer, you'll all be slitty-eyed'; or when he told a student who had been trekking in Papua New Guinea:'You managed not to get eaten,then?''
Dr Young said that she was afraid the 91-year-old royal's good health could continue for several more years.
'By which time,'she said,'presumably the rest of the 94.8 million Filipinos will be working for the NHS.'