How do you get away with being bigoted and gratuitously rude to people without any comeuppance – maybe even get patted on the back for it? If you’re Mr or Mrs Normal Citizen and foul your Twitter feed with racism, you’re pretty much inviting a P45. But if you are one of the symbols of the nation, then apparently you have carte blanche scrawled with “Fill your boots and everyone will just chuckle!” Except that wouldn’t be a carte blanche anymore … but you know what I mean.

Discussing Prince Philip is tough. Any intervention invites “po-faced Guardianista who takes offence at anything” type retorts. The thing is, these are generally from people who would turn crimson and seethe with rage at the mildest dig at the monarchy. Indeed, being publicly rude about a member of the royal family is probably the quickest route to mass offence, so let’s stop pretending that particular reaction is the preserve of the left.

Prince Philip must tire of being photographed, which is why there’s a case for rotating the position of head of state

Prince Philip is back in the headlines with another “gaffe”, followed by the usual “oh what is he like” response. This time, he asked a group of East End women: “Who do you sponge off?” The easy response here is that they weren’t personally offended, so what’s the problem? Well, if a senior politician expressed sentiments that aren’t, let’s just say, very favourable to women as a whole, it would be goodbye career. It’s perfectly right to hesitate before criticising a 94-year-old, out of respect for his age. And I think that’s a good point. But at the same time, he’s one of the chief representatives of the nation.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Prince Philip tells a photographer to ‘just take the fucking picture!’ (0.30)

Last week, he told a photographer who was perhaps excessively perfectionist to “just take the fucking picture!” This is the ultimate abuse of authority: someone powerful by virtue of birth abusing someone who holds their position by virtue of ability, knowing they can’t respond. They just have to take the public humiliation. Not a great look, is it? I appreciate Prince Philip must tire of being constantly photographed, which is why there’s a strong case for rotating the position of head of state so that they and their spouse get some respite.

He’s the man who once asked Lord Taylor of Warwick: “And what exotic part of the world do you come from?” That’s because Lord Taylor is black. When he once visited an electronics factory in Scotland and came across a “messy fuse box”, he exclaimed it looked “as though it was put in by an Indian”. He asked a female sea cadet if she worked “in a strip club”. And when he met British students in China in the 1980s, he said: “If you stay here much longer you’ll all be slitty-eyed.”

It’s all brushed aside as Prince Philip being Prince Philip, or a welcome throwback to a time when the women’s, LGBT and anti-racism movements didn’t ruin everything and make public utterances of bigotry less acceptable. The average woman or man on the street can’t get away with publicly uttered racial slurs or bullying. But because in the case of Prince Phillip it’s shrugged off, the message is pretty clear: if you’re powerful and privileged by birth, you can say what you like. There’ll be this comment piece on the Guardian website and that’s pretty much your lot. The bigger offence that’s likely to be triggered is me criticising the royal family for their behaviour. And I think that’s a bit sad.