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Nigel Farage sparked anger today for using a speech in Australia to pour scorn on Prince Harry and his wife Meghan.

The Brexit Party leader dismissed the couple’s recent announcement that they plan to have only two children due to environmental concerns as “irrelevant”.

He said Harry’s personal appeal had “fallen off a cliff” since the couple met and embarked on campaigns for social justice and the environment.

In other remarks at a political dinner from which the media were excluded, the Right-winger described the late Queen Mother as “a slightly overweight, chain-smoking gin-drinker”.

Mr Farage praised the Queen as “an amazing, awe-inspiring woman, we’re bloody lucky to have her”, but also heaped abuse on Prince Charles.

“When it comes to her son, when it comes to Charlie Boy and climate change, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear,” Mr Farage said.

“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 seventies … may the Queen live a very, very long time.”

Tory MP Nigel Evans accused Mr Farage of “trashing” one of the UK’s biggest selling points to an overseas audience.

“He is confusing trashing the much-loved royal family with entertainment,” he said. “Doing this while abroad is something that we should avoid at all costs.

“The vast majority of people if given the choice between any politician and a member of the royal family would choose the royal every time. Quite frankly, he is off the mark on this.”

His scathing remarks On Harry and Meghan: Here was Harry, this young brave officer … the most popular younger royal … then he met Meghan Markle On Prince Charles: When it comes to Charlie Boy and climate change … oh dear, oh dear, oh dear On The Queen: An amazing, awe inspiring woman … we’re bloody lucky to have her. May she live a very long time

Labour MP Anna Turley commented: “Such a patriot ...” and fellow MP Stephen Pound said: “He is not speaking for the nation, but is completely out of touch. Anyone can come up with insults like these but we expect more of someone who affects to be serious member of the European Parliament.”

Mr Farage’s comments to about 500 people at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Sydney were revealed by the Guardian which obtained a recording of the event.

In response to a question about women being put off having children by the climate crisis, he turned to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s decision to limit the number of children they have, revealed in the September issue of Vogue guest-edited by Meghan.

“Well, if I want the Queen to live a long time to stop Charlie Boy becoming king, I want Charlie Boy to live even longer and William to live forever to stop Harry becoming king,” he went on. “Terrifying! Here was Harry, here he was this young, brave, boisterous, all-male, getting into trouble, turning up at stag parties inappropriately dressed, drinking too much and causing all sorts of mayhem. And then, a brave British officer who did his bit in Afghanistan. He was the most popular royal of a younger generation that we’ve seen for 100 years.

“All I can say is Charlie Boy is now in his 70s … may the Queen live a very, very long time.”

“And then he met Meghan Markle, and it’s fallen off a cliff. We’ve been told in the last week that Meghan and Harry will only have two children … and we’re all completely ignoring the real problem the Earth faces and that is the fact the population of the globe is exploding, but no one dares talk about it, no one dares deal with it, and whether Prince Harry has two kids is irrelevant given there are now 2.6 billion Chinese and Indians on this earth.”

The reference to “dressing up inappropriately” recalled the controversy in 2005 when photographs emerged of Harry at a party dressed in a Nazi outfit.

Some media outlets reported that Mr Farage had described Harry as “the prince of wokeness” at the Sydney event, but his spokesman denied he had made that particular comment.

Mr Farage’s spokesman said his remarks about the Queen Mother were affectionate and he had been making the point that he expected the Queen to live for a long time because her mother had achieved longevity despite having an outwardly unhealthy lifestyle.

Mr Farage has taken aim at Charles before, describing his views on climate change as “naive and foolish at best”.