Prince Philip reportedly asked a group of women who they “sponge off” while visiting a London community centre.

The Duke of Edinburgh was at the Chadwell Heath Community Centre, in east London, during an official visit with the Queen when he made the comment, according to the Mail Online.

The 94-year-old spoke to a group of women present for the centre’s opening day, who said his question was intended as a joke.

Nusrat Zamir told The Mail: “He was just teasing and it's similar to what I call my husband - the wallet.” Ms Zamir, who runs the Chadwell Heath Asian Women's Network within the centre, added: “He also said 'do you meet to have a gossip?'

In pictures: Prince Philip's gaffes Show all 15 1 /15 In pictures: Prince Philip's gaffes In pictures: Prince Philip's gaffes Prince Philip's gaffes "I would like to go to Russia very much – although the bastards murdered half my family." In 1967, asked if he would like to visit the Soviet Union. GETTY In pictures: Prince Philip's gaffes Prince Philip's gaffes "It's not a very big one, but at least it's dead and it took an awful lot of killing!" Speaking about a crocodile he shot in Gambia in 1957 GETTY IMAGES In pictures: Prince Philip's gaffes Prince Philip's gaffes "Get me a beer. I don't care what kind it is, just get me a beer!" On being offered the finest Italian wines by PM Giuliano Amato at a dinner in Rome in 2000 Reuters In pictures: Prince Philip's gaffes Prince Philip's gaffes "You're just a silly little Whitehall twit: you don't trust me and I don't trust you." Said to Sir Rennie Maudslay, Keeper of the Privy Purse, in the 1970s. Getty Images In pictures: Prince Philip's gaffes Prince Philip's gaffes "Tolerance is the one essential ingredient ... You can take it from me that the Queen has the quality of tolerance in abundance." Advice for a successful marriage in 1997. Getty Images In pictures: Prince Philip's gaffes Prince Philip's gaffes "If you stay here much longer, you will go home with slitty eyes." To 21-year-old British student Simon Kerby during a visit to China in 1986. GETTY In pictures: Prince Philip's gaffes prince-philip-gt.jpg "If it has four legs and it is not a chair, if it has got two wings and it flies but is not an aeroplane and if it swims and it is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it." Said to a World Wildlife Fund meeting in 1986. Getty In pictures: Prince Philip's gaffes Prince Philip's gaffes "If a cricketer, for instance, suddenly decided to go into a school and batter a lot of people to death with a cricket bat,which he could do very easily, I mean, are you going to ban cricket bats?" In a Radio 4 interview shortly after the Dunblane shootings in 1996 Getty Images In pictures: Prince Philip's gaffes Prince Philip's gaffes "It looks as though it was put in by an Indian." The Prince's verdict of a fuse box during a tour of a Scottish factory in August 1999. He later clarified his comment: "I meant to say cowboys. "I just got my cowboys and Indians mixed up." GETTY In pictures: Prince Philip's gaffes Prince Philip's gaffes "Young people are the same as they always were. They are just as ignorant." At the 50th anniversary of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards scheme. Getty Images In pictures: Prince Philip's gaffes Prince Philip's gaffes "Holidays are curious things, aren't they? You send children to school to get them out of your hair. Then they come back and make life difficult for parents. That is why holidays are set so they are just about the limit of your endurance." At the opening of a school in 2000. Getty Images In pictures: Prince Philip's gaffes Prince Philip's gaffes "And what exotic part of the world do you come from?" Asked in 1999 of Tory politician Lord Taylor of Warwick, whose parents are Jamaican. He replied: "Birmingham." In pictures: Prince Philip's gaffes Prince Philip's gaffes "Can you tell the difference between them?" On being told by President Obama that he'd had breakfast with the leaders of the UK, China and Russia. Reuters In pictures: Prince Philip's gaffes Prince Philip's gaffes "How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test?" Asked of a Scottish driving instructor in 1995. Getty Images In pictures: Prince Philip's gaffes Prince Philip's gaffes "So who's on drugs here?... HE looks as if he's on drugs." To a 14-year-old member of a Bangladeshi youth club in 2002. AP

“It's a familiar question, a lot of people say what the Duke said but we do a lot of work. When we organised a fair in March that took a lot of organising and time."

Ms Zamir presented the Queen with a sponge cake upon their arrival. A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace declined to comment, but a royal aide highlighted the context of remark, telling The Independent he had been chatting about the sponge cake before making the joke.