LONDON - Britain was reeling in disbelief and anger yesterday in the wake of Prince Philip's latest - and perhaps largest - gaffe.
The Duke of Edinburgh, a man whose crassness and insensitivity are legendary, was roundly denounced for callously criticizing government plans to ban handguns in the aftermath of the Dunblane massacre in March.
Buckingham Palace moved quickly to quash the debacle, but devastating damage had already been done.
In an interview with BBC radio last night, Philip inadvertently made light of the terrible tragedy that gripped the nation and the world in grief.
The Duke complained to a Radio 5 sports broadcaster: ``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, are you going to ban cricket bats?''
A pre-release of the Duke's official comments prompted swift reaction.
``I know he has a reputation for being boorish,'' said Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond, ``but this is a comment too far.''
George Robertson, a member of the Labour Party's shadow cabinet, called Philip ``a very uninformed old man.''
''I think this has damaged the credibility of Prince Philip enormously,'' said Robertson, whose children once attended the Dunblane school where killer Thomas Hamilton gunned down 16 children and a teacher and wounded another 12 this year.
Following a national outcry to ban handguns in the wake of the tragedy, the government is now preparing to pass a law that would ban private ownership of all handguns bigger than .22 calibre.
The spokesperson for the group which organized the drive to ban handguns, the Snowdrop Campaign - named after the only flower in bloom at the time of the tragedy - said she was ill at hearing Philip's comments.
``To think of the Queen coming up here and laying a wreath at our school and then hearing her husband say something like this sickens me,'' said Ann Pearston.
And a teacher who was shot and wounded during the Dunblane massacre also said she was stunned.
``My first reaction is one of disbelief,'' said Eileen Harrild. ``That he could choose at this time to come out with such a crass and insensitive statement is unbelievable.
``We were hoping for some peace and quiet and calm to reflect on what has been a terrible year for Dunblane.''
Philip chuckled as he tried to persuade his radio interviewer that members of gun clubs were no different from members of squash or golf clubs.
Taking the Prince to task on his fuzzy logic, grieving mother Alison Crozier, whose 5-year-old daughter Emma was killed at Dunblane, said: ``Golf clubs are made for sport, for enjoyment. Guns are made to kill. There is no comparison between the two things.''
Last night calls were mounting for nothing short of an unqualified, heartfelt apology from Philip.
In his interview, he did politely say that he sympathized ``desperately with the people who are bereaved at Dunblane.'' But it was his later ``cricket bat'' comparison which rang loudest.
The Duke did have pockets of support among the conservative press. Prominent was The Daily Telegraph, but even it commented: ``One wishes that the Prince had spoken with a bit more care.''
Late yesterday, the Prince issued a statement saying he was sorry if he had offended anyone by his remarks.