The Duke of Edinburgh asked volunteers who they “sponged off” as he helped open a community centre this morning.
Chadwell Heath Community Centre was the Queen and the Duke’s first stop during their tour of the borough to mark its 50th anniversary.
During the visit the Duke had a joke with trustee Nusrat Zamir, asking “who do you sponge off?”
The comment was seemingly taken in good humour by Mrs Zamir, who founded the Chadwell Heath Asian Women’s Network which meets at the centre.
She explained: “The Duke said to us ‘who do you sponge off?’ We’re all married so it’s our husbands.
“He was just teasing and it’s similar to what I call my husband – the wallet.”
Philip chatted freely with the guests invited to the centre which opened in September and is run by local volunteers and supported by the council.
It houses a library and hosts a range of services from exercise classes to literacy lessons for children and mum and baby classes.
The Queen’s consort also “told off” the centre’s chair Anne Estlea for using the word community.
“They were so interested in everything we had to show them, what we’ve been doing and how we worked with the council to create the community centre,” she explained.
“The Duke told me off for using the word community so many times, so I asked him what I was supposed to say and he just laughed at me.
“And as they left and I was shaking his hand I told him I was going to find a thesaurus to find a different word for community and he just laughed.”
The couple were welcomed with music from the Dagenham Girl Pipers and watched a pilates demonstration and toured the centre before unveiling a plaque to mark the official opening of the building. They also received library cards as a momento of the visit.
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