Oh Dear! Prince Philip has an international reputation for saying the wrong things at the wrong time, but they are usually lighthearted and with little or no diplomatic implications. But his eldest son, Prince Charles, is quite another matter; he has an authority under the Constitution as Prince of Wales, which Philip the consort lacks, and will in the foreseeable future be King. Comparing Putin to Hitler and comparing the Russian absorption of the Crimea in response to an overwhelming vote by its majority Russian inhabitants, whether recognized by the West or not, to the Nazi rampage across Europe with all its genocidal apparatus and cruelty, is utterly absurd.
Worse than that, it is insulting to ordinary Russians whose forbears spilled blood in casualties running into tens of millions defeating Nazi Germany. Indeed only ten per cent of German casualties occurred on the Western front. Ninety per cent were in the East; the Nazis were destroyed largely by the Soviet Union. So these unfortunate words betray not only confusion of thoughts, but also ignorance of facts. They make his Royal Highness look a fool, which he is not, but far too many of the people who will become his subjects think he is.
As for Clarence House refusing to comment on ‘a private conversation’; this shows a woeful disconnect from the world of today. If you are a Royal on an official engagement with the press attending, there is no such thing.