Prince Philip has asked a group volunteers, “Who do you sponge off?” while visiting an East London community centre on Thursday.

The 94-year-old then asked a male fundraiser if he had any friends left, The Mirror reported.

The man answered quite frankly, saying, “Not many.”

Seemingly unperturbed, the volunteers of the Chadwell Health Community Centre said the Prince’s comments were meant in jest.

Prince Philip has the gift of the gaffe. Photo: Getty

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“The Duke said to us ‘who do you sponge off? We’re all married so it’s our husbands,” said Nusrat Zamir, one of the ladies present.

“He was just teasing and it’s similar to what I call my husband — the wallet.”

A royal aide present assured that the Prince’s latest remark was made in context, saying, “They were talking about a sponge cake, no offence was intended or taken.”

These latest comments come after Prince Philip wagged his finger at an RAF Club photographer last week and demanded, “Just take the f**king photo”.

The Prince was seen becoming more and more aggravated as he waited for his picture to be taken, before mouthing off at the photographer.

Prince Philip is well known for his controversial comments. He once asking a Kenyan dancer, “You are a woman, aren’t you?”

He once told a 13-year-old boy he was “too fat to be an astronaut,” and in 1996 warned a group of British students visiting China, “If you stay here much longer you’ll all be slitty-eyed”.

On viewing a less-than-perfectly installed fuse box, he once remarked, “It looks like it’s been put in by an Indian.”

Prince Philip, the oldest-ever member of the British royal family, married Queen Elizabeth (who is his third cousin) in 1947.