Britain’s Prince Philip has got into a controversy again — this time, for cracking a joke about the Indian surname Patel, The Sun reported on Tuesday. The Duke of Edinburgh joked with Indian- origin businessman Atul Patel during a reception for 400 influential British-Indians at Buckingham Palace on Monday.

As guests lined up to meet the Queen and her husband Prince Philip, who hosted the evening to celebrate this week’s state visit by President Pratibha Patil, the Royal (88) turned to greet Patel. After glancing at Patel’s name badge, he was quoted as saying, “There’s a lot of your family in tonight.”The comment appeared to jokingly suggest that all Patels are related. The surname is the second most popular in Britain after Singh. Graham Smith of campaign group Republic said, “Making a joke about people called Patel is deeply embarrassing given the timing of the Indian state visit.”