723Sent in by Stephen Judge, who wrote: “I was lucky enough to meet HRH Prince Philip at the Buckingham Palace Garden Party this year. He is the Patron of the Chartered Society of Designers and I had been invited to the party due to my involvement with them.

"On hearing that I was a designer he laughed saying 'Well you are obviously not a hirsute designer!' and pointed at my small but perfectly formed soul patch. He took great delight in mocking my 'poor frustrated beard' and urged 'If you are going to grow a beard, grow a beard!'

"Somehow this story has made it into the national press, including Sky news, Radio 2 and the Mail on Sunday which proves that the British are a proud nation of beard-lovers, or that it was a very slow news day!”

You can hear an Audioboo explanation of his SOTM here.