Britain's Prince Philip recognised Joey Essex while he was shooting his new show on the royal family last month.

Prince Philip

Prince Philip

The 25-year-old reality TV star chatted to the duke - the husband of Queen Elizabeth - while shooting the next installment of his programme 'Educating Joey Essex' based on the monarch's 90th birthday in Windsor in April.

But, although the 94-year-old prince appeared to know exactly who he was, Joey has admitted he had no idea he was having a gossip with a member of the royal family.

Joey explained: "I didn't know who he was. He recognised me. I turned to my film crew and said, 'Is that Prince Charles?' And they said, 'No it's Prince Philip.' "

The prince even encouraged the former 'The Only Way is Essex' star to jump over a fence in order to meet the queen and to give her a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

He told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "He said 'Jump over the gate.' If I'd known it was Prince Philip I would've done it."

The ditzy hunk will bound onto screens in coming months as he teams up with former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond to learn about Queen Elizabeth and her relatives in the next series of his highly popular factual reality TV show.

Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, Jennie - who has 14 years experience covering the monarch - said recently: "We were filming all day around Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and the Tower of London. I'll be educating Joey about royalty, so that's been fun."

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