Thousands of Londoners celebrated the Diamond Jubilee with the Queen as the Duke of Edinburgh let his mischievous humour get the better of him.

The royal couple received a rapturous welcome as they visited three boroughs in the capital – Redbridge, Waltham Forest and Harrow – as part of their UK tour to mark the Queen’s historic 60-year reign.

And when Philip met two mobility scooter users he showed that despite his recent health problems his wits are still keen and he joked with the disabled men about their mode of transport.

In Redbridge he strode up to David Miller, 60, and gesturing to the mobility scooter he was sitting on, asked him: “How many people have you knocked over this morning on that thing?”

The mayor of Waltham Forest Geoff Walker was treated to a variation of the joke – “have you run over anybody?” – when he met Philip while seated on his small vehicle before a celebration lunch.

The Duke is known for his blunt speaking and is famed for making light of events and even people during royal engagements.

Mr Miller, a trustee of a charitable trust that runs Redbridge’s Valentines Mansion which the royals were visiting, laughed at the comment.

The trustee, who has difficulty walking due to a spinal problem, said: “That is just typical from the Duke. He is renowned for his humour but no offence was taken, it was all in good humour.

“I told him no, your Royal Highness, I had not knocked anyone down.”

A Waltham Forest council spokesman confirmed the comments and said they were taken in “good humour” by Mr Walker who has a condition which affects his lower body.

Philip’s humour was more deprecating during the final leg of the tour in Harrow – where he jokingly turned down the chance to take part in a football training session because his heart was not up to it.

His comments came three months after he had cardiac surgery after suffering chest pains while at Sandringham with other members of the Royal Family over Christmas.

The Queen received armfuls of flowers, cards and even soft toys during her tour of the capital which began in Redbridge where an exhibition of world renowned artwork and design classics were on display at Valentines Mansion to mark the Diamond Jubilee.

The couple toured a marquee filled with design exhibits from the past six decades of her reign.

Designer Sir Terence Conran, who has helped the local council to source pieces for the display, greeted the Monarch when she first arrived.

Classic domestic appliances from the first few decades of the Queen’s reign caughther eye. She paused to look at a tiny 1950s television, that could have been used to watch her coronation in 1953, and a bulky teasmaid from 1965 and told the curator Gerard Greene “how things have changed”.

On display for the royal couple in the mansion was a portrait by Lucian Freud of his mother, a striking image of a man shouting from 1952 by Francis Bacon, called Head of a Man, and a David Hockney piece titled A Walk Around the Hotel Courtyard, Acatlan.

The Queen and Philip travelled onto the second leg of their London visit, Waltham Forest Town Hall, where they enjoyed a two-course lunch of Indian Shepherd’s pie followed by clotted cream bread and butter pudding prepared by celebrity Indian chef Cyrus Todiwala.

Waltham Forest Council leader Chris Robbins, who sat next to the Queen, said: “When she got her pudding it was made with sloe gin and she said ‘I’m not going to get drunk on this, am I?’

“She also said when she drove through the gates she said to Philip ‘I’ve been here before’ and he said ‘no you haven’t’.

“But I reminded her she was here in the Millennium and she said ‘I knew it, I’m going to tell Philip later’.”

In Harrow, the Duke was introduced to football coach Mo Kassamali at the Krishna Avanti Primary School, the first state-funded Hindu school in the UK.

Mr Kassamali’s nine-year-old son, Suhail, gave the Queen a commemorative football shirt with the number 60 on the back, to mark her Diamond Jubilee.

Mr Kassamali, 40, a coach at Belmont United Youth Football Club, said: “We asked Prince Philip if he wanted to come for a quick training session.

“He said ‘The old heart’s not working’ – so he turned it down.”