A FORMAL, black-tie dinner on board the Southampton liner, Queen Mary 2, is normally a refined and courteous occasion, but the usual good-manners sank without trace during a heated row resulting in a couple being threatened with expulsion from the ship.

An expletive riddled argument erupted between passengers after 82-year-old, former Broadway producer, Gloria Sher, and her husband, Frederick Evans, aged 91, who claims to be the illegitimate son of the Duke of Windsor, took exception to an alleged anti-Semitic remark made by a fellow guest sitting at their table.

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Now a tide of incrimination is washing around Cunard's QM2 following the argument, which resulted in the couple storming out of the restaurant to their stateroom during a cruise from New York to New England and Canada last month.

According to Miss Sher, who is Jewish, the ship's captain, Commodore Bernard Warner, later told the couple, who live in Manhattan, they had been in danger of being put ashore at Quebec, the ship's next port of call, but instead they should stay in their cabin and hand over all their alcohol.

The couple, who are now demanding an apology from Cunard, claim they should have been given "far more regal treatment" because of their connections.

Miss Sher says her husband, as well as being the son of the abdicated King Edward VIII, is also a Knight of the Realm, although neither of these claims can be verified.

In a statement the shipping line "fully supported'' the action taken by Commodore Warner and said the company only refunded a part of the ticket price as the couple had engaged in "multiple incidences of disrespectful and disruptive behaviour towards crew members and other guests.''