As the world mourns the recent passing of Queen Elizabeth II, many are looking back at her colorful life — from the secret to her long life, to her controversial relationship with Princess Diana, and her seven-decade love story with the late Prince Philip.
As depicted in Netflix's The Crown, not everyone was in favor of Her Royal Highness marrying the former Prince of Greece and Denmark. Here's why.
How Did Queen Elizabeth II & Prince Philip Meet?
The royal couple first met at a wedding in 1934 when the Queen was eight and Prince Philip was 13. "She fell desperately, desperately head-over-heels in love with him at first sight," said British historian Andrew Roberts. The two kept in touch through letters during World War II. At that time, Philip was fighting for the Royal Navy.
In 1946, he asked King George VI for Elizabeth's hand in marriage. In March the following year, Philip renounced his Greek and Danish royal titles, adopted the surname Mountbatten, and became a naturalized British citizen.
In July 1947, the engagement was announced to the public. The ceremony was held in November that year at Westminster Abbey. It was broadcasted by BBC radio to 200 million people across the globe. "I wonder if Philip knows what he is taking on," King George was heard saying to a guest at that time. "One day Lilibet will be queen and he will be consort. That's much harder than being a king, but I think he's the man for the job."
A year later, they welcomed their first child, King Charles III who inherited the Queen's entire private wealth. Two years later, Princess Anne was born, followed by the scandalous Prince Andrew in 1960. The youngest, and Her Majesty's alleged favorite, Prince Edward was born later in 1964.
Why Was Queen Elizabeth II Told Not To Marry Prince Philip?
According to biographer A.N. Wilson, the Queen was told several times that the Duke of Edinburgh was "entirely the wrong person to choose" because he's such a comic and made "gaffes," per Telegraph.
During the Cheltenham Literary Festival in 2016, Wilson claimed: "When she made it quite clear from the age of about 14 that she was in love with Prince Philip, who was a beautiful German Prince with blond hair, all the courtiers said he was entirely the wrong person to choose."
The writer continued: "They said it for lots of reasons, but the fact is he was wrong. The Queen is a very reserved, diligent person. He isn't. He was a naval officer and he was also quite funny." In fact, the Prince's first comment to the Queen after her coronation was, "Where did you get that hat?"
Wilson added: "Many of his jokes are extremely funny. He has been what she has described, which is a tower of strength. The fact that he makes all these so-called gaffes. Well, I don't think they are gaffes. They are the kind of jokes a naval officer of a certain age might make. I think [they are] made rather wonderfully."
What's The Secret To Queen Elizabeth II & Prince Philip's Long Marriage?
Author Tina Brown reported in The Palace Papers that a member of the Queen's staff told her: "In his nineties, Philip asked, 'Do you want some marriage advice? Spend enough time apart, and make sure you don’t have all the same interests.'" The book also discussed the alleged affairs of the Prince Consort, which he himself denied. "Philip has been one hundred per cent faithful to the Queen," said his private secretary, Mike Parker back in 2004. "No ifs, no buts."
Prince Philip lived his own marriage advice."In his retirement [2017], Philip took himself off to his man cave at Wood Farm, the cozy and unpretentious royal property on the Sandringham Estate, where he organized his papers, painted watercolors, and read history voraciously," wrote Brown. But in March 2020, he moved back to Windsor Castle with Queen Elizabeth and a few staff members to live in a pandemic bubble that was named "HMS Bubble."
"It was the longest time the Queen and Prince Philip had ever spent together alone as a couple in their seventy-three-year marriage," noted the author. "Theirs was a bond that didn't need a constantly reinforced presence. Though they permitted themselves no displays of affection in public, in private they had a 'wonderful teasing intimacy,' their friend Alastair Bruce told me. 'They played off each other the way two people who love each other do, in a way that makes their inner sanctum very trusting.'"
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