Seventy Years of


Marriage: The Queen and Prince Philip


was instantly smien but, unsurprisingly, he was courng older girls. However, he visited Windsor oen and was entranced by the family feeling of Christmas there with Elizabeth in 1943, which his own life so lacked.


A U B?


On 20th November, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip celebrated seventy years of marriage (the longest of any Brish monarch).


A Q W   H P


Born on 21st April 1926 to Albert and Elizabeth, the Duke and Duchess of York, Princess Elizabeth became heir to the throne, when her uncle’s abdicaon in 1936made her father King George VI.


Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark was born on 10 June 1921 to Prince Andrew of Greece and Princess Alice of Baenberg. An oen‐tragic childhood was spent in exile with relaves, mainly in England without his parents. His mother was taken to an asylum when he was nine. Aer boarding school, he joined the Royal Navy and served during WWII.


Elizabeth and Philip first met at a royal wedding in 1934, but in 1939 Philip gave 13‐year‐old Elizabeth a tour around Dartmouth Naval College. She


Aer his posng home in January 1946, Philip regularly visited Buckingham Palace, carrying a picture of Elizabeth in his bag, while she made noceably more fuss about her appearance! In a leer, Philip wrote that he had “fallen in love completely and unreservedly.”


But despite Philip’s loyal service and royal connecons, the courtship wasn’t welcomed by all. Philip didn’t have the ‘right’ educaon, clothes or money ‐ and had sisters married to Nazis.


However, Philip’s uncle, Lord Mountbaen, worked to change popular opinion. When Philip proposed in summer 1946, the King consented but insisted on delaying the official announcement unl Elizabeth turned 21. Philip renounced his Greek and Danish tles and was merely Lieutenant Philip Mountbaen on their official engagement in July 1947. Before the wedding, however, he wasmade Duke of Edinburgh, with Elizabeth becoming Duchess on their marriage.


M L


Elizabeth and Philip married at Westminster Abbey on 20th November 1947. A year later


their son Charles arrived, followed by Anne in 1950.


But family life was soon disrupted. In February 1953, Philip broke news of the King’s death to Elizabeth while in Kenya, and abandoned his naval career to support her in her new role. They moved to Buckingham Palace and Elizabeth was crowned on 5th June 1953 at Westminster Abbey, watched by millions on TV. Andrew and Edward, born in 1960 and 1964 respecvely, completed their family.


G Y


Throughout the years, they have connued to show affecon and support for each other, enjoying the ups (jubilees, the arrival of grandchildren and great‐ grandchildren) and weathering the downs (long separaons from their children, family scandals and divorces, fires; their ‘annus horribilis’). In a thoughul gesture, the Queen gave her husband the tle of Lord High Admiral, tular head of the Royal Navy, when he turned 90. “Their marriage is a true love story,’’ said former Buckingham Palace press secretary Dickie Arbiter.


On their Golden Wedding anniversary in 1997, they paid touching tributes to each other. “He has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years,” said the Queen.


“Tolerance is the one essenal ingredient in any happy marriage,” said Prince Philip. “The Queen has the quality of tolerance in abundance."


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