Philip ‘tried to force Queen Mum out’

CLAIMS that ‘womanising’ Prince Philip cheated on the Queen and tried to force the Queen Mother out of Buckingham Palace by turning off the heating are among the contentious allegations to be aired in a TV series starting tomorrow.

The documentary will explore unsubstantiated claims that the Duke of Edinburgh even spirited a woman on to the royal yacht Britannia and that at one point ‘the royal marriage was on the rocks’.

The controversial two-part Channel 5 series suggests that in 1956 the situation was so tense that the young Queen was advised to send her husband abroad to allow things to cool down.

Programme-makers say rumours of affairs persisted despite denials and the absence of evidence. The Queen was then advised to let Philip go away on a long oversees tour which should ‘keep him out of trouble’.

In the series, royal author Dr Piers Brendan says Philip joined celebrities for alcohol-fuelled parties at a private gentlemen’s club in Soho as an ‘escape valve’. ‘He and the others behaved like playboys’ he says. ‘Naked showgirls were talked about.’

Prince Philip’s rumoured dislike for the Queen Mother is also aired in the first episode of the show, entitled Inside Buckingham Palace. It is claimed he tried to force her out of the Palace and into her own residence at Clarence House by turning off the heating. Author Chris Wilson says that ‘within a week she was gone’.

Channel 5 says it secured contributions from former palace staff and royal confidantes for the series.