Being married to the Queen, it seemed to me my first duty was to serve her in the best way I could

JUST hours before tying the knot, the groom is said to have asked: “Am I being very brave or very foolish?” Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten knew the eyes of the world would be on him constantly from the moment he married Princess Elizabeth.

But through the rough and smooth, he was steadfastly at the Queen’s side.

It was in 1939, shortly before he went off to war, that Philip, 18, met the 13-year-old Princess Elizabeth at Britannia Royal Naval College, when King George VI brought his daughters on an official visit to the Devon base.

Handsome, blond-haired, athletic Philip caught Lilibet’s eye as he entertained her by jumping over tennis nets.

Marion “Crawfie” Crawford, Elizabeth’s governess, recalled: “I thought he showed off a good deal.” But the princess was entranced. “She never took her eyes off him the whole time,” wrote Crawfie.

They kept in touch by letter and after the war their romance blossomed.

By this time, Philip’s mentor was his uncle, Lord Mountbatten, who had taken him under his wing and was keen to see the match be a success.

There was some diplomatic opposition to the “rough, ill-mannered” Greek marrying Elizabeth, and even her own mother had to be persuaded he was the right man.

But Philip’s naturalisation as a

British citizen, which had seen him take the name Mountbatten, and their obvious love, won over public opinion.

WEDDING BELLS

THE couple secretly got engaged at Balmoral in

1946 but the announcement was delayed until July 1947,