A Lifetime Of Love And Friendship
The Queen and the Duke Of Edinburgh
Elizabeth and Philip first met at a wedding in 1934 where eight year-old Elizabeth’s uncle, Prince George, was marrying 13 year-old Philip’s cousin, Princess Marina of Greece.
Five years later Elizabeth was accompanying her parents on a visit at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth and Philip was one of the cadets chosen to meet the royal party. She was greatly entertained by the handsome an nd athletic Philip, as he h energetically ju umped over tennis nets. n However, her governess g “Crawfie” la ater observed, “I thought t he showed off a good deal.” She also noted n that the young princess p “never took her h eyes off him the whole w time”.
Elizabeth and Philip’s wedding in 1947 marked the start of what is now the longest marriage of any British sovereign to date. They have remained at each other’s sides through years of shifting responsibilities, beginning with their earliest married life in Malta, where Prince Philip was stationed in the Royal Navy.
It was in Kenya in 1952, while representing an ailing King George VI on a Commonwealth tour, that Prince Philip broke the news to his 25 year-old wife of her father’s death and her accession to the throne.
Putting his promising naval career aside and the first to swear allegiance to the Queen on her 1953 coronation as her “liege man of life and limb”, Prince Philip has been her constant companion through the following decades of personal and public life.
While the Queen has remained at the helm of royal business, Prince Philip has been the trusted and dependable lead in family matters. Parents to four children, now grandparents to eight and great
He has been a constant strength and guide
grandparents to seven – soon to be eight – the royal couple evidently delight in their ever-growing family. The Queen has said that her husband has, “quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years” and “a constant strength and guide”.
Turning 93 next month, the Queen has sensibly scaled down her work commitments, yet still completed 283 royal engagements last year alone.
Prince Philip has been enjoying retirement since August 2017 and is now only occasionally seen in public.
The 97 year-old once described himself as “the world’s most experienced plaque unveiler”. But in addition to his duties by his wife’s side, he has clocked up an impressive 22,191 solo engagements and 5,493 speeches over the decades.
“Together, they are invincible,” says Princess Eugenie.