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, after Elizabeth had turned 21.
The night before their wedding on November 20, the same year, Philip had a lively stag do at the Dorchester Hotel with fellow naval officers and his uncle, Lord Mountbatten.
On the day of his wedding he gave up smoking in a bid to please his new bride.
They married at Westminster Abbey in front of 2,000 guests in a ceremony broadcast to 200 million radio listeners. Elizabeth was walked down the aisle by her father King George VI. She wore a satin gown created by royal couturier Norman Hartnell.
Like everyone else in post-war Britain, she had to save up clothing coupons for it.
In a letter to his daughter, King George wrote: “You were so calm and composed during the service and said your words with such conviction that I knew everything was alright. I can see you are sublimely happy with Philip, which is right, but don’t forget us, is the wish of your ever loving and devoted… Papa.”
After the wedding, Philip’s Navy career took him to Malta, where they spent a blissful few years living under the radar before going back to London.
Philip became a member of the Thursday Club, which met once a week to drink and “let off steam” in a private room at a restaurant in Soho – but rumours circulated about the behaviour of the Duke and his friends.
Certainly, the Duke was an outrageous flirt, with one courtier claiming “all the girls in his office had to be 36-24-36”.
And in his life before and after he met Elizabeth, Philip had a number of close female friends.
A SOLID MARRIAGE
His first private secretary and good friend, Michael Parker, said of the Duke: “Philip has been 100% faithful to the Queen. No ifs, no buts. Take it from me. I know.”
Palace sources suggested that although known for a flirtatious nature, no woman ever spoke of Philip as a lover.
The Queen was said to have been aware of rumours but the marriage always remained solid.
Philip’s devotion to his wife was clear.
Michael Parker revealed: “He told me the first day he offered me my job that his job, first, second and last, was never to let her down.”
At the Coronation in Westminster Abbey in June 1953, the Duke duly knelt before the Queen then kissed her left cheek.
He was the first layman to pay tender homage to the newly crowned monarch.
Kneeling before her, he put his hands between hers and declared: “I, Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, do become your liege man of life and limb, and of earthly worship; and faith and truth will I bear unto you, to live and die, against all manner of folks. So help me God.”
Married for more than 70 years, their first born, Charles, arrived on November 14, 1948, followed by Anne on October 21, 1950.
But the family’s relative normality was cut short in 1952 when Elizabeth’s father, King George, died aged 56.
It was Philip who told his wife she was now Queen, at Sanga Lodge in Kenya, where they were staying on an official visit.
For Philip, there was no question of not taking up his duties as consort, even if it meant putting his own career aspirations on hold.
“Well, it was disappointing because I’d just been promoted to Commander and the most interesting part of a naval career was just starting,” he later said. “But then, if I stopped and thought about it, being married to the Queen, it seemed to me my first duty was to serve her in the best way I could.”
Philip had always been head of the family in private and the Queen insisted he get “place, pre-eminence and precedence” next to her. Yet it was hard to adjust.
When it was decided that the name of the Royal house be changed to the House of Windsor, he grumbled: “I am nothing but a bloody amoeba – the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his own children.”