Elizabeth & Philip: Love and Duty
BBC ONE, 9.00PM
To mark the 70th wedding anniversary of the Queen and Prince Philip, Kirsty Young presents this respectful portrait of the couple as they reach a landmark in their marriage. Young traces their story from the moment in 1939 when, on a visit to the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth with her father King George VI, the then 13-year-old Princess Elizabeth first set her eyes on the dashing young cadet Philip Mountbatten. Their subsequent marriage in 1947 is recalled as the most glamorous event in times of great postwar austerity (although, like Alexander Armstrong in ITV’S recent A Very Royal Wedding, Young cannot resist the opportunity to be awestruck by some dazzling royal engagement-related diamonds).
Most affectingly, a handful of good citizens who also tied the knot that year fondly remember their own courtships and enduring relationships. The royal marriage might have had its ups and downs, but the mood here is celebratory and even the annus horribilis of 1992 is seen simply as one more obstacle overcome by a unique partnership based on “strong foundations, shared values and dedication to duty.” Gerard O’donovan