The young Philip
AN EVENTFUL EARLY LIFE LEFT ITS MARK ON THE QUEEN’S FUTURE HUSBAND
Prince Philip once described himself as a “refugee husband”, and his nomadic childhood undoubtedly left a deep impression, shaping his attitudes and beliefs during a long and eventful life.
When he married Princess Elizabeth in 1947, he was viewed with suspicion by the British establishment and was literally broke. So how did the penniless Prince of Greece, whose family fled their home when he was just 1, end up marrying our future Queen?
Prince Philip was born on a kitchen table at the family villa, Mon Repos, on the Grecian island of Corfu on
June 10, 1921. Yet, Greece’s royal family had no Greek blood, having been ‘imported’ from Denmark. In 1922, Philip’s father, Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark – and younger brother of King Constantine – was tried by a revolutionary council for failing to lead a cavalry charge against the invading Turks, and was banished for life. Philip and his four older sisters were smuggled out by their parents to a waiting British ship, and the family spent seven years in a relative’s house in Paris.
At age 7, Philip was sent to Cheam School in Surrey, England, where he excelled at sports. His parents split not long after and the young prince didn’t see his mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, for eight years after she was committed to a Swiss sanatorium following a breakdown. Philip’s father moved to Monte Carlo, where he had a reputation for drinking and gambling too much. He died there, aged 62, in 1944.
In his teenage years, Philip was effectively stateless – an amiable, hedonistic drifter who turned up at relatives’ houses for holidays. His cousin, Alexandra, Queen of Yugoslavia, described him as like “a huge, hungry dog, perhaps a friendly collie, who never had a basket of his own”.
In the book Young Prince Philip, author Philip Eade says his subject realised at an early age he could be abrupt, perhaps paving the way for his infamous gaffes in later life.
“I am rude and say things out of turn,” Philip wrote to an aunt. “Then I am full of remorse and try to get matters right.”
But Philip never used his childhood as an excuse, and when he was asked about it in a 2011 interview to mark his 90th birthday, he said: “I don’t try to psychoanalyse myself.”
After a year at school in Germany, Philip was sent to Gordonstoun in Scotland in 1934, becoming captain of the cricket and hockey teams,
and head boy in his last term.
That year he first met the 8-year-old Princess Elizabeth at the wedding of his cousin, Princess Marina of Greece, to the Duke of Kent.
In 1939, Philip joined the British Navy at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, where he was best cadet. There, he met the princess again on a visit with her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. By now he was an 18-year-old with a Viking bush of blond hair and a physique to match, which made him irresistible to the young Elizabeth.
Philip then went to war, serving in the Mediterranean and the Far East. He was mentioned for bravery when he manned searchlights aboard HMS Valiant during the 1941 Battle of Cape Matapan against the Italian fleet.
While Philip was away at sea, Elizabeth kept a photo of him on her mantelpiece as they exchanged letters. When her nanny, Marion Crawford, asked if it was wise as people might gossip, Elizabeth replaced it with one of Philip sporting a beard, saying: “I defy anyone to recognise who that is!”
In 1943, Philip was invited to spend Christmas at Windsor Castle. Despite the misgivings of Elizabeth’s parents and senior courtiers, the pair spent time together at Balmoral in Scotland after the war and secretly got engaged.
King George VI insisted she wait until she was 21 before marrying and took her away on a long tour of South Africa to reflect on her choice, but she would not be swayed. Their engagement was
“HE WAS LIKE A HUGE, HUNGRY DOG ... WHO NEVER HAD A BASKET OF HIS OWN”
announced on July 10, 1947.
On November 20 of that year, they wed at Westminster Abbey before honeymooning in Hampshire and then Birkhall at Balmoral. Elizabeth wrote to her parents: “I’m blissfully happy ... enjoying being married to the best and nicest man in the world.”
Just a few months into their marriage, Philip told friends at a private dinner party that he and his wife enjoyed a “very passionate” relationship. Humour was never far from the surface either. When Philip’s cousin Patricia Mountbatten remarked on Elizabeth’s flawless complexion, he joked: “Yes, and she’s like that all over!”