It was kind of funny – in a morbid way – when the youths found out that Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth were cousins just after Philip’s passing. I watched it unfold on Twitter, as the younger people were like “wait, so they met when she was JUST 13 YEARS OLD?” And they probably met at some kind of family event, because AGAIN they were cousins. The real story of Philip and Liz’s courtship involved Lord Mountbatten grooming Philip for the job of “husband to a future monarch” and then baiting the young Elizabeth with his dashing adoptive son. But no one denies that it was love at first sight for Elizabeth, and everyone knows he was the love of her life. From People Magazine:
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip met when the young princess was 13 — and their love evolved into a 73-year marriage that lasted to his dying day. When Prince Philip died on Friday at the age of 99, the Queen said goodbye to the love of her life.
“She fell in love, and she never looked at anyone else,” biographer Sally Bedell Smith tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. At 13, the future Queen first met a then 18-year-old Prince Philip in 1939, when she joined her parents and sister Princess Margaret on a visit to Dartmouth naval college. While Elizabeth was reserved and shy, she was smitten by Philip’s zest for adventure. The two exchanged countless letters while Philip served in the Royal Navy during World War II.
“Philip enjoys driving and does it fast!” she wrote in a letter to author Betty Shew that was auctioned off in 2016. “He has his own tiny M.G. which he is very proud of. He has taken me about in it, once up to London, which was great fun.”
The couple married after a year-long courtship on Nov. 20, 1947, an occasion that called for national celebration following the devastating war. “There had been grayness and austerity, and then to have this golden coach and crowds made it exciting,” Lady Pamela, the daughter of Philip’s uncle Lord Mountbatten and a longtime lady-in-waiting to Elizabeth who served as a bridesmaid, previously told PEOPLE.
In the wake of Prince Philip’s death, the Queen will continue to carry out her royal duties. Amid reports that the 94-year-old monarch will be accompanied by family members at future engagements, a former senior aide at the palace tells PEOPLE, “Her family will step up and be by her side, but she will carry on. She understands that she has a job to do, and [Philip] would have wanted her to crack on. She did do so when he retired from public life.”
A close royal insider adds, “She will never abdicate because of duty and honor and public service is so deep in her, as it was for him.”
There’s obviously been a lot of renewed conversations about the monarchy and whether Elizabeth should simply abdicate and spend the last years of her life in mourning and with her family. I bet there are even high-level conversations about it in several of the royal courts. But I doubt she will. She really believes that it’s her duty to die at Queen. And I do think she’ll find a way to carry on, and she’ll bring certain people closer to her, like Prince Andrew, and the Wessexes too, probably.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid and WENN.
Since the Queen has been queening without Phillip by her side, why does she suddenly need a “senior royal”?
She doesn’t, but that’ll sell the rest of the family as good and caring people, and/or give Andrew a chance to weasel his way back to public life. If Charles wants to prevent the latter, he and the others must step up and follow her around.
Because they wanted to bring andrew back out of his hiding place and this week they’ve been testing the waters. Too bad the UK public isn’t feeling him and their plan miserably failed. And @couch potato. Charles doesn’t have to do much to block andrew from returning to royal duties.
@Cecilia that’s true, but I think Andrew would use any chance he could get to come back. Escorting his grieving mother as a “good and caring son” would be right up his alley. I think the queen has mostly been kept out of things in the resent years, so she wouldn’t know how horrible her favorite son’s reputation actually is.
A DMX cover would’ve sold better, just saying.
Dmx? The deadbeat dad with 15 children? Really? No one who is still buying People would’ve touched that.
(Philip probably also had children on the side no one knows about)
Speaking of Philip’s side hustle, did he go to Liverpool in the first months of 1957?
He wasn’t a deadbeat. He was a very ill man who suffered severe traumas and was tricked into trying crack. His children were financially supported by him and he was a gifted artist who actually worked to make money unlike the incest royals who won the genetic lottery being born rich. DMX was a good person who was sick. Not just with addiction but with schizophrenia. So yeah keep his name out your mouth.
DMX supported his children, and he did it through working. I’ve been seeing great stories about what a kind person he was since he died. It’s probably true that no one who’s still buying People would want to read about him, but that says something about People’s intended audience, not about him.
DMX was not a dead beat dad. He supported his children.
I might be incredibly evil for saying this but i hope that the funeral gets as much views as that commonwealth thingy they had planned.
And judging by the number, Brits are well and truly over this milking of prince philips death
“Brits are well and truly over this milking of prince philips death” also my impression
My favourite thing is the BBC posting articles about how many people complained about excessive coverage of Prince Philip’s death (current count 107k – twice as many as the record-breaking number of complaints about Piers Morgan (though I may be looking at an old figure for those)) – and then nestling that in-between two more articles about Prince Philip. 50% self aware, 50% keeping on digging their own hole.
Did they mention his companion, Penny what’s her name, the woman he lived with at Sandringham for years? Hmmm….
Will she attend the funeral?
It’s hard for me to think Philip was the love of her life, when he lived with more than one “companion” for decades. Liz and Phil have lived apart for years. I suspect she feels relieved that she’s no longer tied to his embarrassing statements and lifestyle. The only reason they were married for 73 years, is because as Queen, she could NOT get a divorce.
It’s possible for him to have been the love of her live without the same being true for him. It’s clear that she wasn’t the love of his life.
I think she was probably caught up in that first young love and did love him when they got married. But then once he was locked in, she saw a very different side to him, and they eventually came to an “understanding,” In this way, he could qualify as “the love of her life” simply because she didn’t have the freedom to go out and find someone who would treat her better. He was the *only* romantic relationship she experienced (for however long they remained romantic). But that doesn’t mean theirs was some great love. This is revisionist history. His philandering is well known and well documented.
I think the queen and Phillip did love each other in their own way. I think maybe in their younger years Betty would have been p*ssed off at his cheating, but that eventually grew into apathy. It probably took her a few decades to not give af. I think the queen always had Porchie for company whilst Phillip was doing whatever he wanted. Phillip was also banging the queens cousin Princess Alexandra for like 20 years. His affairs have been very long term. I know Phillip was kinda charming and charismatic, but those aristo women seemed to go wild for him.
I mean, I think that’s true for a lot of couples. I’m sure there were many ups and downs in the 73 years they were married. After a while you stay together out of commitment.
The Queen cannot abdicate and needs the parliament approval to retire.
Who put it in head that she could fall in love and marry her cousin? I still maintain the marriage was arranged and Philip, being a poor relation, was not opposed to be groomed by his uncle to become Elizabeth’s husband.
Uhhh she probably got the idea from her entire family tree?
And centuries of every other global monarchy.
Mountbatten, Philip’s mentor, wanted the Match Later he wanted Amanda knatchbull, his granddaughter to marry Prince Charles.
They were very distant cousins, great-great-great granchildren of Queen Victoria, so I don’t think their marriage can be considered incestuous or anything. I believe the Queen fell head over heels in love with Phillip, he was very dashing and handsome in his youth. He might have felt more duty than love, but I do believe they came to have a good friendship and a sense of teamwork in their duty for the Crown. Not all love has to be the passionate, romantic one. They shared that incredibly isolating and unique experience of being who they are and I’m sure they developed a bond over it.
Its nice she never looked at anyone else because he certainly did. One rule for thee but not for me eh?
I doubt she was lonely when he was busy with someone else (multiple someones). I’m sure she had her own side hustles and is just more discreet than he was.
This family is a cult. She was groomed. She was 13 when they originally met.