Before Her death, Elizabeth II lost her best friend, partner and devoted subject - her husband Prince Philip. He died on 9 April 2021 at Windsor Castle. After that, Her Majesty's health also gradually began to "surrender", until September 8, she joined her husband.

The love story of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip

The couple have been married for 73 years! They celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary together, but unfortunately he missed her platinum reign anniversary in 2022. What was their love story? What did the Prince give up to claim the queen's heart? How, despite the future crown, she swore an oath to her husband to obey and be faithful to him in everything?

Origin of Philip

Prince Philip VI was born on June 10, 1921 at the Mon Repos Palace on the Greek island of Corfu. He was the fifth child in the family and the only son of Prince Andrew, the son of King George I of Greece and the younger brother of King Constantine I. From birth he bore the title of Prince of Greece and Denmark. His relatives had a sad story, because his grandfather, King George I of Greece, was killed in 1913, his uncle was overthrown from the throne, and his father fell into depression after losing all his regalia and was forced to flee Greece with his family to Paris.

Subsequently, Philip's parents divorced and the children stayed with their mother, and his father moved to Monte Carlo to arrange his personal life. After all the trials of life, Prince Philip's mother very soon went crazy and ended up in a mental hospital. Therefore, his father took Philip to him and placed him in a private school. The guy had a tense and difficult relationship with him, so a few years later he went to England on his own and stayed with relatives, where he soon met his love.

Meeting each other

For the first time, the future spouses met at the wedding of the Greek Princess Marina, which took place in Westminster Abbey. At that time, Elizabeth was 8 years old, and her chosen one Philip was 13. After that, they did not see each other for 3 years. We met for the second time at the coronation of the father of Elizabeth II. However, even then no relationship between Elizabeth II and Philip began.

But one day she, along with her parents and sister, arrived at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth. There, the son of the Greek Prince Andrew served and agreed to give the royal family a tour of the educational institution. At this time, the princess realized that she had fallen in love. She was thirteen years old. After the meeting, she began to correspond with the guy during his service in the Royal Navy. The parents of Elizabeth II were looking for their daughter a much better candidate for a husband, so Philip was not even considered as a son-in-law. But later the young man went to the front, where the feeling of the couple only strengthened.

The lovers were relatives

Interestingly, Philip and Elizabeth II were indeed relatives. This is not uncommon in royal families, so in this case, fate played an interesting joke. Queen Victoria was the common grandmother of the lovers, so they were fourth cousins. And even this fact could not prevent them from getting married and living in marriage many happy moments, namely, 73 years.

Wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip

The palace officially announced the couple's engagement in July 1947, and on November 20 they got married at Westminster Abbey. The event took place in the difficult post-war period, when the country's economy, like many other European countries, suffered greatly, so the princess had a modest budget for the wedding. Yes, and the girl herself believed that chic in the post-war period was unacceptable. Therefore, Elizabeth acquired the material for her wedding dress using food stamps from the Second World War.

Interestingly, British subjects also sent coupons to Elizabeth, but the palace returned each of them, as members of the royal family are not allowed to accept gifts from the public. However, she was helped by the British government, which provided the princess with an additional 200 food coupons. In the end, Elizabeth married Prince Philip wearing a magical wedding dress made from Chinese silk by Norman Gartnell.

Elizabeth's relatives were against the wedding

Elizabeth married exclusively at the call of her heart, and not according to royal protocol. Queen's father George VI considered the young man not the best choice for his daughter and heir to the throne, but the princess insisted on him. When Philip returned from the front, the native princesses realized that it was useless to prevent her from marrying her chosen one.

Despite the fact that the couple is one of the most famous in the world, there is no exact information about the recognition of Philip. Rumor has it that he wrote a confession in one of the letters to his beloved, or Elizabeth II herself asked the prince to marry her. By the time of the wedding, Philip was 26 years old, and Elizabeth was 21. There was a 5-year difference between the couple. Importantly, the couple's wedding took place 4 years before the death of King George VI, the girl's father, and 5 years before her coronation.

He - refused titles, and she - gave him an oath

On the eve of his marriage to the Princess, Philip received the title of Duke of Edinburgh. He also converted to Anglicanism, renounced the titles of Prince of Greece and Prince of Denmark, and received British citizenship. The princess was then 21 years old, and her husband was 26 years old.

To thank the man for his devotion and love, at the marriage ceremony, Princess Elizabeth took an oath in which she promised to obey her husband. Although she shouldn't have said that as a future queen. This somewhat confused the guests present, because everyone understood that when the princess became queen, Philip would have to obey her. After the coronation, he really always was "zade" her, however, despite all the difficulties, he lived a long and happy marriage with her, raising four children.

Children

A year after the wedding, Elizabeth gave birth to Prince Charles, the main heir to the crown, and two years later, Princess Anne. Prince Andrew was born 10 years later, and Prince Edward 4 years later. Of all four children, the youngest Prince Edward had a happy marriage right away - he has been married to Countess Sophie for 22 years. But all the rest had one divorce each, but later found their soul mates. Only Prince Andrew remained a hermit, who last year was accused of a sex scandal and stripped of all military ranks for this.

Cheating and the risk of divorce

However, the life of the queen and her husband was not always the fairy tale of the movies. There was a place for possible betrayals, scandals and insults. It was rumored in the British media that a year after the wedding with Elizabeth, Philip began to be suspected of secret relationships with actress Pat Kirkwood. The Queen was pregnant with her first child at the time. Journalists also said that Philip was in love with Helen Korday, whom he was friends with as a child, but they were separated when the boy went to study at Dartmouth. She got married, which broke the guy's heart, but later divorced. She had two children, but did not name her father, so there were rumors that it could be Philip. Curiously, he was their godfather.

Also, Prince Philip was credited with novels with writer Daphne Du Maurier, actress Merle Oberon, TV presenter Katie Boyle and even with Prince Stephen Ward. A few years after their marriage, the couple allegedly began sleeping in separate rooms, and secret hearings were held in Parliament to prevent a scandalous divorce. These facts will be confirmed or refuted only after 100 years under the British legislation on the classification of archives.

Back in the mid-1980s, Prince Philip made a loud statement to his biographer Basil Boothroyd that he married Elizabeth allegedly not out of high feelings, but out of calculation. Because he did not have a fortune after a complicated history with his family. The queen herself was losing her mind from an attractive and young prince.

Death of Philip, and later of the Queen

Britain's Prince Philip died on April 9, 2021 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. At the time of his death, the Duke of Edinburgh was 99 years old. In February, Prince Philip was hospitalized due to a deterioration in health. He stayed in the hospital for almost a month, underwent heart surgery, but could not overcome the disease. Beloved of Her Majesty died 2 months before his 100th birthday.