The Story Behind Queen Elizabeth II’s Marriage
18,073The marriage of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip is the longest of any British sovereign. They are together more than 70 years already.
They knew each other from childhood. In fact, Elizabeth and Philip are cousins. They are great-great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria. They have met for the first time when she was 8 years old and he was 13.
Elizabeth fell in love with Philip 5 years later. It was their second meeting. Elizabeth visited the British naval academy and Philip was training there. He was her tour-guide. Philip was charming and confident. But the young man didn’t pay her any special attention as she was too young.
They’ve started corresponding but for Philip that was just friendship. Princess kept a photo of Philip by her bed. The courtship seriously started after WWII. Philip wasn’t the best match for the future Queen. He was the prince of Greece and Denmark. But his family was exiled from Greece and had no fortune or lands.
Nevertheless, they engaged when Elizabeth was 20. Her father King George VI asked to keep relationships in secret until Elizabeth’s 21 birthday. The king and his wife worried that their daughter was too young to marry. They also didn’t like Philip - he was called a bit rough. But the two never wavered and they married in November 1947. To marry Elizabeth Philip had to give up the royal titles of his birth.
The first years after the wedding were relatively normal for them. Prince Philip was stationed in Malta with the Royal Navy. Elizabeth lived the life of naval wife: she went shopping, sightseeing, and gossiped. King George VI died when Elizabeth was 25 years old. She was coronated in 1953 and Philip was the first to swear allegiance to the new queen. After a few years, she granted him the title of a Prince of the United Kingdom. He became a consort of the queen. Elizabeth and Philip have four children, 8 grandchildren, and 7 great-grandchildren.
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