How the Queen and Prince Philip’s romance began with teenage crush – and where they first met

Nearly two years on from his death aged 99, the loss of the Duke of Edinburgh will be being felt by his children as acutely as ever – especially now given the passing of his beloved wife the Queen last September. 

As Her Majesty famously said, Prince Philip was her ‘strength and stay’, the rock upon which she depended for support for 73 years.

And as the anniversary of his death approaches, the nation, too, will remember his role as an indispensable stateman at the heart of the monarchy and a key figure in national life.

But it is worth remembering a different, more youthful Philip than the one we saw in later life. He and the Queen were once the most glamorous couple in the world. 

In what seemed like a fairy tale, they enraptured millions at home and abroad on hundreds of engagements, where they danced, held court and showed off their blossoming relationship to the world.

From the point of their first proper meeting, when Princess Elizabeth was aged just 13 and the Duke – then Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark – was an 18-year-old Royal Navy cadet, it seemed that future romance was a certainty. 

They met in July 1939, when Princess Elizabeth joined her parents King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and sister Princess Margaret on a visit to Dartmouth Naval College, where Philip was training. 

Although the pair had come across each other on two previous occasions – at the 1934 wedding of Philip’s cousin Marina to Elizabeth’s uncle, Prince George, Duke of Kent, and at her father’s coronation in 1937 – it was in Dartmouth that they were properly introduced. 

Philip, tasked with showing Elizabeth and her sister around, immediately made an impression on his future wife.

Those piercing blue eyes and bright blonde hair – later described as his ‘Viking’ good looks – were immediately alluring to the young princess.

Her governess, Marion Crawford, later recalled the trip in the 1950 memoir which led to her becoming an outcast. 

She recounted how, due to a mumps outbreak among some of the boys, Elizabeth and Margaret were sent to play with children in the Captain’s house.

‘Among them was a fair-haired off-handed boy of 18 who showed off to them by jumping the tennis nets and eating several platefuls of shrimps for tea,’ she wrote of Philip.

The whole time they were in the same room, Elizabeth is said to have never taken her eyes off him.

When Philip and his uncle, Lord ‘Dickie’ Mountbatten, were invited to join the Windsors for dinner on the royal yacht, Elizabeth is said to have turned ‘pink-faced’ in the company of the cadet. 

Mountbatten later wrote in his diary that the meeting had been a ‘great success’.

And when Philip began visiting Elizabeth, she would, according to Crawford, watch through the window to ‘see the tall, lean figure coming past the fountain in the centre of the road outside the Palace, or to see his small sports car turn in at the Palace gates. Usually a deal too fast…’ 

In 1943, Philip was invited to spend Christmas with the Royal Family at Windsor, and by the end of the war newspapers had begun to speculate about his relationship with Elizabeth.

Their written correspondence betrayed the feelings they had for each other. In a 1943 letter after his stay at Windsor, Philip wrote of the ‘simple enjoyment of family pleasures and amusements and the feeling that I am welcome to share them.

‘I am afraid I am not capable of putting all this into the right words and I am certainly incapable of showing you the gratitude that I feel.’

The same year, he apologised for the ‘monumental cheek’ of turning up to Buckingham Palace uninvited.

‘Yet however contrite I feel, there is always a small voice that keeps saying “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”,’ he wrote.

‘Well did I venture, and I gained a wonderful time.’

Three years later, after his stellar war service, he told the Princess in another letter: ‘To have been spared in the war and seen victory, to have been given the chance to rest and to re-adjust myself, to have fallen in love completely and unreservedly, makes all one’s personal and even the world’s troubles seem small and petty.’ 

Ahead of their wedding in November 1947, the Queen told author Betty Shew – who was putting together a souvenir book to mark the royal union – how Philip would take her out in his sports car.

 

‘Philip enjoys driving and does it fast! 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, only it was like sitting on the road, and the wheels are almost as high as one’s head,’ she wrote.

‘On that one and only occasion we were chased by a photographer which was disappointing.’

Princess Elizabeth added in her letter: ‘We both love dancing – we have danced at Ciro’s and Quaglino’s as well at parties.’

This love of dancing was on show repeatedly in the early years of their romance.

One photo showed the Princess arriving for a ball in Edinburgh, as Philip, just behind her, looked at her with love in his eyes and crowds chanted ‘We want Elizabeth!’

They were words that demonstrated the enormous allure of a Princess who was set to become their Queen.

Once inside the ballroom, the royal couple swayed together, staring into each other’s eyes. 

Early in 1947, Elizabeth joined her parents on a tour of South Africa, where she became the first heir to the throne to celebrate their 21st birthday in a Commonwealth country.

It was there that she made possibly her most poignant pledge, telling Britons and the millions of others in what was then the British Empire: ‘I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.

‘But I shall not have strength to carry out this resolution alone unless you join in it with me, as I now invite you to do… God bless you all who are willing to share it.’

Shortly afterwards, the couple’s engagement was formally announced. 

There were suggestions that they became unofficially betrothed in the summer of 1946, but, with Philip’s family background having caused a stir, the King and Queen were keen to ensure their eldest daughter did not rush into marriage. 

Philip was the only son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice, daughter of the first Marquess of Milford Haven. Both he and the Queen were great-great grandchildren of Queen Victoria. 

But three of his sisters – Cecile, Sophie and Margarita – had married German aristocrats who became leading members of the Nazi party.

Sophie had even been friends with Hermann Goering – the future head of Nazi Germany’s air force – and had both him and Adolf Hitler round for tea.

Sir Alan Lascelles, George VI’s private secretary, spoke for many courtiers and even some in the Royal Family when he wrote: ‘They felt he was rough, uneducated and would probably not be faithful.’ 

Philip was also penniless and his father had spent the final years of his life in the hedonistic surroundings of Monte Carlo.

But Elizabeth put those doubts to one side and got her way. Philip became a naturalised British subject, renouncing his Greek royal title and taking the surname Mountbatten.

He was created Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich and made a Knight of the Garter. 

News of their engagement in July 1947 was greeted with rapturous delight by the British public and millions of others around the world. 

They appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony on the day of the announcement before a crowd of thousands of well-wishers. 

The couple’s wedding, in Westminster Abbey that November, brought pomp, pageantry and a beautiful love story to a nation wearied by six years of war, fuel shortages and economic hardship. 

They were aptly named Prince Charming and the Fairy Princess.

In a letter to her cousin and lifelong friend the Honourable Margaret Rhodes, the Queen said of her life as a newlywed: ‘I’m blissfully happy, in case you weren’t aware of the fact and I’m enjoying being married to the best and nicest man in the world.’

Philip told the Queen Mother of the depth of his own feelings for her daughter, saying in a letter: ‘Lilibet is the only thing in this world which is absolutely real to me and my ambition is to wield the two of us into a new combined existence that will not only be able to withstand the shocks directed at us but will also have a positive existence for the good… Cherish Lilibet?’

‘I wonder if that word is enough to express what is in me. Does one cherish one’s sense of humour or one’s musical ear or one’s eyes?

‘I am not sure, but I know that I thank God for them and so, very humbly, I thank God for Lilibet and us.’

Amid intense interest from the press and the public, the couple spent their wedding night at Earl Mountbatten’s palatial Hampshire home, Broadlands. 

Afterwards, they travelled to Birkhall on the Balmoral Estate for the rest of their honeymoon.

Their marriage came two years after the end of the Second World War, a conflict in which Philip had served with distinction.

He rose to the rank of First Lieutenant in the war, and fought in both in the Battle of Crete and the conflict at Cape Matapan off the coast of Greece. 

Philip had also been there in Tokyo Bay to witness the historic surrender of Japan in September 1945, and he was decorated for bravery after launching a raft with smoke floats to distract Nazi pilots during a 1943 bombing raid.

He was also Mentioned in Dispatches for his ‘alertness’ in helping to spot enemy ships.

And in 1945, Philip helped to rescue servicemen who had to ditch into the ocean after their Avenger bomber was hit by enemy fire.

After the wedding, Princess Elizabeth and her new husband initially lived at Windlesham Moor, a country home in Surrey that they rented from the widow of millionaire financier Philip Hall. 

It was there that the then Prince Charles, who was born at Buckingham Palace in November 1948, spent much of his first two years.  

After he and Princess Elizabeth moved to Malta in 1949, Philip served initially as First Lieutenant on the destroyer HMS Chequers. 

The Princess was a happy naval wife and mother, with her second child, Anne, arriving in 1950 – the year that Philip was given control of the frigate HMS Magpie after his promotion to Lieutenant-Commander. 

The Queen later spoke of how their time in Malta was one of the best periods of her life because it was the only time she was able to live ‘normally’.

The couple had the freedom to enjoy parties, picnics and boat expeditions, whilst the Princess could, like any woman who was not the heir to the throne, even take a trip to the hairdressers.

Their cherished days of freedom came to an end in July 1951, when they returned home to Clarence House amid George VI’s failing health. 

The Princess was needed to help shoulder the responsibility of engagements and royal tours. 

They quickly got stuck in. In the autumn of 1951 they spent more than a month in Canada and the US and then the following January took George VI’s place on a planned tour of Australia and New Zealand that had been postponed because of the King’s ill health.

It was while the Prince and Princess were in Kenya, on the first stop of the tour, that the King died. 

The royal couple had to be quickly flown home, and the the sight of their arrival – where the grieving Queen was seen gingerly stepping out of the plane at London Airport as Prime Minister Winston Churchill waited to greet her – provided a moving symbol of how Her Majesty was having to answer the call of duty.

The death of the King marked the end of Philip’s naval career. Back at Clarence House, which they were soon to depart for Buckingham Palace, the Duke was asked by his valet if he should put his Navy uniforms away.

‘Yes, John,’ said the new Queen’s husband glumly, ‘you put them away. It will be a long time before I need them again.’ 

Philip’s children could also not bear his family name, and were instead given his wife’s, Windsor. He reportedly raged: ‘I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his children. I’m nothing but a bloody amoeba.’ 

But Philip was, in those early years of his wife’s reign, still able to take a break from official duties. 

In his spare time he enjoyed shooting, was a first-class polo player, a skilled sailor, enthusiastic cricketer and four-in-hand carriage driver of international standard.  

In November 1952 he began training to be a pilot with the RAF and successfully gained his wings the following year. 

By the time he gave up flying in 1997 at the age of 76, he had completed nearly 6,000 hours of time in the sky, in 59 different aircraft. 

He also embarked on frequent global trips, many of which were with male friends aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia.

One member of the Queen’s inner circle previously told the Daily Mail how the Queen missed Philip ‘enormously’ when he was away.  

‘And sometimes his trips did go on for weeks and weeks. She loved him so much and just accepted that he needed to be away,’ they added. 

‘It seemed to me she was allowing him a kind of controlled freedom to compensate for the confining nature of royal life. Out of reach of the royal routine was the only time he could be truly independent.’

In 1956, when the Duke had been away on the Britannia with his equerry Mike Parker for several months, the Queen felt the need to address rumours about the strength of their marriage.

Having issued an official denial about a rift, she flew out to meet her husband, who was then in Portugal. By the time of their reunion, they had been away for 124 days.

The arrival of two more children signified that their union was still strong. Prince Andrew was born February 19, 1960, and Prince Edward followed in March 10, 1964.

By then, the Queen was nearing the age of 38, whilst Philip was nearly 44. The glamour of youth was becoming a thing of the past, but many more years of duty and service to their country were ahead. 

Reflecting on her husband’s invaluable support on their Golden Wedding anniversary in 1997, the Queen paid her famous tribute to Philip.

‘He is someone who doesn’t take easily to compliments, but he has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years,’ she said, at a dinner hosted by the then Prime Minister Tony Blair in Whitehall.

‘And I, his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim or we shall ever know.’ 

These were the words shared once again after his death, and ones that his family will likely have in their minds now, as they mark the second anniversary of his passing.