{"id":10014,"date":"2021-04-10T23:28:25","date_gmt":"2021-04-10T16:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/illume-emag.com\/?p=10014"},"modified":"2021-04-10T23:30:06","modified_gmt":"2021-04-10T16:30:06","slug":"prince-philip-queen-elizabeth-love-story-30-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/prince-philip-queen-elizabeth-love-story-30-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth: Their Love Story in 30 Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

But at the end of her speech, she spoke of her husband,\u00a0Prince Philip, with profound and uncharacteristic emotion: \u201cHe is someone who doesn\u2019t take easily to compliments, but he has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years,\u201d she said. \u201cI, and his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim, or we shall ever know.\u201d Twenty-four years later,\u00a0the royal family announced\u00a0that Prince Philip\u00a0had passed away\u00a0peacefully at the age of 99 on the morning of April 9 at Windsor Castle.<\/p>\n

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip\u2019s\u00a0relationship\u00a0was one of love, respect, and long-lasting admiration. They first met at Britannia Royal Naval College in 1938, where an 18-year-old Cadet Philip was introduced to a 13-year-old Princess Elizabeth of England while she was touring the grounds. From then, it\u2019s said, the young royal \u201cnever from that moment thought of anybody else.\u201d The two began to exchange letters through the war years. Upon his return from the Pacific Theater in 1946, his relationship with Queen Elizabeth blossomed. It\u2019s presumed that he proposed that June, on the grounds of Balmoral. \u201cTo 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\u2019s personal and even the world\u2019s troubles seem small and petty,\u201d he wrote in a letter dated from that year.<\/p>\n

Despite his stately title (he was born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark), there was originally some resistance about the marriage from The Crown. Many thought Philip to be too brusque, too unpolished, too German, too Greek, too\u2026un-English to marry then Princess Elizabeth. But Elizabeth was insistent. A formal announcement was made in July 1947, bearing Philip\u2019s new Anglicized last name: Mountbatten. Months later he renounced his right to the Greek and Danish thrones.<\/p>\n

That November they wed in front of 2,000 people at Westminster Abbey. \u201cI wonder if Philip knows what he is taking on,\u201d King George VI, Elizabeth\u2019s father, was heard saying to a guest. \u201cOne day Lilibet will be queen and he will be consort. That\u2019s much harder than being a king, but I think he\u2019s the man for the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prince Philip undoubtedly thought he had more time before his wife became queen and he, consort. The young couple lived for a few years in Malta, where Philip was stationed. They had two children, Charles and Anne. But then King George fell ill, grew sicker, and died in 1952. Philip broke the news to his wife that, a mere five years after they were wed, they were now the most famous people in the world. At the queen\u2019s coronation in 1953, he kneeled before her and swore to be her \u201cliege man of life and limb.\u201d<\/p>\n

That, for Philip, was easier said than done. Accounts during the \u201950 and \u201960s paint Philip as a man adrift with alleged affairs and anger. He was unsure of his place, his role, his life. But eventually he found his way, crafting his own legacy while steadfastly supporting his wife. Turns out King George was right: He was, indeed, the man for his job.<\/p>\n

Below, we revisit Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip\u2019s life in pictures, from their\u00a0Westminster Abbey wedding\u00a0to their idyllic weekends at Balmoral to the duke\u2019s final birthday at Windsor.<\/p>\n

This story originally appeared on<\/em>\u00a0Vogue<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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The first official picture after the announcement of the engagement of then Princess Elizabeth and then Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, taken on July 10, 1947.<\/p>\n

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The soon-to-be Duke of Edinburgh, celebrating his stag night with navy colleagues, on the eve of his wedding to Elizabeth in November 1947.<\/p>\n

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Hulton Archive<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The then Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey on their wedding day\u2013November 20, 1947.<\/p>\n

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Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Buckingham Palace after their wedding on November 20, 1947.<\/p>\n

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Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh in Malta, where they lived after their wedding while he was in the Royal Navy.<\/p>\n

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Fox Photos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh at the christening of Princess Anne in October 1950.<\/p>\n

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Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n