Like their common ancestor, Queen Victoria, they had married for love. Felipe, who died in April 2021 at the age of 99, and Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Thursday at the age of 96, had fallen in love.
Despite very opposite characters and an unconvinced Windsor family, these third cousins lived a happy marriage.
“They are extremely complementary and that is why this marriage is a success”, estimated on the occasion of their 70 years of marriage, the specialist in the Windsor family, Isabelle Rivière, author of Elizabeth II: in the intimacy of the reign. Elizabeth was insecure and Philip did a lot to give her confidence, he made her rehearse her speeches. For her part, he softened her temper. She learned to be patient, to put up with the routine of official engagements.”
Love at first sight
The future queen was only 13 years old, in 1939, when she met the handsome 18-year-old Philip Mountbatten, Prince of Greece and Denmark. But we will have to wait until Isabel turns 21, in 1947, to announce her engagement. They were married on November 20 of the same year. To marry Elizabeth, Philip must renounce his Greek and Danish royal titles and the Orthodox religion.
A difficult role to find next to the Queen
Just five years later, King George VI, Elizabeth’s father, died. At just 26 years old, she becomes Queen of England. Philip, who will never be a king but only a prince consort, must find a role. He must sacrifice her career in the Royal Navy and become her wife’s second-in-command, always walking two steps behind her.
He even had to give up his name -Mountbatten- and the idea that the queen would give it to him, given the refusal of Churchill, then prime minister. A disappointment inspired by this phrase: “I am the only man in this country who is not authorized to give his name to his children.”
“Living discreetly as he did, always behind the queen, existing through her mistakes and her projections or her attitudes, was not easy,” explains Jean des Cars on BFMTV this Friday. “But he managed to make the queen happy. That love that she had for him at the age of 13 has never wavered due to crises, wars, family scandals.
“It took a long time to exist to appear,” underlines Jean des Cars, recalling that it took a long time to obtain his status as prince consort.
Four children
Together, Philip and Elizabeth have four children. The eldest, Charles, was born just a year after their marriage. Then comes Anne, in 1950, then Andrew and Edward in 1960 and 1964.
rumors of infidelity
Is this the secret of its longevity? Philip and Elizabeth made separate rooms early on, and even separate apartments. So much so that when an intruder breaks into Buckingham Palace in 1982, he finds the Queen all alone.
The prince’s physique and certain lewd comments fuel rumors of infidelity about him. He will probably never know if he was unfaithful, but his name was mentioned in a sex scandal in the 1960s, the Duchess of Argyll’s divorce case.
“Have you ever thought about the fact that for the last forty years I’ve never been anywhere without a policeman with me? So how the hell could I get away with it?” he said, not without humor, at the daily. the independent in 1992.
Elizabeth never held Philip in mind for his mistakes and questionable pranks. The one she called her “rock” never failed, staying by her side in the most difficult moments, such as in the 90s, punctuated by divorces, the Buckingham fire and Diana’s death. Few couples have passed through the centuries like Felipe and Isabel.
Source: BFM TV
