Illegitimate children of the Duke of Edinburgh, Philip. Whatever the husband enjoys: the pranks of Prince Philip
The oldest member of the royal family at the moment. Philip has Greek, English and Russian roots. He is a descendant of the English Queen Victoria, the Russian Emperor Nicholas I, and the Danish King Christian IX. Grandson of the Greek King George I. Before his marriage to the future Queen of England, he bore the titles of Prince of Greece and Denmark.
When the Duke of Edinburgh's uncle abdicated the throne in 1922, his father, along with his wife and children, were exiled from Greece.
1 year
The family settled in Paris.
4 years
7 years
1930
In the period 1933-1935 he studied at school in Germany. From 1936 to 1938 in Scotland.
Philip takes part in the play 1936
Prince Philip (center front row) 1938
After this he entered the Royal Naval College, where he studied for two years.
After graduating from the institution, he received the rank of midshipman. Despite his royal origins, Prince Philip was poor. The father, Prince Andrew of Greece, lost almost his entire family's fortune in a casino, and his mother suffered from schizophrenia and was treated in a sanatorium for several years without any contact with the family.
The Duke of Edinburgh spent the entire Second World War as an officer in the British Navy and rose to the rank of first lieutenant.
Philip (center)
He took part in the liberation of Sicily in 1943.
Likes drawing
Plays cricket
Meeting Elizabeth
In 1939, Elizabeth visited Philip's college with her father, King George VI, and her younger sister, Margaret. There the future spouses met. The Queen was 13 years old at that time, and Philip was 18.
As people close to the royal family say, Elizabeth immediately fell in love with Philip. The young people began to correspond. At first their relationship was friendly, but after a while it grew into something more. While at war, Philip wrote warm letters to his beloved.
The Queen's parents were not delighted with their daughter's choice. The prince was a beggar, and his family had a tarnished reputation. However, in 1946 they agreed to the marriage.
Shortly before the ceremony, the future Duke of Edinburgh accepted Anglicanism and renounced the titles “Prince of Greece” and “Prince of Denmark.”
The couple had four children: Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.
With the firstborn
With Charles and Anna
At a ball with his wife, 1951
Coronation of Elizabeth 2 1953
Prince Philip's family
Baptism of the first grandson 1982
Prince Consort of Great Britain
Philip fulfilled his royal duties to the fullest.
At the Duke of Edinburgh's Award
Visit to a community center
The Duke has represented the Queen at various events, both domestically and abroad.
In China 1986
With Elizabeth 2 (1995)
In Africa 2002
With Malala Yousafzai at Buckingham Palace 2013
During his marriage to Elizabeth, Philip patronized about 800 organizations. He was also the long-time president of the International Equestrian Federation and the World Wildlife Fund.
Together with Elizabeth, the Duke often visited other countries on official and unofficial visits.
Since his youth, Philip has been famous for his sense of humor and sharp words. At various events, the prince more than once made fun of the participants, members of his family and even the queen herself.
For example, at one of the exhibitions that the prince visited, he stated that his young daughter could have done the same in an art lesson. Philip did not hesitate to joke about people with disabilities; when he saw that deaf-mute guests of one of the events were standing next to the orchestra, he sarcastically asked: “Deaf-mute? Well, of course, who else will stand next to the orchestra.” And once the Duke publicly stated that British women do not know how to cook.
Over the 70 years of marriage between Elizabeth and Philip, the subjects have become accustomed to such statements from the prince and do not take them with hostility, knowing his temperament and character.
First grandchild's wedding
Birth of great-granddaughter Charlotte
Prince Philip now
Since the fall of 2017, Prince Philip has been completely relieved of his royal duties.
This video describes the life of Prince Philip:
He attends events as a private citizen. He attended his grandson Harry's wedding in May 2018.
However, his presence remained in doubt until the last due to his state of health.
Recently, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and her husband, Prince Philip, celebrated their 70th anniversary of marriage, a platinum wedding. How did their love story begin and how did this couple manage to save their marriage?
Distant poor relative
The first meeting of the future spouses happened when both were just children. Elizabeth and Philip often saw each other at receptions, as their families are close. This is not a figure of speech: indeed, Elizabeth and Philip are relatives, they have the same great-grandmother and great-grandfather, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. However, this was not what confused Elizabeth’s parents when Philip proposed to their daughter, and she, without asking the opinion of her father and mother, agreed.
Firstly, and this is the most important “but”, the future possible son-in-law was poor. You could say he was a beggar, for which we must say thanks to his father, Prince Andrew, who squandered his entire fortune in a casino. After his death in 1944, Philip inherited cufflinks, a whole closet of suits (albeit first-class ones) and an engraved ring. Elizabeth’s husband has been wearing this ring ever since, almost never taking it off. Philip’s mother, by the way, also had no time for her son: she first developed clouding of mind, then she sought solace in religion, founding a monastery in Athens.
In general, Elizabeth got her fiancé from a dysfunctional family. Other points that embarrassed the family of the future queen were Philip's strange sense of humor, not a very good reputation at court (his sisters married German aristocrats who served Hitler), and excessive masculine charm. The last quality in the format of, so to speak, family life promised a headache, or, more simply put, betrayal.
From friendship to love
However, Elizabeth did not care about all this. She fell in love with Philip at the age of 13 and literally did not take her eyes off her when they met, so much so that those around her felt uncomfortable for her. Philip himself, who was already 18 at the time, did not, of course, like the distant girl relative. However, they began to have friendly relations, they wrote letters to each other while the prince was serving in the navy, and then, returning home, he attended a performance with the participation of Elizabeth and... disappeared. The princess was already 17 and pretty.
It was 1943, and even the royal throne had no time for weddings. But time took its course, and three years later Philip finally asked for Elizabeth’s hand. Although, as already mentioned, this was a formality, because the princess herself said “yes” and did not intend to deviate from her decision. The only thing that the parents were able to “bargain” from their wayward daughter was a wedding on her 21st birthday, not earlier. Obviously, they thought that within a year Elizabeth would meet someone else and change her mind. I didn’t meet and didn’t change my mind.
Common great-grandmother's tiara
On November 20, 1947, the couple got married in Westminster Abbey. The ceremony - for the first time in history - was shown on TV. However, even without a television broadcast, this became an event: a huge crowd of onlookers gathered at the abbey, who carefully watched the bride’s entrance into the church. Elizabeth was accompanied to the altar by her father. She wore a satin dress embroidered with thousands of pearl and crystal beads. Court designer Norman Hartnell spent three months working on the outfit. The bride's head was decorated with a tiara, which was given to her by her mother. Initially, the tiara belonged to Queen Victoria - the same one who was the great-grandmother of both the groom and the bride.
Wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip
I'm not taking his last name
After the wedding, family life began. For the first six months, the newlyweds had a lot of fun at social events, and then it became clear that Elizabeth was pregnant, and an intermission was taken. On November 14, 1948, the couple's first child, Charles Philip, was born. Then the family moved to Malta, where Philip served, and there Elizabeth discovered that she was happy to just be a wife. She liked it, but circumstances intervened. In 1952, her father, King George VI, died, and Elizabeth became queen from princess.
Here the first serious test of marriage's strength happened. One of Philip's relatives said that their clan, the Mountbatten clan, and not the Windsors, should become the ruling house of Britain. Elizabeth responded with a sharp refusal and did not take her husband’s last name, which greatly offended him, even though he got off with jokes. Coldness began in the relationship, especially since the queen spent a lot of time on business. The problems were solved with the help of charity, in which Philip found himself.
One step behind
Sixty years have passed since then, and the couple are still together. How did they do it? According to secular experts, the point is the ability to find a compromise. Philip gives his wife the opportunity to do her work and manage (albeit formally) the empire and is always one step behind her. At the same time, all decisions within the family are the prerogative of the prince consort, and here Elizabeth is the most classic wife who obeys her husband and does not contradict him. Perhaps this balance between the tough queen mother and the husband's wife is what allowed Elizabeth to be who she is?
Philip was born on June 10, 1921 in the family of Prince Andrew, who was the legal representative of the Danish royal family of Glücksburg. Philip's mother Alice Battenberg was the niece of the last Empress of Russia. The birthplace of the Greek heir was the island of Corfu. The family raised five children. A year after the birth of Philip, the Glucksburgs were forced to leave their homeland due to the outbreak of persecution.
As a result of the move, the mother and children remained in the French capital, and Andrei went to live in Monte Carlo. Alice was having a hard time with the divorce, the loss of property and titles. Her mind went blank. The younger Philip was forced to be taken in by relatives from England. In the early 30s, the boy was educated in schools in Germany and Scotland.
With the outbreak of the Second World War, the prince entered the Royal Naval College, which was located in Darmouth, and after graduating he became a midshipman. Brave Philip spent the entire war as an officer in the British navy. He distinguished himself in military operations on the Western Front and showed courage during the liberation of Sicily in 1943. During this time, Philip rose to the rank of senior lieutenant.
Family
Philip met Princess Elizabeth, the youngest daughter of King George VI, when he was 18, and Lilibet, as the girl was affectionately called at home, was only 13 years old. The young, handsome blond immediately fell into the girl’s heart. Throughout the war, Philip and Elizabeth corresponded. Despite the fact that the princess's parents were not serious about their daughter's choice, hoping that the girl would soon change her mind, Elizabeth remained adamant; she was not going to consider other suitors. And in 1946, a young officer visited King George VI on an official visit. Philip asked the hand and heart of the daughter of the crowned person, to which he received consent.
In order for the marriage to look politically correct, Philip had to renounce the titles of Prince of Denmark and Greece, accept English citizenship and change his paternal surname to the surname of his maternal grandfather - Mountbatten. A few days before the wedding ceremony, which took place on November 20, 1947 in Westminster Abbey, Philip was granted the title of Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron of Greenwich.
At the magnificent wedding, Elizabeth looked magnificent. She wore a dress made of satin and brocade, decorated with crystal beads and a large number of pearls. On the bride's side, all British titled relatives were present at the wedding ceremony; on the groom's side, one mother was invited. For the sake of his wife, Philip renounced Orthodoxy and converted to Protestantism.
![](https://i2.wp.com/24smi.org/public/media/resize/800x-/2017/3/27/03_AxGXJWN.jpg)
Two years after the wedding, Prince Philip was sent for military service to the island of Malta, where the couple settled in a cozy estate. According to the recollections of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, this was the happiest time in their lives. During these years, their two eldest children were born - son Charles and daughter Anna. Away from Buckingham Palace, Elizabeth managed to feel like an ordinary happy woman who enjoys being with her family and close friends. In his youth, Philip and his wife often visited public entertainment venues - young people really liked to dance.
Coronation
On February 6, 1952, King George VI died. Prince Philip was the first to hear this news and told his wife about it. They were traveling around Kenya at the time. The family of the future queen urgently went home. A year later, the enthronement ceremony took place, which for the first time in history was attended by television journalists, and the event was broadcast live on central television in Great Britain.
![](https://i0.wp.com/24smi.org/public/media/resize/800x-/2017/3/27/04_KO0PxiD.jpg)
Philip was declared prince consort, who was obliged to accompany the crowned wife during all her visits and events. On the advice of the prime minister, Elizabeth left her father’s surname in order to resolve all political differences within the royal court.
![](https://i1.wp.com/24smi.org/public/media/resize/800x-/2017/3/27/07_MnYelOS.jpg)
In addition to the responsibilities of jointly conducting public affairs, Philip also took on the responsibilities of the father of the family. He supervised the studies of his children and dealt with everyday problems. The prince showed himself no less active in the public life of the country. He was the first on British television to produce his own series of programs dedicated to science. Philip created charitable foundations, actively helped in organizing sports schools and sections, and supported equestrian sports.
Royal dynasty
The royal couple had four children: three sons Charles, Andrew and Edward and a daughter Anne. Philip was always actively involved in the personal lives of his children. It was he who insisted that Charles marry her at one time, and despite the further gap between his son and daughter-in-law, Philip always took her side. After the divorce, the prince contributed to the reconciliation of the spouses, which, unfortunately, did not occur. And after, the husband of Elizabeth II took his grandchildren, the children of Prince Charles, under his wing.
![](https://i1.wp.com/24smi.org/public/media/resize/800x-/2017/3/27/10_fxDPred.jpg)
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip are happy grandparents. Despite the fact that all four children had unsuccessful first marriages, each of them has two children. First of all, the famous heirs of the queen's eldest son are the Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of Wales. The other grandchildren are Peter Phillips, Zara Phillips, Princess Beatrice of York, Princess Eugenie of York, Lady Louise Windsor, James, Viscount Severn.
![](https://i1.wp.com/24smi.org/public/media/resize/800x-/2017/3/27/09.jpg)
The queen also has great-grandchildren: Prince George of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge (William's children), Savannah Phillips, Isla Elizabeth Phillips, Mia Grace Tindall.
Prince Philip today
In 2016, the prince received the title of the longest-living descendant of Queen Victoria; this year he turned 95 years old. In 2017, the royal couple will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary, and this will become another record in the history of the Windsor dynasty and the personal biography of the spouses.
![](https://i0.wp.com/24smi.org/public/media/resize/800x-/2017/3/27/08.jpg)
Now Philip and Elizabeth live in seclusion on their Sandringham estate in Norfolk, periodically appearing in Buckingham Palace and in family castles in Scotland and England. They practice their favorite hobby - horse breeding, and from time to time the prince paints pictures. Among sports, Philip prefers horseback riding, which helps maintain his royal posture into old age.
The husband of Queen Elizabeth is 90 years old. Who is Prince Philip?
Prince Philip, the husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, turns 90 on June 10.
Efim Barban, London
When it was necessary in Russia to identify the remains of the royal family found near Yekaterinburg, Prince Philip was asked to provide hair samples for comparative DNA analysis with the remains of Nicholas II. His maternal grandmother was the granddaughter of Emperor Nicholas I, Grand Duchess Olga. Prince Philip has blood in his veins not only of the Romanovs, but of at least five other European royal houses. Before his marriage in 1947 to King George VI's eldest daughter, Princess Elizabeth, he was known in England as Prince Philip of Greece. His father, Prince Andrew, was the son of the King of Greece and the grandson of the King of Denmark, and through his mother, Philip, a descendant of the kings of Prussia. His mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, was the sister of Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India, who played a key role in Prince Philip's life. Shortly before his marriage, the father of his bride granted him the title of Duke of Edinburgh. At the same time, he changed his German surname Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg to Mountbatten, converted from Orthodoxy to Protestantism and soon accepted British citizenship.
It is said that Philip's mother gave birth to Philip on the kitchen table on the island of Corfu on June 10, 1921, after the family fled Greece, where a revolution had overthrown the monarchy and a revolutionary tribunal had sentenced the father of the future British prince consort to death. Philip was 10 years old when his parents divorced. The father abandoned his son and went to Monte Carlo, where he became, as politically correct biographers of the prince write, “a famous boulevardier.” Philip's mother ended her days in a Swiss sanatorium for the mentally ill.
Relatives sent the “straw orphan” to an English private school, where he spent his childhood. Philip's uncle Lord Mountbatten, who became his guardian (at that time he was the commander of the British fleet), sent his nephew to the Royal Naval School at Dartmouth. Lord Mountbatten's influence at the English court can hardly be overestimated. The great-grandson of Queen Victoria and cousin of George VI, he betrothed his nephew to the future Queen of Great Britain.
Prince Andrew and Princess Alice (center) and their children (from left): Margaret, Philip, Cecilia, Sophie and Theodora
Photo: The Royal Collection/Emile Marcovitch
It was he who introduced 18-year-old Philip to 13-year-old Elizabeth. The tall, handsome cadet made an indelible impression on the shy girl. They started corresponding. At the outbreak of World War II, Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten became chief mate on a destroyer operating in the Pacific against the Japanese fleet. Correspondence between Elizabeth and Philip continued throughout the war. And when the decorated 25-year-old war hero returned to London and met the 20-year-old princess, she was already head over heels in love with him. A year later, in November 1947, their solemn wedding took place in Westminster Abbey, and a year later their first-born, Prince Charles, the current heir to the British throne, was born; two years later Princess Anne was born.
Neither the royal family nor the British establishment were happy with this marriage. Prince Philip was not well liked. Perhaps much of this dislike is explained by his German origin. The Queen Mother, widow of George VI and mother of the current queen, whose beloved elder brother died in the First World War and who never visited Germany after that, never hid her dislike for her son-in-law, calling him nothing more than “the Hun.” Prince Philip's reputation as a playboy began in the 1950s, when he began hanging out with unsavory characters in the restaurants and nightclubs of London's Soho. Then rumors spread about his numerous novels.
In 1952, when Princess Elizabeth became queen after the death of her father, Prince Philip had to leave his naval career. We must still give him his due: at first he diligently helped his wife in her government duties. But soon social life almost completely absorbed him. As one British commentator noted, “in the end, this man, who owed his position in British society only to his marriage, remained a vagabond without his own roots.” There was a noticeable cooling between the queen and her husband, and the prince went (or was sent) on a 6-month trip around the world.
Apparently, in the 1960s, life at Buckingham Palace settled into a stable family pattern: in 1960, Prince Andrew, the current Duke of York, was born, and four years later, Prince Edward, who received the title of Earl of Wessex. Prince Philip is said to be an unusually strict and demanding father; in any case, he is the recognized head of the family. It was he, dissatisfied with Prince Charles’s affair with the married Camilla Parker-Bowles, about which the British tabloids wrote a lot, who forced his son to marry Diana Spencer in the hope that he would “stop undermining the foundations of the monarchy.” However, he also initiated Charles’s divorce from Diana.
The Duke of Edinburgh in England is spoken of as a man “whose tongue is ahead of his thoughts.” Many of his remarks and jokes are, to put it mildly, politically tactless, and the Buckingham Palace office usually tries to soften or refute them in special statements. The “soldier’s directness” and the husband’s peculiar sense of humor often put the queen in a difficult position. The Prince Consort once greeted the Secretary-General of the British Commonwealth: “You look as if you were about to go to bed.” Sometimes he makes jokes on the verge of a political scandal - like the one he made when dictator General Stroessner arrived in Paraguay: “How nice it is to be in a country that is not governed by the people!” And in Britain, his joke about the incompetence of Hindu electricians sparked protests from minorities. Biographers of Elizabeth II's husband note that much of his character can be explained by the harsh and lonely childhood he spent in an English boarding school after his parents' divorce. There, by the way, they considered him a natural leader, and perhaps it was this quality that allowed Philip to be a reliable support for his wife for 60 years and help her in government duties. As Prince Consort, he and the Queen made more than 700 official visits to 140 countries and participated in 25,000 official events. In addition, Prince Philip is the patron of almost 800 different charities and organizations; for fifteen years (1981-1996) he headed the International Wildlife Fund; he is Honorary Chancellor of the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh and an Admiral of the Royal Navy. A first-generation Englishman, the prince created and led a youth organization whose goal is to educate British youth in a patriotic spirit. He said that, having learned about this, the British Minister of Education remarked to him: “I heard that you are creating something like the Hitler Youth?” And when the queen intended to award the Japanese Emperor Akihito with the Order of the Bath, her husband opposed awarding the head of state with whom he was at war. One of the biographers of the Duke of Edinburgh, describing his character and beliefs, referred to the phrase attributed to Napoleon: “If you want to understand a man, look at the era when he was 20 years old.” For the prince it is 1941. If you believe the Napoleonic recipe, then at 90 he is the same person as he was at 20 when he fought the Japanese in the Pacific.
In the tiny Pacific nation of Vanuatu, there is a cult of Prince Philip. He is deified by the natives, who believe that he is the incarnation of the spirit of the mountains from an ancient legend, who went far over the sea and married a powerful queen. This cult arose around the 50s of the last century. During the British royal couple's official visit to Vanuatu in 1974, the prince gave a photograph to its residents, which became an icon in a local temple. In 2007, a delegation from Vanuatu visited London and five of its members prayed fervently in front of a statue of the prince at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum.
To mark the 90th birthday of the Duke of Edinburgh, a jubilee exhibition dedicated to him was opened at Windsor Castle under the motto “60 years of service to the country and the crown.” It displays documents, photographs, and works of art from the royal archives, telling about all stages of the life of the husband of Elizabeth II.
In Britain they say that Philip is a greater royalist than the Queen herself. When former British Prime Minister Tony Blair set out to turn the House of Windsor into a "people's monarchy", the Duke of Edinburgh publicly opposed this, saying that this would deprive the monarchy of its sacred appeal and it would cease to be part of British identity. And at 90, this descendant of Russian tsars, Greek kings and German electors remains an uncompromising guardian of British traditions.
LONDON, June 10 - RIA Novosti, Maria Tabak. The husband of Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain, the Second Duke of Edinburgh, Philip will celebrate his 95th birthday on Friday.
Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain at 90: a constant amid changesThe monarchy, according to polls, is supported by at least 75 percent of Britons. And for them, the queen is a kind of constant, something unchanging against the background of constant changes.According to people who know Prince Philip well, he does not like to celebrate his birthday, so even at tea parties in the garden of Buckingham Palace, guests are advised to refrain from congratulations.
Prince Philip, like his wife, managed to set many records during his long life. He is the longest-serving consort in British history (a consort is the husband or wife of the reigning king or queen), and he set a record for the longest life expectancy of any member of the British royal family in history. Finally, next year Prince Philip and his wife Elizabeth II will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary. No one before them in the royal family managed to live up to such a figure.
Big love
All the queen's biographers agree on one thing: Prince Philip was and remains the queen's only love. They met for the first time when Elizabeth was only eight years old, and Prince Philip of Greece was 13. But the real acquaintance took place five years later.
“She was only 13 years old, but she instantly fell in love with Philip and never thought about anyone else,” Philip’s cousin Lady Pamela Hicks, who was present eight years later at the wedding of Elizabeth and Philip as bridesmaids.
In the first years of the war, Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip, who served in the navy, did not see each other, however, correspondence did not stop. In those years, a photograph of Prince Philip took pride of place on the bedside table of the future queen.
The romance began in 1943, when Prince Philip came to visit the royal family in Windsor. In 1944, Elizabeth's grandmother Queen Mary wrote to a friend: "Elizabeth and Philip have been in love for 18 months. But the king and queen believe that Elizabeth is too young to be engaged. They would like her to know the world better and see more men." .
“But she never looked at anyone else,” says the Queen’s cousin and closest friend Margaret Rhodes.
Gradually, Elizabeth's parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, began to understand that their daughter had a truly deep feeling for Philip, who was equal to her in blood (Philip descends from two royal families at once - Greek and Danish), but not in wealth (his family was expelled from Greece when he was a child).
As a result, on November 20, 1947, Philip, renouncing his Greek and Danish titles, accepting British citizenship and taking the surname of his maternal grandfather Mountbatten, married 21-year-old Princess Elizabeth.
"Am I very brave or very stupid?" - Philip asked one of his friends a few days before the wedding.
“Nothing changed for her, but everything changed for him,” recalls another of Philip’s cousins, Countess Mountbatten.
Shortly before the wedding, King George VI awarded his future son-in-law the title of Duke of Edinburgh. Ten years later, Elizabeth, then already queen, will ordain her husband as a prince.
In 1949, the Duke of Edinburgh was sent to serve in Malta, and his wife went with him. According to Margaret Rhodes, the Queen remembers this time as the happiest in her life - after all, it was then, albeit for a short time, that Elizabeth was able to live a more or less “ordinary” life as the wife of a serviceman and the mother of two children - Prince Charles and Princess Anne. Rhodes' words are confirmed by the fact that the Queen and her husband stopped in Malta on their way to Uganda in 2007 to celebrate their diamond wedding, thereby demonstrating that Malta holds a special place in their hearts.
In 1951, Philip retired from military service. In 1952, during his and Elizabeth’s visit to Kenya, he informed his wife about the sudden death of her father. From that moment on, his entire life was devoted to the queen and the organizations he patronized, the total number of which currently reaches 800.
Rock
“Grandfather is incredible. He is strong and reliable. He was and remains a rock for all of us,” Princess Eugenie of York, granddaughter of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, said in a recent film dedicated to the Queen’s 90th birthday.
The queen herself spoke in approximately the same vein about her husband.
“He is not one of those people who are greedy for compliments, but, to put it simply, he has been and remains my support all these years,” said Elizabeth the Second at a banquet in honor of the “golden” anniversary of her reign.
According to her children and grandchildren, the secret of the queen's family happiness lies in an important decision that she made at one time: while she, as the monarch, leads the country, Philip will unconditionally lead the family. In all important family decisions, the Duke of Edinburgh has the final say.
Often it was Prince Philip who took on the function of mediator in resolving family conflicts, and there were many of them in the family: the marriages of three of the four children of Elizabeth and Philip collapsed.
When Princess Diana died in a car accident, her sons, aged 15 and 12, were unsure whether they should follow their mother's coffin at her funeral in front of millions of people. Prince Philip, according to biographers, then said to William: “If you don’t go, I think you’ll regret it later. If I go, will you come with me?” As a result, on the day of the funeral, Princes Philip, Charles, William, Harry and the brother of the late Earl Spencer walked behind Diana’s coffin through the streets of London. Soon the Duke, who along with his wife was criticized for reacting too late to Diana's death, had to endure another blow: the father of Princess Dodi al-Fayed's lover, businessman Mohammed al-Fayed, accused Philip of ordering the murder of his son and Diana. In 2008, the court concluded that these accusations were unfounded.
Hobby
Like all members of the British royal family, Prince Philip has always loved sports. Forced to leave military service, the prince began to devote more time to various sports activities, which, to a large extent, helped him maintain an enviable figure and posture even at 95 years old.
Prince Philip played polo regularly until the early 1970s, then switched to horse-drawn carriage competitions, a sport he popularized. All his life he has been interested in yachting, and in 1952 he began training to become an airplane pilot. By the time he turned 70, he had already flown more than five thousand hours.
His other hobbies are oil painting and collecting. In particular, the Duke collected a collection of modern comics.
Prince Philip is known not only for his wit, but also for his ability to joke on the edge. He more than once found himself at the center of scandals due to a harsh (and sometimes even obscene) word dropped at the wrong time, but often stories about his statements turned out to be fabrications of journalists, whom the Duke, by the way, does not favor.
Among his best aphorisms, the British media cite the following: about an exhibition of Ethiopian art, Prince Philip said in 1965 that they reminded him of the drawings that his daughter Princess Anne brought from school, in 1967, when asked whether he wanted to visit the Soviet Union, he replied that “with joy, only these scum destroyed half of my family” (the prince is the great-nephew of Nicholas II’s wife Alexandra Feodorovna), in 1981 he said regarding the economic recession that “everyone used to say that we need to rest more, but Now they are complaining that they are unemployed."
Quiet anniversary
This year, Prince Philip's birthday falls within the Queen's official birthday celebrations. And while the queen's anniversary will be celebrated throughout the country, her husband's birthday, like all these years, will remain a purely family holiday. On June 10, a prayer service for the health of Elizabeth II will be held at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. On the same day, the Queen and Prince Philip will host a lunch for 15 Commonwealth governors-general at Buckingham Palace.
And only in the evening, after all the official ceremonies, the Queen may raise a toast to her husband’s health, and it will be Prince Philip who will be in the spotlight for a short time.
But the very next day, June 11, he will again be next to the Queen when she takes part in the “carrying out the flag” parade, and then, together with her, her children and grandchildren (and possibly great-grandchildren), he will go out onto the balcony of Buckingham Palace to greet subjects of his wife.