Princess Elizabeth (she wouldn’t become queen until her father George IV died in 1952), was reportedly in labour for 30 hours before finally having Charles via caesarean section.
In those days, it wasn’t the done thing for the father to be in the delivery room, and so Philip kept himself busy with sports, playing squash and going swimming whilst Elizabeth was in labour.
When a royal aide told Philip his son had been born, the Duke rushed to the delivery room.
And to mark the occasion of Charles’ birth, Prince Philip gave his wife the sweetest gift - a bouquet of red roses and carnations.
The whole of London celebrated the birth of the new heir to the throne, with the bells at Westminster Abbey ringing out and a 41-gun salute fired by the King’s Troop Royal Artillery.
In Trafalgar Square, the fountains were lit blue and outside Buckingham Palace, around 4,000 people gathered to watch the medical team arrive and leave.
