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Letters and Laughter: Prince Philip and The Queen's timeless love story

The prince and his beloved were meant to be. - by Liz Tse
  • 09 Apr 2021

It's a tale as old as time. A boy meets a girl, they fall in love and then, 14 years later, she becomes Queen of England. Ahh, relatable love!

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WATCH: The Queen and Prince Philip's love story

Today, April 9, 2021, that love story came to an end with the Palace announcing that Prince Philip had died, aged 99.

The death of the Duke of Edinburgh has ended the longest marriage of a reigning monarch in British history

Like so many long and successful marriages, the Queen and Prince Philip have built their relationship on foundations of friendship and laughter. The archives are filled of photos of the pair laughing together.

Philip has been her ‘rock,’ the man who made her giggle at formal events and helped her to relax when off duty.

The duo’s love story is considered a fairytale come true around the globe.

The couple, both great-great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria, and therefore cousins, first met in 1934 at a family wedding when Elizabeth was eight.

Queen elizabeth prince philip

Prince Philip and the Queen first met in 1934 at a family wedding.

But the dashing Greek prince really captured her heart in 1939 on a visit with her parents to the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth when she was 13.

Handsome Philip, then 18, sealed their friendship over ginger biscuits and lemonade, impressing ‘Lilibet’ and her sister Margaret by vaulting over a tennis net. From that day on, she decided he was 'the one' and, as Philip served in the war, they exchanged letters and met at Windsor Castle when on leave.

After their 1947 wedding and the birth of Prince Charles in 1948, happy times followed as they spent two years living on and off in Malta while he was serving with the Royal Navy’s Mediterranean Fleet.

queen prince philip

When Philip served at the war, the lovebirds kept in touch via letters.

Despite not seeing much of their young son, who was left in London with nannies, they enjoyed a ‘normal’ life – walking along the seafront arm in arm, holding hands in the back row of a cinema and raring around narrow lanes in a sporty MG.

Practical jokes and Philip’s salty sense of humour were never far away. During a 1951 tour of Canada, he chased his young wife through a train wearing a set of false teeth and, once when he returned from a long naval operation, she greeted him wearing a false beard. They love a laugh, these two!

As she became Queen in 1952, they kept each other’s spirits up with smiles and infinite patience.

queen philip

Her Majesty and His Royal Highness love a laugh!

When an egg was thrown at their open car during a 1986 visit to New Zealand, Philip got out and simply wiped it off her coat with his handkerchief.

As her Majesty's late Private Secretary Lord Charteris once said: "Prince Philip is the only man in the world who treats the Queen simply as another human being."

When the monarch fell backwards at a Christmas lunch one year at Sandringham after a servant accidentally pulled her chair away, Philip was left in uproarious laughter.

queen philip

Prince Harry has claimed that he doesn't think the Queen "could have done her job without (Philip)".

Leading by example, the rock-solid couple have provided an example of a true monarchy love story for their children and grandchildren.

In a 2012 TV interview, Prince William said of his grandparents: "They love it when things go wrong... because obviously everything always has to be right, but when things go wrong around them, they’re the first people to laugh."

Prince Harry said they were "a team" and summed it up perfectly: "I don’t think that she [the Queen] could have done her job without him."

Philip was due to celebrate his 100th birthday this June.

  • Royals
  • Love And Relationships
  • Queen Elizabeth

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