Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were once caught in an intimate embrace by a member of staff, a royal biographer has revealed.
WATCH: Prince Philip tells the Queen Mobile driver to “Hurry up!”
According to Philip Eade’s 2011 biography Young Prince Philip: His Turbulent Early Life, Elizabeth and Philip lived in Clarence House in the early years of their marriage and spent many happy hours together.
Mr Eade explained: “Philip had his own bedroom next-door to Elizabeth’s, an arrangement common to a great many upper-class couples at that time.”
When the two wanted to spend some intimate time together, there was a door built into the wall between the two bedrooms and historian Robert Lacey told the author that the royal couple did “enjoy the visitation rituals which that system involves”.
One morning, a staff member stumbled upon the young royals enjoying some time alone.
Valet James MacDonald also told Mr Eade that he went into Philip’s room one morning and was “embarrassed to see the princess in her husband’s bed”.
Mr Eade explained: “While she was wearing her usual silk nightgown, Prince Philip appeared to be naked.”
Mr MacDonald added: “He didn’t care at all.”
The details come after Queen Elizabeth spent Thursday, February 6 with her husband Prince Philip.
The date is significant to the Monarch, as on February 6, 1952, King George VI died and Elizabeth’s life changed forever.
Her father died suddenly in his sleep at Sandringham, when he was aged just 56.
The King had been suffering from lung cancer and several other health issues, but his death came as a shock to the world.
Princess Elizabeth, as she was at the time, was on a royal tour in Kenya with Philip when her father passed away.
After learning of his death, the young princess made a statement.
At the time Elizabeth, 25, said: “By the sudden death of my dear father I am called to assume the duties and responsibilities of sovereignty.
“My heart is too full for me to say more to you today than I shall always work, as my father did throughout his reign, to advance the happiness and prosperity of my peoples.”
Each year the Queen spends the anniversary of her father’s death at Sandringham with her husband.
This year, on the day before the anniversary, Queen Elizabeth officially opened Wolferton’s new pumping station which resides on the Sandringham Estate.
It is particularly poignant as the new station is replacing a 72-year-old original, which the Queen’s father, King George VI, opened soon after World War II.
The royal family’s official Twitter account shared a photo of George VI opening the old station, accompanied by the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret.
“Friends describe him as being ‘almost in tears’ at the gesture,” he wrote. “I thought I was going to have a career in the Navy, but it became obvious there was no hope.
“There was no choice. It just happened. You have to make compromises. That’s life. I accepted it. I tried to make the best of it.”
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