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| The future Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip after their engagement was announced. Image from Royal.uk. |
The future Queen Elizabeth II was 13 years old when she was
smitten by the blonde, blue-eyed Prince Philip of Greece . The princess joined
her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, when they visited the Royal
Naval College, Dartmouth. The Queen and Louis Mountbatten requested Philip to escort
the King's two daughters. The heiress to the British throne fell in love with
Philip, and they began to exchange letters.
Their love story budded for the next seven years, growing even stronger
in the passing of World War II.
Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip are both
great-great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria, Philip through his mother Princess
Alice of Battenberg. They are therefore third cousins. They are also second
cousins once removed; Elizabeth’s great-great-grandfather was Christian IX of
Denmark, whose daughter Alexandra married King Edward VII. Philip was a
great-grandson of Christian IX, through his father Prince Andrew of Greece.
Philip had seen active service in the Royal Navy during the
war, and when he was on home leave he was a frequent visitor at Windsor Castle,
where the romance blossomed. At the end of the war, Philip was was sent to the Far
East but returned to London in March 1946. Elizabeth’s feelings towards Philip
had only grown stronger. He proposed to her at Balmoral in late summer 1946 she
accepted.
The princess' determination to marry Philip, at first surprised, the kind
but he eventually consented on the condition that their engagement would not be
announced until she turned 21. The family embarked on their official tour of
South Africa in February 1947, where Elizabeth delivered her famous 21st birthday speech.She nevertheless kept in touch with her fiancé, who dropped his Greek titles, applied
for a British citizenship, and was now known as Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten. Finally,
on July 10, 1947, “with greatest pleasure’” the engagement was announced. That
evening the Princess and her fiancé made an impromptu balcony appearance in
front of cheering crowd, who yearned the prospect of a royal wedding.
A day after the announcement of their engagement, Philip and
Elizabeth were photographed together while strolling arm in arm across the
terrace at the Palace. In the words of her mother, Queen Elizabeth, “We feel
very happy about it, as he is a very nice person and they have known each other
for some years which is a great comfort.” Their wedding was set on November 20,
1947.
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