Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip met for the first time in 1934 at the wedding of Prince George, Duke of Kent and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark.
It was only a matter of happenstance that Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip met again in July 1939. Elizabeth, now 13, was visiting the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, Devon with her parents and sister.
By 1946, Philip, now something of a war hero, asked for Elizabeth’s hand in marriage; he asked Elizabeth before seeking the permission of her father, King George VI, a breach of protocol.
The wedding of Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip took place on November 20, 1947, at Westminster Abbey. As a prerequisite, Philip was made to renounce the princely titles to which he had been born, become a British citizen, adopt the surname, Mountbatten.
From the start, Elizabeth and Philip’s marriage showed great promise for a lifelong happy union. While on their honeymoon in the English countryside, Elizabeth wrote to her parents of their deep connection, and she referred to Philip as an “angel.”
After Prince Charles and Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip welcomed Prince Andrew on February 19, 1960, followed by Prince Edward on March 10, 1964.
At the time of Prince Philip’s death in April 2021, he and Queen Elizabeth had been married for 73 years and 139 days. That makes their marriage the longest royal marriage in the history of the British monarchy.
On April 9, 2021, Buckingham Palace announced that Prince Philip had died. “His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle,” the Palace circular informed a crushed global audience.”