Going strong after 70 years: UK's Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip celebrate platinum anniversary

[webfact]

Going strong after 70 years: UK's Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip celebrate platinum anniversary

By Michael Holden

 

Britain's Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip visit Pangbourne College near Reading, May 9, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville/Files

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Queen Elizabeth will add another landmark to her record-breaking reign on Monday when she and Prince Philip celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary.

 

Princess Elizabeth, as she was at the time, married dashing naval officer Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at London's Westminster Abbey on Nov. 20, 1947, just two years after the end of World War Two, in a lavish ceremony attended by statesmen and royalty from around the world.

 

Seventy years on, Elizabeth, 91, and her 96-year-old husband will mark their platinum anniversary with a small family party at Windsor Castle, the monarch's home to the west of London.

 

A spokesman for Buckingham Palace said there would be no public event to mark the occasion.

 

Greek-born Philip, a descendant of Elizabeth's great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria in his own right, has been at his wife's side throughout her 65-year reign, the longest in British history. He was the person who broke the news to her in 1952 that her father, George VI, had died and that she was now queen.

 

"One of the secrets of this very, very long marriage, and it's an incredibly impressive anniversary, is the fact Prince Philip has always seen it as his main duty to support the queen, to help her in whatever way he can," royal historian Hugo Vickers told Reuters.

 

"He is the only person who can actually tell the queen absolutely straight what he thinks, and if he thinks some idea is ridiculous he will say so in whatever language he chooses to use."

 

The couple first met when they attended the wedding of Prince Philip's cousin, Princess Marina of Greece, to Elizabeth's uncle, the Duke of Kent, in 1934.

 

Philip then gained the attention of his future wife when the then-13-year-old princess made a visit with her parents to Britain's Royal Naval College at Dartmouth in southern England where he was a cadet.

 

"TRULY IN LOVE"

 

"She was truly in love from the very beginning," the queen's cousin Margaret Rhodes, a life-long friend and one of her bridesmaids who died last year, wrote in her memoir.

 

Their engagement was announced in July 1947 and they married four months later. With Britain still recovering from the war, the wedding offered a rare burst of colour and pageantry against an austere background of rationing and shortages.

 

The 21-year-old princess, who wore an ivory silk Norman Hartnell gown decorated with 10,000 seed pearls, had to collect coupons for her dress like other post-war brides and the couple spent their honeymoon in southern England and Scotland.

 

While some two billion people were estimated to have watched the couple's grandson Prince William marry his wife Kate in 2011, their own wedding was only broadcast live to some 200 million radio listeners, although highlights of the day were captured on grainy black and white film footage.

 

"I can see that you are sublimely happy with Philip which is right, but don't forget us is the wish of your ever loving & devoted Papa," King George wrote to his daughter after the wedding.

 

While royal watchers say Elizabeth and Philip have had their ups and downs like any married couple, they have avoided the travails of three of their four children whose marriages have ended in divorce, most notably heir Prince Charles's ill-fated union with his late first wife Princess Diana.

 

It was at the couple's 50th wedding anniversary in 1997 that the queen paid a rare personal tribute to her husband.

 

"He has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years," Elizabeth said.

 

No other British monarch has celebrated such a landmark, and indeed Elizabeth was the first to mark a diamond wedding anniversary in 2007.

 

Philip, who has suffered health issues in recent years and was hospitalised in June, retired from active public life in August. They both attended a memorial service on Remembrance Sunday on Nov. 12, although a royal source said the monarch had decided not to lay a wreath so she could watch from a nearby balcony alongside her husband.

 

"Without Prince Philip the queen would have had a very tough and lonely life. He's been a complete support to her, a rock to her, from the moment she was on the throne," royal biographer Claudia Joseph told Reuters.

 

(Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Gareth Jones)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-11-15

[BuaBS]

Well commenting on that would surely get me deleted and maybe a 15 years in a Thai prison.

[samsensam]

 

congratulations to the couple.

 

i was born in the reign of queen elizabeth II

[ChrisY1]

2 hours ago, samsensam said:

 

congratulations to the couple.

 

i was born in the reign of queen elizabeth II

I was earlier 

[Basil B]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

He was the person who broke the news to her in 1952 that her father, George VI, had died and that she was now queen.

So no high ranking member of government or top ranking civil servant bursting into the bed chamber shouting "the king is dead long live the queen"...

[chickenslegs]

Quote

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip celebrate platinum anniversary

 

Her Majesty deserves a medal.

[phantomfiddler]

Congratulations Lizzie and Phil, you are the greatest !

[RichardColeman]

Love Phil, but I really fear fir the queen he will be dead within a year looking at him now. 

[faraday]

Didn't realise how old they were - time seems to fly by these days.  Congratulations to both of them.

 

Is Charlie taking over when she's gone?

I really think Wills & Kate are much more preferable; they're from a better age.

 

[JingerBen]

8 minutes ago, faraday said:

Didn't realise how old they were - time seems to fly by these days.

Congratulations to both of them.

 

Is Charlie taking over when she's gone?

I really think Wills & Kate are much more preferable; they're from a better age.

 

I think a lot of people would agree with your last statement.

Charlie probably means well, but he's a strange dude and too old now.

[brewsterbudgen]

3 minutes ago, JingerBen said:

I think a lot of people would agree with your last statement.

Charlie probably means well, but he's a strange dude and too old now.

Once the Queen is no more, it's likely republican sentiment will grow.  I have a feeling that William has no desire to put his family through it.  

[faraday]

1 minute ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Once the Queen is no more, it's likely republican sentiment will grow.  I have a feeling that William has no desire to put his family through it.  

Yea hopefully. And then Anthony Charles Lynton can be elected as President.

[kamahele]

Good for them. A long and mostly happy life together.

[ratcatcher]

12 minutes ago, faraday said:

Yea hopefully. And then Anthony Charles Lynton can be elected as President.

[JingerBen]

3 minutes ago, kamahele said:

Good for them. A long and mostly happy life together.

Like the song says: Whatever happened to old-fashioned love?

A sense of duty often keeps people together.

My wife and I have two grown daughters who have both turned out very well. Our pride and happiness in them has done more than anything else to make our marriage last for over thirty years.

[petermik]

On 11/15/2017 at 8:05 AM, BuaBS said:

Well commenting on that would surely get me deleted and maybe a 15 years in a Thai prison.

You seem like a nice fellow...

[canuckamuck]

Never heard of her.

[faraday]

6 minutes ago, canuckamuck said:

Never heard of her

Take this man to The Tower!

[Machiavelli]

1 hour ago, kamahele said:

Good for them. A long and mostly happy life together.

Long, we know. Happy?  Got to be on the inside. 

[ratcatcher]

32 minutes ago, faraday said:

Take this man to The Tower!

He's a canuck amuck, so can be forgiven. 

[rodney earl]

I bet that they dont spend any of their 350,000,000 pounds on their health. That would be thanks to the good old tax payer.!!

[Gillyflower]

3 hours ago, faraday said:

Didn't realise how old they were - time seems to fly by these days.

Congratulations to both of them.

 

Is Charlie taking over when she's gone?

I really think Wills & Kate are much more preferable; they're from a better age.

 

Worse!!  Will Camilla be queen???

[01322521959]

Congratulations to you both. Long live the Queen!

[champers]

Yes, it must be tough having 4 palaces to look after and all that worry about whether one's equerry puts enough toothpaste on one's toothbrush. There is some comfort that they have managed to salt away a few million in offshore accounts in case of a rainy day.

[Morch]

2 hours ago, canuckamuck said:

Never heard of her.

 

She's the girl from this song...I think:

 

 

 

[balo]

I just want to know the secret of prince Philip , 96 years old, is it only in the genes or did he eat some miracle food along the way .  Did he smoke , did he drink, a lot of sex etc. 

 

Edited November 16, 2017 by balo

[sanuk711]

1 minute ago, balo said:

I just want to know the secret of prince Philip , 96 years old, is it only in the genes

Prince Phillip has announced his retirement. Good for him. After all those years of hard work now he'll be able to just laze about and claim taxpayers' money for doing nothing... hey, wait a minute................

[Basil B]

2 hours ago, Gillyflower said:

Worse!!  Will Camilla be queen???

I recall it being stated she will not take the title of Queen...

 

I would not respect her as queen, and I think I am speaking for many others.

 

May be by the time Charles inherits the throne he decides he is well past retirement age and abdicates so he can spend more time with his plants. 

[Basil B]

Just now, Basil B said:

Before they married I recall it being stated she will not take the title of Queen...

 

I would not respect her as queen, and I think I am speaking for many others.

 

May be by the time Charles inherits the throne he decides he is well past retirement age and abdicates so he can spend more time with his plants. 

 

Edited November 16, 2017 by Basil B

[faraday]

Perhaps Edward is waiting for the title of Queen....?