UK queen and husband Philip celebrate 70 years of marriage, quietly

[webfact]

UK queen and husband Philip celebrate 70 years of marriage, quietly

 

A handout photo shows Britain's Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle in early November, pictured against a platinum-textured backdrop, in celebration of their platinum wedding anniversary on November 20, 2017. Matt Holyoak/CameraPress/PA Wire/Handout via REUTERS

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Queen Elizabeth and husband Prince Philip mark their platinum wedding anniversary with a small family get-together on Monday, a far cry from the pomp and celebration which greeted their marriage 70 years ago.

 

The couple married at London's Westminster Abbey on Nov. 20, 1947, just two years after the end of World War Two, in a glittering ceremony which attracted statesmen and royalty from around the world and huge crowds of cheering well-wishers.

 

Seventy years on, no public events are planned and Elizabeth, now 91, and her 96-year-old husband will celebrate the milestone with a private party at Windsor Castle, the monarch's home to the west of London.

 

That contrasts with their silver, golden and diamond wedding anniversaries when they attended thanksgiving services at the thousand-year-old Abbey, where the queen was crowned and where her grandson and his wife, William and Kate, were married in 2011.

 

However, the Abbey itself will mark the occasion with a full peal of its bells involving 5,070 change of sequences, with the 70 reflecting the anniversary, which will last more than three hours.

 

The wedding of Princess Elizabeth, as she then was, to the dashing naval officer Philip Mountbatten was seen as raising the nation's spirits amid an austere background of rationing and shortages that followed the war.

 

"Millions will welcome this joyous event as a flash of colour on the hard road we have to travel," said former Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

 

Five years later, Elizabeth succeeded her father George VI on the throne and has ruled for the following 65 years, more than any other monarch in British history, with Philip by her side throughout.

 

"The support he gives to my grandmother is phenomenal," Prince Harry said in a documentary to mark her 60th year on the throne.

 

"Regardless of whether my grandfather seems to be doing his own thing, sort of wandering off like a fish down the river, the fact that he's there - I personally don't think that she could do it without him."

 

While the couple's marriage has remained strong, three of their four children have seen their unions end in divorce, most notably heir Prince Charles's ill-fated union with his late first wife Princess Diana.

 

Neither the Queen nor Philip worry about their popularity ratings, according to royal historian Hugo Vickers.

 

"They don't waste a jot of time wondering whether we like them or not - they just get on with the job," he told Reuters.

 

"He's very much like that and so is she. On the occasions when I have been lucky enough to see them together, they always look incredibly comfortable in each other's company."

 

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Stephen Addison)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-11-20

[canopus1969]

Congratulations to both, God save the Queen

[canuckamuck]

Well congratulations to them. But what is with that photo? It looks like it was done at Walmart or something.

[faraday]

Congratulations to both of them...

 

Philip's looks like it's been stuck on. Weird.

[ballpoint]

I look forward to seeing the Queen send Philip a telegram for his hundreth birthday in four years' time, and then sending herself one five years later.  Congratulations to them both.

[MickTurator]

Prince Philip has a fantastic sense of humour just look at the way he dresses for an official photograph

[VillageIdiot]

42 minutes ago, MickTurator said:

Prince Philip has a fantastic sense of humour just look at the way he dresses for an official photograph

It's Kipling's "common touch" - gone terribly wrong.

He's beginning to look a bit slitty-eyed as well.

[Somtamnication]

Never there has been a classier lady than HMTQ. Congrats to both of them.

[Khun Paul]

Comment to the Thai originators !!! You are lucky we do have Lese Majeste law as here. The Queens proper title is her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second and her Prince Consort ,HRH Prince Phillip .

if we had shortened the Thai Royal titles we would all be up before a Military court, learn some manners please.

 

God bless HM and her husband

 

[ballpoint]

2 minutes ago, Khun Paul said:

Comment to the Thai originators !!! You are lucky we do have Lese Majeste law as here. The Queens proper title is her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second and her Prince Consort ,HRH Prince Phillip .

if we had shortened the Thai Royal titles we would all be up before a Military court, learn some manners please.

 

God bless HM and her husband

 

The OP is from Reuters with reporting "by Michael Holden; Editing by Stephen Addison", so take your Thai bashing chip off your shoulders.

[Here It Is]

5 hours ago, canuckamuck said:

Well congratulations to them. But what is with that photo? It looks like it was done at Walmart or something.

How dare you.  That's the nuclear bunker buried deep beneath the palace.  Tsk.

[Khun Paul]

10 minutes ago, ballpoint said:

The OP is from Reuters with reporting "by Michael Holden; Editing by Stephen Addison", so take your Thai bashing chip off your shoulders.

Posted by Thai Admin, still need to learn manners, not Thai bashing just pointing out correctness in titles as we learn to do here with Thais. If you do not like that I really do not care at all I respect my Roayl family as I do the Thai Royal family and take umbrage whyen people do not use her correct title OK.

[faraday]

40 minutes ago, Khun Paul said:

Posted by Thai Admin, still need to learn manners, not Thai bashing just pointing out correctness in titles as we learn to do here with Thais. If you do not like that I really do not care at all I respect my Roayl family as I do the Thai Royal family and take umbrage whyen people do not use her correct title OK.

I haven't seen any disrespect to The Queen & Prince Phillip.

All I see is British humour.

Lighten up.

[natway09]

Bless em both

[Grouse]

10 hours ago, canuckamuck said:

Well congratulations to them. But what is with that photo? It looks like it was done at Walmart or something.

The Wrong Trousers!

[Scott]

Off-topic posts removed.