Queen Elizabeth II. Fell In Love With Prince Philip When She Was 13 Years Old. This Is The Story Of Love That Lasted Over 70 Years

"He is someone who does not take compliments lightly, but he has been my strength and support all these years. I, his entire family, this country and many other countries owe him more than he would ever admit, or even more than we would ever realise," Queen Elizabeth II confessed her love to Philip in 1997 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the royal wedding.

This is a brief look at how a relationship was born that, despite World War II, decolonisation and a rapidly changing world, stood the test of time and lasted over 70 long years until death.

Love at first sight
Historically, the marriages of monarchs have often been arranged without the future spouses themselves having any say in these decisions. It is necessary to unite important families or to strengthen the position of the royal family, princes and princesses often heard when they wanted to rebel against the partner chosen by their family. Relationship of Elizabeth II. and Prince Philip was the exact opposite.

The couple first met in 1939, when the then 13-year-old Princess Elizabeth went to the educational institution Britannia Royal Naval College. Philip Mountbatten, who was born in 1921 on the Greek island of Corfu and received the titles of Danish and Greek prince, also trained as a sailor at the school.

Philip adopted the surname Mountbatten before his wedding with the future queen. Philip's surname was previously Battenberg, but this name, together with distant family links to prominent Nazi leaders, forced Philip to change it to an altered version of Mountbatten acceptable in Great Britain.

A 13-year-old princess in love

Since meeting in 1939 at the Naval Academy, the 13-year-old Princess Elizabeth was in love with Philip, they began to exchange letters, and love was born.

It didn't bother anyone that the two are very distant relatives, whose common ancestor was the famous British Queen Victoria. Letter correspondence flourished as well as mutual feelings, but the connection was temporarily interrupted by the Second World War.

Philip served in the British Navy, helped in many well-known battles on Crete and Sicily, and towards the end of the war he was sent to the Pacific Ocean, where he participated in the Battle of Okinawa.

Fortunately, the war did not take his life, and he and Elizabeth began planning their life together and their wedding, almost immediately after his return to Great Britain. He asked for her hand in marriage at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, where the queen also came to live out her last weeks and where she passed on September 8th 2022.

I fell in love unconditionally, wrote Philip after the war

“I was spared in the war and lived to see victory. I got a chance to rest, adapt to a new life and fall in love unconditionally. Compared to this, everyone's personal problems and the problems of the world seem small and petty," Philip wrote in a letter when he was returning from the war in 1946.

King George VI. accepted Philip's request for his daughter's hand in marriage, and on July 9, 1947, the world learned that Princess Elizabeth was engaged. Meanwhile, Philip had to give up his royal titles of Prince of Greece and Denmark, change his surname and become a British citizen to meet all the requirements of the royal family before the wedding.

1947: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, on the day they announced their engagement. pic.twitter.com/6ToMRmUpso

— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) April 9, 2021

“Lilibet will one day be queen and he will be her royal husband. That's a lot harder than being a king, but I think he's the right man for the job," King George VI said at the royal wedding in November 1947, as he watched the two pledge their love and fidelity to each other.

More than two thousand guests watched the wedding in Westminster Abbey in London, including Winston Churchill.

Not even the British tabloids could break the royal relationshipBefore Elizabeth became queen, the couple spent several years in Malta, where Philip served in the navy.

When King George VI. was dying of lung cancer, Elizabeth and Philip were on a royal tour across the countries of the British Commonwealth Empire, so she did not have the chance to be at her father's deathbed to say goodbye to him for the last time.

After their wedding in 1947, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh moved to the island of Malta, where Prince Philip was posted by the Royal Navy.

Before Elizabeth became Queen, they lived as naval officer and wife - enjoying freedoms seldom possible in later years.@SimonVigar5 pic.twitter.com/fMEQdt5tmk

— Channel 5 News (@5_News) April 9, 2021

Since she ascended the throne in 1952 and officially assumed the royal crown in 1953, Prince Philip has stood firmly by her side.

Rumours appeared several times in the British media that Philip and Elizabeth experienced relationship crises in the 1950s and 1960s, but what's more, the tabloids accused Philip of repeatedly cheating on the Queen with, for example, a Russian ballerina, but the evidence of the alleged infidelity were never seen.

This alleged love affair even found its way to television screens when it appeared in the popular Netflix series The Crown.

The series even identified the existing Russian ballerina Galina Ulanova as the woman with whom Prince Philip allegedly cheated on the Queen, but the ballerina did not stay in London for long and in reality it would be too complicated for the two to find time for secret meetings behind the backs of the royal family.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip had a love story for the ages.

Here's a look at them walking arm-in-arm during their honeymoon at the Broadlands manor in Romsey, Hampshire, England.

📹: Getty Video/Grinberg, Paramount, Pathe Newsreels pic.twitter.com/Mrrim5qnu7

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) September 8, 2022

During the coronation of Elizabeth II., Phillip knelt before his wife and promised to serve her faithfully. Despite the rumours in the tabloids, the marriage union between the royal couple has never been shaken to its core.

"It is a partnership of two people who understand that marriage is a partnership between two people. Both sides have to make compromises, life has to go on and there has to be an element of discipline in such life, to make this partnership and marriage work," Prince Andrew commented on his parents' relationship years ago.

They remained together until the very end
When the couple celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, otherwise known as their golden wedding, in 1997, Prince Philip noted that over the years they both understood how to divide the work in their relationship and find a good balance between shared and individual interests.

The widowed Queen Elizabeth II sat alone as Prince Philip was laid to rest Saturday in a funeral ceremony that honored his lifetime of service on Saturday https://t.co/msOaAr47l3 pic.twitter.com/VATUfAQ8Xj

— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) April 17, 2021

“I think the main lesson we've learned is that tolerance is one of the most essential ingredients of a happy marriage. It may not be so important when everything is going according to plan, but it is most important when things get complicated," the Queen's husband explained his view.

Queen Elizabeth II. she returned kind words full of tenderness to her husband. "He is someone who does not take compliments lightly, but he has been my strength and support all these years. I, his entire family, this country and many other countries owe him more than he would ever admit, or even more than we would ever realise," she confessed her love to Philip in her speech.

In 2020, they celebrated their last joint wedding anniversary at Windsor Castle - they had been married for 73 years before the death of Prince Philip. Prince Philip died on April 9, 2021. Queen Elizabeth II. followed her beloved husband on September 8, 2022.