Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, are today celebrating 65 years of marriage - their blue sapphire wedding anniversay.
The then Princess Elizabeth was 21 years old when she married the 26 year old World War II naval veteran Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark in Westminster Abbey - where William and Catherine were married last year - on 20th November 1947.
Before the marriage, Philip renounced his Greek and Danish titles, converted from Greek Orthodoxy to Anglicanism, and adopted the style Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, taking the surname of his mother's British family. The day preceding his wedding, King George VI bestowed the style His Royal Highness, and on the morning of the wedding he was made the Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich of Greenwich in the County of London.
On the morning of her wedding, as Princess Elizabeth was getting dressed at Buckingham Palace before leaving for Westminster Abbey, her tiara snapped. Luckily the court jeweller was standing by in case of emergency. The jeweller was rushed to his work room by a police escort. Queen Elizabeth reassured her daughter that it would be fixed in time, and it was.
Princess Elizabeth had to use ration coupons to buy the material for her dress, designed by Norman Hartnell. There was no rationing, however, on the number of wedding gifts they were allowed to receive, which totalled 2,500 from Britain and the Commonwealth.
From their honeymoon at the royal family's Balmoral Estate in Scotland, Philip wrote to Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother: “Lilibet is the only ‘thing’ in the world which is absolutely real to me and my ambition is to weld the two of us into a new combined existence that will not only be able to withstand the shocks directed at us but will also have a positive existence for the good.”
After attending the Royal Variety Performance in London last night, the Queen and the Duke will spend a quiet day together today before carrying on with their duties for the rest of the week, including a joint visit to Bristol on Thursday and official engagements for the Duke tomorrow and on Friday.
The royal couple will be amongst 2,000 couples in the UK who will celebrate their blue sapphire wedding anniversaries this year.
Sarah Bradford, the Queen’s biographer, said Philip's honeymoon letter summed up the reason their marriage had lasted for so long.
“He talked in that letter about his love for his wife and of how they were thinking the same way about things,” she said. “They both appreciate each other, love each other, like each other and I think they also both appreciate the position that they occupy and their responsibility.
“You don’t just pop in, marry the Queen and pop off again.”
The couple's wedding anniversary comes just after a poll which found that 75% of the British public think the Queen is doing a good job as Monarch. Only 7% are dissatisified. It is a much higher level of satisfaction than any party leader or Prime Minister has ever enjoyed.
2012: The Queen and Prince Philip attending the Braemar Highland Gathering in September this year
Queen and Duke of Edinburgh celebrate 65th wedding anniversary - Telegraph
Wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The then Princess Elizabeth was 21 years old when she married the 26 year old World War II naval veteran Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark in Westminster Abbey - where William and Catherine were married last year - on 20th November 1947.
Before the marriage, Philip renounced his Greek and Danish titles, converted from Greek Orthodoxy to Anglicanism, and adopted the style Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, taking the surname of his mother's British family. The day preceding his wedding, King George VI bestowed the style His Royal Highness, and on the morning of the wedding he was made the Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich of Greenwich in the County of London.
On the morning of her wedding, as Princess Elizabeth was getting dressed at Buckingham Palace before leaving for Westminster Abbey, her tiara snapped. Luckily the court jeweller was standing by in case of emergency. The jeweller was rushed to his work room by a police escort. Queen Elizabeth reassured her daughter that it would be fixed in time, and it was.
Princess Elizabeth had to use ration coupons to buy the material for her dress, designed by Norman Hartnell. There was no rationing, however, on the number of wedding gifts they were allowed to receive, which totalled 2,500 from Britain and the Commonwealth.
From their honeymoon at the royal family's Balmoral Estate in Scotland, Philip wrote to Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother: “Lilibet is the only ‘thing’ in the world which is absolutely real to me and my ambition is to weld the two of us into a new combined existence that will not only be able to withstand the shocks directed at us but will also have a positive existence for the good.”
After attending the Royal Variety Performance in London last night, the Queen and the Duke will spend a quiet day together today before carrying on with their duties for the rest of the week, including a joint visit to Bristol on Thursday and official engagements for the Duke tomorrow and on Friday.
The royal couple will be amongst 2,000 couples in the UK who will celebrate their blue sapphire wedding anniversaries this year.
Sarah Bradford, the Queen’s biographer, said Philip's honeymoon letter summed up the reason their marriage had lasted for so long.
“He talked in that letter about his love for his wife and of how they were thinking the same way about things,” she said. “They both appreciate each other, love each other, like each other and I think they also both appreciate the position that they occupy and their responsibility.
“You don’t just pop in, marry the Queen and pop off again.”
The couple's wedding anniversary comes just after a poll which found that 75% of the British public think the Queen is doing a good job as Monarch. Only 7% are dissatisified. It is a much higher level of satisfaction than any party leader or Prime Minister has ever enjoyed.
The big day, 1947: Princess Elizabeth and Lt Philip Mountbatten photographed at Buckingham Palace after their wedding ceremony, held at Westminster Abbey on 20 November. Elizabeth's dress was the work of Norman Hartnell, Court Designer since 1938. The lavish gown boasted a 13ft long train that was said to have been inspired by a Boticelli painting. It was the aftermath of WWII and Princess Elizabeth, like any other woman who married in Britain at the time, had to use ration coupons to buy the material for her dress.
2012: The Queen and Prince Philip attending the Braemar Highland Gathering in September this year
Queen and Duke of Edinburgh celebrate 65th wedding anniversary - Telegraph
Wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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