Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, is the husband of the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth II, who together have held the longest marriage of all British sovereigns, since his wife, the Queen, is also the longest living and longest-reigning British monarch. In addition to the title of Duke, Queen Elizabeth II’s husband held the titles of Admiral of the Marine Corps, Colonel of the British Army Cadet Corps, and Commander-in-Chief of the Air Training Corps. He was also appointed Admiral of the Fleet, Captain-General of the Royal Marines, Field Marshal, and Marshal of the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom.
More recently he was appointed Lord High Admiral of the Royal Navy on his 90th birthday and then Knight Grand Cross (GCVO) of the Royal Victorian Order on his 70th wedding anniversary.
Who is Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II Husband? Bio
The Duke of Edinburgh was born on June 10, 1921, in Mon Repos, Corfu, Greece, as a prince. He was named Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, the last child and only son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg.
While Philip was growing up, Greece was involved in the Greek-Turkish war from 1919 to 1922, in which his father served as commander of an army division. After the abdication and arrest of Philip’s uncle, the King of Greece, King Constantine I, and the arrest and subsequent banishment of Prince Andrew from Greece, the entire family left Greece for France in 1922 and settled in Saint-Cloud, a suburb of Paris.
Philip received his early education in France and attended an American school in Paris called The Elms. At the age of 7, he was sent to Britain where he either lived with his maternal grandmother, Victoria Mountbatten, Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven, or with his uncle, George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven while attending Cheam School. In 1933 he was enrolled at the German boarding school, Schule Schloss Salem, where he spent two semesters before moving to Gordonstoun School in Scotland.
ALSO READ: Who Is Romina Garcia, Is She Dead Or Alive? Here Are Facts
In 1939 Philip graduated from Gordonstoun and joined the Royal Navy. He graduated from the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth in 1940 as the best cadet in his class and was made an ensign. In less than a year, after serving briefly on HMS Ramillies, HMS Kent, HMS Shropshire in the Indian Ocean, and HMS Valiant in the Mediterranean, and completing a series of courses in which he achieved the best results in four out of five of them, Philip was assigned as a sub-lieutenant. In July 1942 Philip was promoted to lieutenant and became the youngest first lieutenant in the Royal Navy after being appointed second in command of HMS Wallace. After HMS Wallace, Philip transferred to HMS Whelp, which was located in Tokyo Bay when Imperial Japan signed the surrender in 1945.
The following year Prince Philip took up a new assignment on his return to Britain. He became an instructor at HMS Royal Arthur, a petty officers’ school based in Corsham, Wiltshire, before marrying Princess Elizabeth. After his marriage and subsequent honeymoon, Queen Elizabeth II husband – Philip returned to the Navy. He initially held a desk job with the Admiralty before completing a staff training course at Naval Staff College in Greenwich. In 1949 he was stationed in Malta as First Lieutenant of HMS Chequers, a destroyer and lead ship of the Royal Navy’s Mediterranean Fleet. The following year Prince Philip was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and then Commander in 1952.
Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II Relationship
Queen Elizabeth II had already met her future husband several times before meeting him again in 1939, when she and her family; sister Margaret and her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, attended the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, where Philip was studying at the time, which sparked their romance.
Elizabeth is said to have fallen in love with Philip, who was commissioned to accompany her and her sister during the visit. The then 13-year-old girl began exchanging letters with Philip almost shortly after this meeting, which sparked off a romance that led to their marriage and the exchange of vows on November 20, 1947. Before that, however, Philip had to renounce his Greek and Danish royal titles and adopt the surname Mountbatten from his mother’s family, while officially converting from Greek Orthodoxy to Anglicanism.
ALSO READ: Who are The iCarly Cast Members, Where are They Now?
They welcomed their first child, Prince Charles, on November 14, 1948, and a second child, Princess Anne, on August 15, 1950. Ten years later, the couple welcomed their third child, Prince Andrew, on 19 February 1960 and then Prince Edward on 10 March 1964.
Here Are Facts You Must Know About Her Husband
- He was born on June 10, 1921.
- The royal couple first met in 1934 at the wedding ceremony of Philip’s cousin – Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark – and Elizabeth’s uncle – Prince George, Duke of Kent.
- Prince Philip proposed to her at Balmoral Castle in Scotland in 1946 when he returned from World War II and spent some time at Buckingham Palace.
- Prince Philip had made a personal contribution to the design of the Queen’s wedding ring. It is a 3-carat diamond stunner with 10 smaller pavé diamonds, all cut from his mother’s ring.
- At his wedding, which took place at the Westminister Abbey, there were about 2000 guests present, while over 200 million people worldwide listened to the broadcast.
- On May 29, 1961, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II – Prince Philip was the first member of the British Royal Family to be interviewed on television when he advocated for more skilled workers during the Commonwealth Technical Training Week.