Their wedding, at Westminster Abbey, on November 20 1947, was a welcome blaze of pageantry in a bleak post-war austerity world, but Buckingham Palace took great pains to ensure the public knew that, just like all other immediate post-war brides, the Princess had been allocated a small number of extra clothing coupons for her gown and trousseau.
Philip had earlier become a naturalised British subject, renouncing his Greek royal title, but shortly before his marriage plain Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten RN was created Duke of Edinburgh, with the subsidiary titles of Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich.
It was a splendid transformation for a young man with little more than he stood up in (rumour has it that he went to the altar in darned socks), but the couple’s wedding presents were said to be worth £500,000 and the King gave them Clarence House to live in.
Prince Charles was born in November 1948, and in 1949, Philip, who had resumed his Royal Navy career, was posted to Malta. For nearly two years the Princess divided her time between the George Cross Island and Britain, where she carried out official duties.
The relaxed informality of life as a ‘Navy wife’ suited her down to the ground, and it was undoubtedly one of her happiest times. The islanders grew used to seeing her driving Philip’s open-topped MG along the narrow roads, shopping, going to the cinema, enjoying picnics and horse riding. They would dance at the Phoenicia Hotel, where Philip would ask the band to play their favourite tunes, Take the A-Train and People Will Say We’re in Love. The young couple were known as ‘the Edinburghs’, but the idyll was overshadowed by the King’s failing health, and after Princess Anne was born, in August 1950, he had only 18 months to live.
Farewell
The Princess and Philip had to take on the Commonwealth tour the King and Queen had planned to make in early 1952. It was a bitterly raw day, but the King insisted on waving them off at London Airport on January 31. It was the last farewell, and illness was etched on his face. His subjects were shocked by the pictures of him published in the following day’s newspapers, which clearly showed his grey, haunted look.
