Philip was Queen’s ‘strength and stay’

The Queen and her consort were married for 73 years and his death last April, just a few months before his 100th birthday, will have left a void in her life.

In her recent Christmas Day broadcast, the head of state poignantly reflected on a year of personal grief, saying there was “one familiar laugh missing” as she acknowledged the death of her husband.

She gave a personal tribute to her “beloved Philip” and remarked how his “mischievous, enquiring twinkle was as bright at the end as when I first set eyes on him”.

The Queen was a young princess when she first met the dashing naval cadet Prince Philip of Greece in 1939, during a visit to the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth where he was studying.

Philip, who was just 18, was introduced to 13-year-old Elizabeth at the house of the captain of the College.

Handsome, blond-haired, athletic Philip caught Lilibet’s eye as he entertained her by jumping over tennis nets.

Marion Crawford, Elizabeth’s governess, recalled: “She never took her eyes off him the whole time.”

The pair began writing to each other and Philip was invited to spend the Christmas of 1943 with the royal family at Windsor.

It has been suggested the couple became unofficially engaged in the summer of 1946 while they were staying at Balmoral but the official announcement was delayed until after Princess Elizabeth reached the age of 21 and returned from a royal tour of South Africa the following year.

The couple wed in November 1947 and a few years later settled into married life in Malta where Philip, a naval officer, was stationed, but the death of King George VI in 1952 changed their world.

Now head of state, the Queen’s life was governed by her duties as monarch and the duke gave up a promising naval career and would, during the following decades, forever walk in her shadow when at official events.

In private, the Queen deferred to Philip, who led the family, and the couple’s successful marriage became the solid bedrock of the monarchy.

The duke was summed up by the Queen in 1997 in a speech to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary.

Paying tribute to her husband’s far-reaching influence, she said: “He is someone who doesn’t take easily to compliments.

“But he has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years, and I, and his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim, or we shall ever know.”

After Philip retired from royal duties in 2017, he was said to have spent much of his time at Sandringham enjoying the quiet setting.

But in the final period of their marriage the couple found themselves living together as they shielded from the pandemic at Windsor Castle.