Elizabeth apparently wrote to Philip three times a week while touring South Africa. Upon her return to England, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark relinquished his foreign titles and became Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, a British subject. The gesture pleased his future father-in-law. The engagement was announced on July 10, 1947.
Articles about the upcoming marriage have printed reports of food and coal shortages on the front pages. Sales assistants sent ration coupons to the princess (even the royal family stayed within bounds) so she could have new dresses. The House of Commons approved 100 extra clothing coupons for her. On the eve of the wedding, in 1947, Lieutenant Mountbatten was given the Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron of Greenwich, and the title His Royal Highness.
The ‘first lord’
A year later, on November 14, 1948, Elizabeth gave birth to the couple’s firstborn, Charles Philip Arthur George, at Buckingham Palace. Charles was followed in 1950 by Princess Anne; Prince Andrew, in 1960, after Elizabeth became queen; and Prince Edward, in 1964. In addition to the Queen and his four children, he is survived by eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
After his marriage, Prince Philip takes command of the frigate Magpie in Malta. But King George VI had lung cancer, and when his condition worsened, it was announced that Philip would no longer take naval appointments. In 1952, the young couple reached Kenya, their first stop on a Commonwealth tour, when on February 6 the news came that the king was dead.
It falls to Philip to make the news known to his wife.
Philip was chairman of the Coronation Commission, and in 1952 the new queen ordered him to be ‘first lord in the land’, giving him ‘a place of precedence and precedence over her majesty’. Without this distinction, Prince Charles, who was appointed Duke of Cornwall and later Prince of Wales – the title traditionally given to the heir to the throne – would have chosen over his father.