The Plot To Make Prince Philip King | The Political Origins Of The Royal Love Match | Real Royalty

this channel is part of the history hit Network [Music] Prince Philip how are you sir are you well sir do I look ill Bluff direct sometimes tactless he is an apparently Eternal fixture of the British landscape for nearly 70 years he's been at the Queen's side their marriage the Bedrock of the monarchy but the road to marriage was anything but smooth as a Young Man Prince Philip was seen as an outsider and threat people felt this fellas too good looking we really don't know where he comes from he wasn't one of us he didn't go Sweden and some of his family were married to Germans they were beastly to him this is the untold story of the high-stakes dynastic power struggle that lay behind the Queen's marriage on the one side the Royal and political establishment Brazil it was completely excluded chowchill really made him feel totally um apart from the hovering on the other Phillips Uncle world-class charmer and world-class schema Lord Louis mountbatten mountbatten was ruthlessly ambitious and the thing that he wanted more than anything else was his nephew to marry the future Queen Dickey mountbatten saw Philip as a kind of quasi-king it's a story of plotting and Intrigue that's only being pieced together now for the first time with the help of unpublished documents and exclusive interviews with some of Philip's closest relatives the story of a penniless Greek Prince from a family with dubious German connections he talked a lot about the new political party which he had joined about the man called Adolf Hitler a young man who found himself at the heart of a ferocious struggle he said I don't know if I'm being very brave or very stupid going ahead with this wedding a struggle whose outcome would have profound implications for the future of the monarchy and even threatened to open a damaging Rift in the Royal marriage itself the situation seemed very fraught indeed at one point she was even near tears [Music] on November the 20th 1947 the drab austerity of post-war Britain was brightened by the Pomp and glamor of a royal wedding [Applause] the 21 year old heir to the throne princess Elizabeth was marrying her third cousin Lieutenant Philip mountbatten [Applause] [Music] [Applause] amazing because it was the first bit of color that anybody had seen since the war [Music] was Unforgettable and like a fairy story but this was a fairy tale with a Twist many inside the Abbey would rather the wedding was not happening at all they thought that Philip was not a gentleman they thought that he was rude he was unmanily he was arrogant and they suspected that he might be unfaithful to her Ortiz politicians even members of the royal family all had their doubts and some were ferociously hostile history hit is a streaming platform that is just for history fans with fantastic documentaries covering fascinating figures and moments in history from all over the world we've got unrivaled access to the world's leading historians with hundreds of documentaries featuring everything from Boudicca to the British royal family we're committed to Bringing history fans award-winning documentaries and podcasts that you cannot find anywhere else sign up now for a free trial and real royalty fans get 50 off their first three months just be sure to use code real royalty at checkout but for one man this was the culmination of a decade-long campaign the dawn of a new era Philip's Uncle Louis mountbatten the moment that Philip and Elizabeth walked down the aisle as man and wife he felt that his lifetime's ambition had been achieved and he truly believed that he was now the part of familias of the royal family Louis mountbatten and his wife Edwina had been the golden couple of the pre-war era their home videos from the 1920s and 30s captured their lifestyle well Baden and his wife lived the most extravagant life that you could possibly imagine this is the Jazz Age cocktails and laughter what comes after this is the world of Noel card we all loved him he was tremendous personality he had an enormous ego which I think he'd admit to people I know either they loved him or they hated him really seriously we all looked always known to his family as Dicky Philip's uncle was a great grandson of Queen Victoria his wife heir to a fabulously wealthy financier they liked nightclubs and dances and living it up with the best people and particularly consorting with the top Royals of their generation here the Duke of Kent the younger son of King George V can be seen with mountbatten's two daughters Pamela and Patricia oh yes well they were very much of their generation of yes to be rich so the polar ponies and fast boats and things they certainly lived it up mountbatten was a charmer and a bon Viva he was also a man of ferocious ambition an ambition that had its roots in childhood trauma at the start of World War One Dickey's father had been forced to stand down as first Sea Lord at the admiralty because of his German Origins the family were originally called battenberg young Dickie never got over the humiliation he was terribly hurt and I think my father unconsciously saw it as a Target they do think that's right that he would want to try and get up as far as his father had in order to vindicate him the young mountbatten set himself the aim of becoming First Sea Lord he was ambitious too for his dynasty and in 1936 a crisis in the monarchy presented him with an opportunity Dickey had been close friends with King Edward VII but when Edward was forced to abdicate in favor of his younger brother George mountbatten moved swiftly to ingratiate himself with the new regime he's seen here at a naval review in 1937 with King George's daughter princess Elizabeth now heir to the throne whose position opened up intriguing possibilities princess Elizabeth is going to be the queen there's a limited pool of potential husbands really quite Limited few senior aristocrats and a few International princes mountbatten had the perfect candidate his nephew Prince Philip of Greece the son of his sister Alice Dickie saw Philip his nephew as the obvious consult to the Future Queen Elizabeth [Music] his looks his ancestry qualified Philip for that role Philip had been at boarding school in Scotland in the spring of 1939 he enrolled as a Cadet at Dartmouth Naval College and it was there on July the 22nd 1939 that mountbatten succeeded in engineering an historic encounter between his nephew and Princess Elizabeth king and queen are going to visit the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth and they are to be shown around by mountbatten and Matt Batten has the idea that if Philip is put in charge of the young princesses then who knows what might happen Philip is pushed to the fore he's constantly being shoved into the eye line of the extremely susceptible young princess the meeting was captured in these historic grainy images Lord mountbatten wanted to strike the spark that day and it worked there's no question that 13 year old princess Elizabeth fell in love with the 18 year old Adonis Prince Philip princess Elizabeth was completely smitten I'm as far as she was concerned I think from then on he he was the one for her mountbatten had proved a superb Cupid but Philip and his uncle would soon discover many around the princess were far less keen on seeing the romance flourish at Dartmouth Naval College in 1939 Louis mountbatten had successfully played Cupid for his nephew Prince Philip and Princess Elizabeth but not everyone was as impressed with Philip as she was the young Pretender was impeccably Royal but his background raised other troubling questions Philip had been born in this house on the Greek island of Corfu 18 years before in the summer of 1921. although his uncle was king of Greece Philip didn't have a drop of Greek blood being descended from Danish and German royalty as well as Queen Victoria [Music] in September 1922 when Philip was just a year old a revolution broke out in Athens following defeat in a war against turkey the King Philip's uncle was overthrown and Philip's father Prince Andrea was arrested Prince Philip's father was a scapegoat accused he was a soldier of poor leadership of disobeying an order Prince Rayna of Hess in Germany is Philip's nephew the son of Philip's sister Sophia in her old age Sophia wrote a private Memoir which has never before been shared with the public in it Philip's sister vividly describes the family's trauma in 1922. my father's trial ended with him being sentenced to death many governments tried to save his life including King Victor Emmanuel of Italy King Alfonso the 13th of Spain and the Pope but finally my father's first cousin King George the fifth of England succeeded in having the death sentence remitted Andrea's family connections had saved his life but he was sentenced to Perpetual exile Phillips Family fled their home on Corfu aboard a British battleship but if they'd hoped for a welcome in Britain they were disappointed only five years since the Russian Revolution European royalty is on the run and I don't think the King was eager to have exiled Royals wandering around in London spreading the idea that royalty can be overthrown unwelcome in Britain the family moved to Paris this recently discovered archive shows Philip's parents with relatives Andrea and his family rented one house and then they couldn't afford that so they moved to another so there was always a sense of impermanence [Music] under the pressure of Exile Philip's parents marriage deteriorated his mother Princess Alice began to show signs of mental illness on May the 2nd 1930 Philip went on a family outing and came home to find his mother had been hauled off to a mental Asylum he'd scarcely see her for the rest of his childhood for his father he moved in with his mistress Andrea said I'm not going to cope with this family I'm not going to have any more to do with it I'm off he decided that the best place for him was the south of France Monte Carlo somewhere where he could sip champagne and look at the waves bouncing along just nine years old Philip was effectively an orphan [Music] he was sent to boarding school in Britain and came increasingly under the wing of his uncle Louis mountbatten whose country home at Adian in Sussex he had first visited in the 1920s his cousin Patricia fondly recalls his visits he was three years older than me he was very boyish full of fun we're up to pranks quite nice pranks but you know and just somebody that one welcomed rather than I think oh it's a bit of a boss as he was coming he was all that nice he's going to come and enliven life but young Philip's Destiny lay in the balance as third in line to the Greek Throne he was torn between his English relatives and his Birthright as a Greek Royal in 1935 the Greek monarchy was restored the body of Philip's Uncle King Constantine was returned to Athens for burial and the 15 year old Philip can be seen in film of the ceremony shown here for the first time on British TV the question was where did his future lie it was touch and go I think of the king of Greece left for himself would probably have wanted Philip to come back to join the Greek navy but his uncle had absolutely no doubt at all it's a career ought to be in Britain and in a British Navy mountbattam was determined to keep his young Protege under his wing he firmly steered him towards Dartmouth Naval College and his fateful 1939 encounter with the future Queen mountbatten would have told him straight away look here's your best chance son do what I tell you and you could become the husband of the future monarch few weeks after Philip and Elizabeth's meeting the second world war broke out and the handsome young prince was sent away to Sea Phillips first Captain later wrote a revealing Memoir a memoir that has never been published but that has been shown to this program by his family it contains a snap of the 18 year old Philip it also contains an account of a remarkable conversation that suggests the Young Prince was already well aware of mountbatten's plans for him my uncle Dickie has ideas for me the young midshipman confided he thinks I could marry princess Elizabeth are you really fond of her the somewhat startled Captain replied oh yes very I write to her every week said Philip Elizabeth was still just 13. it's perfectly clear that this was a campaign with Dickey mountbatten as the general and the key fighter in the campaign being Philip the prince would serve with distinctions through the second world war and while he was proving his metal on the high seas princess Elizabeth was growing up [Applause] she spent the War years at Windsor third cousin Philip was a regular visitor at Christmas 1943 he watched her play Aladdin in a pantomime with her sister Margaret her governess later described the event [Music] but the princess's parents the king and queen were not quite as Keen exotic mysterious foreigners generally hold more appeal for teenage girls Fathers as one courtier later recalled the family were at first horrified when they saw that Prince Philip was making up to princess Elizabeth they felt he was rough ill-mannered uneducated and would probably not be faithful the king and queen had one reservation in particular Phillips germanness like the Royal Family itself Philip's ancestry contained Much German blood but there was a second more serious problem Philip's four older sisters all of whom had married Germans three of their husbands became Nazis two of them from the aristocratic Von hessen family whose ancestral home at wolfskarten near Frankfurt Philip had visited on family holidays Prince raina's parents were married nearby and my mother the youngest was the first one to get married she was 16. this is my father Christopher and my mother Sophia and here we have the whole group actually Philip sitting here is the only person still existing today all the others have gone the private Memoirs of Philip's sister Sophia prince raina's mother contain an account of a meeting with a family friend Hermann Goering some years before the Nazis seized power he talked a lot about the new political party which he had joined especially about the party leader a man called Adolf Hitler as going was insistent that we should meet Hitler personally we decided to ask him to lunch at our flat I have to say here that although cree and I changed our political view fundamentally some years later we were impressed by this charming and seemingly modest man Prince raina's parents later attended guring's wedding where Philip's sister Sophia was photographed at the top table with Hitler by this time Prince raina's father was an SS Colonel and head of one of the Nazi intelligence agencies Prince Raina has confronted unflinchingly his family's past and wrestled with it throughout his life it still continues to be haunting that that is that is for sure during the second world war it was a problem too for Prince Philip in 1937 his sister Cecile and her husband both Nazi members had been killed in a plane crash the pictures of Philip at the funeral in darmstadt made for uncomfortable viewing the queen who had lost a brother in the first world war was particularly hostile to Philip's German connections the story went that she used to refer to him as the Hun at one point she would have preferred someone from her own type of background a member of the British aristocracy and not and not a sort of foreign and worst of all great German Prince [Music] Philip though still had one champion in his Corner Uncle Dickie the war had launched mountbatten on a meteoric rise and he was now supreme commander of Allied Forces in the Far East but the pushy newcomer at the top table aroused deep distrust by baton definitely had infinite capacity for kidney suspicion among those around him suspicious Ambitions and suspicions of his cunning and his capacity for maneuvering General Sir Gerald Templer said to him once said Dickie you're so crooked that if you swallowed a nail you'd [ __ ] a corkscrew [Music] so had a reputation for being a dangerous radical the older members of The Establishment were very frightened of any fresh air coming along he certainly produced a gale of fresh air with him they thought that change was never for the good my father fought change was nearly always excellent in the midst of the war Mount Batten continued to find time to press his nephew's case dynastic ambition aside he believed a marriage between Philip and Elizabeth would be an ideal arrangement for all concerned the characters of Prince Philip and Princess Elizabeth mashed extremely well and I think he generally thought that this was something should be really considered might be a very good idea on a trip to London in 1944 mountbatten suggested to King George that they opened talks with the Greek king about a possible marriage King George slapped him down I know you like to get things settled at once once you have an idea in mind but I've come to the conclusion that we are going too fast mountbatten as ever was proving over-enthusiastic he was beating the Japanese the royal family were proving trickier on May 8 1945 the war in Europe came to an end returned to Britain Philip became an increasingly regular visitor to the Palace Elizabeth's governess was impressed by what she saw came into the palace like a refreshing Sea Breeze a forthright and completely natural young man given to say what he thought Philip was now an intelligent worldly 24 year old and was starting to sense his over-enthusiastic uncle might be a double-edged sword he wrote delicately to the returning conqueror of Japan please I beg of you not too much advice in an affair of the heart or I shall be forced to do the wooing by proxy Philip was taking charge and in August 1946 he was invited to Holiday with the royal family at Balmoral a traditional ordeal to be endured by prospective Royal in-laws by now the King was beginning to be won over by Phillips Breezy Naval charm others around the royal family remained deeply hostile as one courtier noted Lord Salisbury Eldon and Stanley think him no gentleman and in a sense they are right they also professed to see in him a Teutonic strain they were beastly to him they didn't like him they he was rather like Princess Diana when she first came into the Royal compound he wasn't one of us he didn't go to Wheaton he didn't shoot and you couldn't be certain because he was Greek or well that's Greek German that he wouldn't do something wrong at the wrong moment it was at Balmoral Philip committed one of his earliest gaffes everybody there wears the Kilt and Philip had to borrow one didn't really want to do it and wanted still to show his independence and went into the room where the king stood and dropped into a deep curtsy King was not amused but for the princess none of this mattered and Philip knew it he has absolutely captured the princess's heart she was infatuated with him she she was absolutely besotted with him at Balmoral that year Prince Philip simply proposed to her he didn't go to the king first of all to say you know I'm going to ask for your daughter's hand in marriage he actually checked it out with her what did she think and of course she thought yes but the King was still not convinced and insisted on a Year's delay before any announcement was made to give the princess time to reflect [Music] two months later at the wedding of Lord mountbatten's daughter Patricia the world's press began to sense something was brewing in Lord Louis himself arrived escorting his daughter and I'm sure you'll agree with me that miss Patricia was the loveliest Bride of the year princess Elizabeth was a bridesmaid and Prince Philip was filmed taking her coat I don't think anybody told anything about it but the next day there was a picture I think of it and somehow that I think was the first intimation that the Press had that this might be something interesting as press speculation began to mount the royal family whisped the young Princess off on a tour of South Africa the four whole month she would be away from her secret fiancee but if her parents had hoped separation might weaken her resolve they were disappointed [Music] on my 21st birthday I welcome the opportunity to speak to all the peoples of the British Commonwealth and Empire as she turned 21 the future Queen's attachment to Prince Philip remained firm and unshakable [Music] and while she gained experience of her first major Foreign Tour back in London Philip's Uncle Dickie was once more able to make himself useful there's no doubt that in this affair mom Batten saw himself as Mr Fixit he'd be able to sort everything out who got reservations about Philip totally sound totally sound funny will you worry we'll get it sorted a superb networker mountbatten had close relations with both the press and the new labor government a letter from mountbatten to the journalist and labor MP Tom dryberg survives stressing Philip's britishness he left Greece at the age of one and has only spent three months of his entire life since in Greece and cannot even speak the language [Music] but in his campaign to Rebrand Philip as a died in the wool Englishman Uncle Dickie still confronted one problem his nephew slightly awkward surname father Prince Andrea descended from the line of schleswig Holstein sonderberg blougsburg not really a very easy name to trip off the tongue and one with a rather Germanic feel to it as ever mountbatten had a suggestion Matt battle sort of said well why didn't you why don't you call yourself mountbatten I mean that's your mother's name after all Philip agreed when he was finally granted British citizenship in February 1947 he had been miraculously transformed from Prince Philip of Greece to Lieutenant Philip mountbatten a few months later the engagement was finally announced the news readers portraying Philip as a thoroughly British naval officer [Music] highlight of the royal review to his wardrum companions until the royal wedding in November it's the Navy first Uncle Dickie spin had worked in the weeks before the wedding Philip posed happily for the cameras with his fiancee and her family but behind the scenes tensions remained Philips politics were one source of friction with his new in-laws Philips political views were influenced by his Progressive Uncle mountbatten who was now serving as Viceroy in India for the labor government organizing the country's transition to Independence mountbatten had become close friends with Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi ganaji was very excited about the wedding he said I would really like to have such a gift but as you know I have nothing I have given away all my Earthly possessions mountbatten had a solution why not send a piece of cloth woven on your famous Spinning Wheel he suggested to Gandhi unfortunately when it arrived the Queen's grandmother Queen Mary mistook the gift for Gandhi's famous loin cloth and she said that this was a most indelicate but a horrible thing a most indelicate present and the funny thing was until Philip's great credit he stuck up again he said no Gandhi is a great man it's this is you know that you shouldn't be criticizing him and Queen Mary gave him a sort of Royal glare and marched on with the wedding day looming mountbatten flew home to be guest of honor at his nephew's stag do for him this was the culmination of a decade's dreaming and scheming but as the wedding day dawned on November the 20th 1947 mountbatten's young Protege was anxious that morning Philip had a revealing conversation with his cousin Patricia sitting having breakfast at Kensington Palace and he said I don't know if I'm being very brave or very stupid going ahead with this wedding and I said well I'm quite sure you're being very brave I think we're well aware that he wasn't just taking on an immediate family we're taking on all the outer aspects of the Court life I mean he was really well aware I think that we're going to be difficult here the fairy tale wedding went ahead Philip and Elizabeth swearing their vows in Westminster Abbey before the Great and the good of the British establishment but Philip and his uncle were painfully aware that key battles lay ahead over the question of what Philip's role would be as husband to the Future Queen battles that would threaten to drive a wedge between the young couple and would shape the future of Elizabeth's reign well-wishers the Royal car has believed any honeymoon Retreat of the royal family following their wedding in November 1947 Philip and Elizabeth spent the first part of their honeymoon at Dickie mountbatten's country Residence at Broadlands in Hampshire but behind the images of young love tensions bubbled there had been no Prince consort since the days of Queen Victoria and her meddling German husband Prince Albert a century before many feared mountbatten would encourage his nephew to play a similar role once his wife sat on the throne saw Philip as a kind of quasi-king wielding enormous influence it was hitting the dynastic jackpot as far as mountbatten was concerned these fears came to the fore at the end of 1948 when King George VI fell seriously ill the king's illness raised the possibility a regent might be required to Reign on his behalf [Music] the obvious candidate was the princess it was assumed that she would be under the control of her husband and his uncle the fear of mountbatten sparked an extraordinary plot involving the Exile Duke of Windsor formerly King Edward VII who had abdicated in 1936 and his wife Wallace Simpson a plot only recently uncovered by historian Christopher Wilson [Music] at that time a minor Aristocrat and complete scoundrel called Kenneth de corsi was cruising around the Duke of Windsor who was exiled in Paris de corsi suggested to the Duke of Windsor that he played his cards right he could come back to Britain sit on the throne as Regent de corsi wrote to the Duke's wife I may tell you most confidentially that a Regency has already been discussed I don't think too much to say that if the Regency should be one primarily influenced by the mountbattens the consequences for the dynasty might be fatal Dakota here is playing on fears and their fears expressed by quarters and those who surround the Royal household and they were very real fears they were very worried that the mountbattens would suddenly take the house of Windsor by the Scruff of its neck and turn it into something else altogether shortly afterwards the king recovered and the near treasonable plot was dropped but the hostility towards mountbatten and his nephew within the establishment worsened in 1951 with the return of the conservatives to power during the war Churchill and mountbatten have been close but the relationship soured over mountbatten's role in Indian independence unfortunately Winston had allowed his emotions to rule his head he said to my father you know you gave away India it was a marvelous ideas there my father had waking up one morning and thought I know what I'll do I'll give away India he really couldn't forgive him for quite a long time he said to Dickey Mount battle what you did in India is as though you slapped me across the face with a whip Churchill's hostility to mountbatten Extended to his nephew Philip Churchill apparently disliked and distrusted Prince Philip I think he thought him to Brash to arrogant too pushy not quite English many other conservatives also viewed Philip like his Uncle as a dangerous idealist we all know that Utopia is unobtainable but if we know the world that we want then at least we can work for it in his private Diaries the future conservative prime minister Harold MacMillan was contemptuous I feel this young man is going to be as big a bore as Prince Albert and as greater trouble let us hope that the king may live to be a great age and the power of the mountbattans be cashed accordingly it proved a forlorn hope the passing of King George VI came as a sudden and most Grievous shock to his people all over the world the death of the king in February 1952 aged just 56 came as the prince and princess began a tour of Kenya with them serving as Princess Elizabeth's lady in waiting was mountbatten's daughter Pamela more than 60 years on she vividly recalls the moment Philip informed Elizabeth that the king had died it gets up it goes out into the sitting room and you know obviously says to her something like you'll know come for a walk in the garden and they go together and we peep through the window the whole time and you would tell from the body language the moment but he tells I don't know and she comes they come in and uh I think then I went up and gave her a hug you know about her father and then I thought my god of course she's Queen so that I drop into a courtesy the royal couple dashed back to a cold gray England for the funeral while a new Queen grieved Philip seen here on the left had his own anxieties although he hadn't lost a beloved father admit the end the end of his career he would have been at the head of the levy in no time everything has to be given up from now on being husband of the queen would be a full-time job but if Philip had doubts about his future role Uncle Dickie had no such reservations a few days after the King's death mountbatten gave a dinner party at Broadlands in Hampshire and let's slip the mask of his own dynastic ambition fueling the darkest fears of his enemies during the course of the evening he said the house of mountbatten now Reigns a very Indiscreet thing and a characteristically and discreet thing to say it was almost treasonable in a way and certainly it shocked the people who heard him speak one of the people who was there was so shocked that the next morning he went to see Queen Mary the Queen's grandmother was appalled at the suggestion the Dynasty's name would change from Windsor to mountbatten and reportedly turned her anger on Prince Philip after a sleepless night Queen Mary contacted Churchill not Philip's greatest fan foreign brought pressure on the young Queen who found herself torn between her husband and the combined weight of the political and Royal establishment it was her prime minister coming to see her about a matter that he considered very important and the Prime Minister being Winston Churchill and she's a girl of 25 yes competing with Wilson yeah he was a very very young Monarch and a very old prime minister and she felt she felt I think she couldn't go against the first sort of constitutional advice she was being given the queen mother too opposed any name change faced with this united front the young Queen did as she was told within days of mountbatten opening his mouth at his dinner party publicly it was announced that the house of Windsor would remain the house of Windsor The Windsor Dynasty had closed ranks mountbatten's quip had backfired disastrously Philip was Furious reportedly venting his anger in private I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his children I'm nothing but a bloody amoeba naturally it upset Prince Philip because I think thoughts that your own child is not going to have your name to any man would be very upsetting I think it was probably the only thing between them that did cause her for quite a long time as the young family moved into Buckingham Palace it was soon clear the family name was not the only issue where the prince was going to be sidelined Prince Philip once said to me the King died and everything changed suddenly his wife was his wife but she was also the queen and I said to the event and wrote well were there people there telling you what to do he said no there were people there telling me keep out Prince Philip was completely excluded an unwelcome Accord unwelcomed at Buckingham Palace you know everybody closed racks no no need to tell you no and the Churchill would advise that he couldn't take part yes yes really made him feel totally um apart from my whole room it was certainly I think kept down by everybody as much as possible really Philip had never expected to be a king but nor had he expected to be so brutally and crudely sidelined I think that Philip felt emasculated by the position that he had to occupy the queen in effect was wearing the trousers but there would be an unexpected twist in The Saga of the royal surname in 1960 at the time of the birth of prince Andrew a surprise announcement was made in future the Queen's non-royal descendants would be known as mountbatten Windsor a compromise proposed by the queen herself as Harold MacMillan now prime minister made clear in his diary the queen only wishes properly enough to do something to please her husband with whom she is desperately in love what upsets me is the prince's almost brutal attitude to the queen over all this macmillan's Deputy RAB Butler also reported the queen to be close to tears when discussing the issue that certainly indicates to me that in the presence of both the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister the situation had seemed very fraught indeed 13 years later the new name appeared for the first time on the wedding certificate of Princess Anne foreign the irrepressible mountbatten now in his 70s was delighted I remember going to see him at Broadlands after Princess Anne had married I went in and uh it was his tie I noticed first ball and um I said no look it was a sort of M up this way and then a w down that way a mirror image I said oh oh that's all wonderful though uh M for mount button he said no no MW from out baton Windsor and then he pointed to the carpet and there it was embroidered with M's and W's all over baton had outlived many of his enemies and he had his own small victory he remained close to the royal family and became a mentor to Prince Charles in particular in 1979 he was murdered by the IRA while on holiday in Ireland a few years before his death he wrote kindly to his nephew Philip I've always been very fond of you from a small boy upwards you sometimes seemed rather disappointed perhaps frustrated would be a better word but I feel you underestimate your effect on the UK and especially the Commonwealth Phillips has been a life spent walking two steps behind his wife it wasn't quite the role he'd envisaged for himself and it's perhaps not surprising that at times his temper has flared and his irritation has shown but he survived I think a lot of people don't realize the skillful way he has coped with the inversion of the traditional structure of a husband and wife he's made it work he's made it work for the monarchy and I think in the long run he's made it work for himself

Channel: Real Royalty

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Length: 47min 12sec (2832 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 14 2022