The Queen and Prince Philip will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary next year, but if warnings from royal courtiers had been taken seriously by the monarch, their marriage may have never happened.
Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, the Queen’s biographer, A.N. Wilson, revealed why Princess Elizabeth was advised not to marry the Greece-born prince in 1947.
According to Wilson, Philip, who is known for making the odd blunder in public, was too "funny" for the young princess.
"They said it for lots of reasons, but the fact is he was wrong," Wilson explained when asked about the advisers’ views on Philip, reports the Telegraph.
"The Queen is very reserved, diligent person. He isn’t. He was a naval officer and he was also quite funny."
Wilson continued, "The fact that he makes all these so-called gaffes, well I don’t think they are gaffes.
"They are the kind of jokes a naval officer of a certain age might make. I think [they are] made rather wonderfully."
13-year-old Princess Elizabeth first met Philip, who was 18 at the time, on a visit to Dartmouth Naval College with her father, George VI. They were married at Westminster Abbey on November 20, 1947, six years before the Queen’s coronation.
After 69 years together, it’s safe to say the Queen’s advisers were wrong about the couple’s supposed mis-match.
From: Harper's BAZAAR UK