Story behind The Queen and Prince Philip's wedding

Story behind The Queen and Prince Philip's wedding



Of all the royal records she has broken — and she has smashed almost all of them — there is one that surely means most to the Queen.



She and Prince Philip have now enjoyed the longest royal marriage in history. To cap it all, on November 20 they will mark their platinum wedding anniversary.



To be celebrating 70 years of marriage is a fabulous achievement by any standards, even more so when all seven decades have been spent in the unrelenting media spotlight.



If the Queen were not the Queen, she could actually look forward to a message of congratulation from the palace, since the Sovereign doesn’t just send out cards when her subjects reach the age of 100.



Anyone with a 60th, a 65th and a 70th wedding anniversary automatically qualifies, too (and there is one every year thereafter). But she will not be sending greetings to herself.





No big celebrations are planned. There will be no service of thanksgiving or grand luncheon, as there were on previous anniversaries.



It was at the couple’s golden wedding anniversary lunch, given by Prime Minister Tony Blair, that the Queen delivered one of her most famous remarks. Paying tribute to an uncharacteristically bashful Prince Philip, she thanked him for being her ‘strength and stay’.





At another golden wedding lunch, he observed that the secret to every happy marriage is tolerance. ‘You can take it from me,’ he went on, ‘that the Queen has the quality of tolerance in abundance.’



For the 70th, there will be just a small family celebration. The Royal Mail will produce commemorative stamps and the Royal Mint has been busy, too. But there will be no walkabout or palace balcony appearance by the couple, who wish to mark the occasion — at the respective ages of 96 and 91 — in private.



How very different it all was 70 years ago. For a bomb-scarred nation, enduring genuine austerity and still living on wartime rations, the royal wedding would be the biggest morale-booster since VJ Day — the end of World War II two years earlier.



And it will all be vividly remembered — and recreated — in a stunning ITV documentary to be screened next week.