Countdown to the Royal Wedding: Royal History-Elizabeth's Royal Wedding

Most of us will remember the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in 20 1 1 year. Many of us will still remember watching the fairy-tale wedding of Charles and Diana on TV when we were children. Compared with those extravagant extramarital affairs, Elizabeth and Philip's wedding was quite restrained. After all, only a few years after the war, Britain still felt the impact of the war. Britain suffered a heavy blow, still suffering from empty farmland, empty factories, high unemployment rate and high taxes, rationing system and weak economy. King George VI's Chancellor of the Exchequer called on 1947. The year Elizabeth got married, the "terrible year" was a terrible year (you know if you have to express it in Latin, it will be a terrible year). However, for Philip and Elizabeth, life looks beautiful.

Philip and Elizabeth, like most members of the European royal family, are related by blood. They have great-great grandparents, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and they are cousins of the royal family. When they were young, they met several times at the family wedding and the coronation ceremony of Elizabeth's father. But it was not until 1939 that Elizabeth 13 and Philip 18 were really established. Philip is a handsome young man. Elizabeth was an energetic student when she went to visit her parents and Margaret at Dartmouth Royal Naval Academy. Elizabeth was fascinated from the beginning, and Philip may not be so fascinated (after all, she is 13 years old, and this is not Romeo and Juliet). Both Philip's uncle and Elizabeth's cousin, Lord louis mountbatten, Philip, affectionately known as Uncle Dickie, were soon invited to the palace for tea. Crawford, the princess's nanny, noticed that Elizabeth "never took her eyes off him", although Philip didn't seem to notice. Shortly after the war, Philip visited his family in Windsor several times. When he served in the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean and the Pacific, Elizabeth wrote to him. We remember that in the last article, Elizabeth grew up a lot in the war. When Philip came back, he paid close attention to her. As their cousin Patricia mountbatten recalled, "She wouldn't be a hard person to love," Crawford described him as saying. "He came to the palace like a fresh sea breeze."

But what is Philip's story? Is it possible for him to marry the future Queen of England because her parents love her very much? Elizabeth's mother and many others didn't think so, at least not at first. Philip was born in Greece and is Prince Philip of Denmark. His family was expelled from Greece just before the coup. He grew up in an unhappy and unloved family in Paris. His father spent a lot of time with his girl friends, and his mother soon had a nervous breakdown and went to a monastery. He likes his sisters very much, but most of them are married to Nazis or suspected Nazi sympathizers. One of them was Cecilia, whose family died in a plane crash while Philip was studying in Scotland. Philip is very independent. At the age of eight, Philip was sent to boarding school. Since then, he has been almost homeless and neglected by his family. He went to school in Germany for the first time, but only one year later, the war forced him to move to Gordon's school in Scotland (the school in the terrible crown incident, you may remember). Although school may be difficult, Philip is happy there, learning to lead, serving and working hard. He even became the principal (there was no elder brother there, so we can assume that he was not teased, just as Harry Porterie Percy Weasley was named "Big Head Boy". Uncle Dick was very interested in young Philip and cultivated his education and leadership. Philip is handsome, strong, clever and clever. But, Philip, she has neither money nor land, and there are not enough English people to marry Elizabeth. However, Elizabeth's family, the Windsor couple, became "during the First World War, when their Germanic background and surname were in trouble, George V changed his surname from Saxony-Coburg-Gotha (Prince Albert was German and Victoria took his name at their wedding) to Windsor in19/7; George III was the first Hanover born in England, his father and grandfather, kings George I and II. " Philip's mother is a British citizen and was born in Windsor Castle. Philip was educated in England and didn't even remember living in Greece. At this time, he is an honorary sailor of the Royal Navy. He has also given up the Germanic surname and used his mother's English name mountbatten; He converted to the Anglican Church. It seems a bit "nonsense" to say that he is not English enough. The only real obstacle is that Elizabeth is too young. She was only 20 years old when Philip proposed to her. She is in Barmore, 1946. Philip had been to Barmore before 1944, when he had a very pleasant holiday with members of the royal family. This is a trip in sharp contrast to his unhappy and abnormal family life. Mr. and Mrs. Windsor like to play games, hunt and mark things that Philip has nothing to do with his family. Mr. and Mrs. Windsor like each other very much.

King George was impressed by Philip's naval record, his intelligence and his influence on Lily Bette, and Elizabeth's mother came. After the trip to Loire, Barmore, people often see Philip driving his black MG sports car to the private entrance of Buckingham Palace, wandering around the palace wearing shirt sleeves and treating Elizabeth like other girls, which is a refreshing and surprising turning point for the royal family. Although he is grumpy and impulsive, he is also careful and witty, and seems to be satisfied with the royal family. When Philip went to Barmore Loew again two years later, Elizabeth immediately accepted his proposal without consulting her parents (although we can imagine that this topic has been mentioned before). Philip said that he was surprised by "falling in love completely without reservation".

The family decided not to announce their engagement publicly for the time being The king and queen and their daughter stayed in Africa for three months and then traveled by boat for another month. When they were apart, Elizabeth and Philip corresponded faithfully, while Philip was busy preparing during her absence. With the help of Uncle Dick and Lord mountbatten, Philip gave up the title of Prince of Greece and Denmark and became a British citizen, but considering that his mother was born in Windsor, it was unnecessary. He gave up smoking as a wedding gift. When the family came back, they held a royal engagement party at Buckingham Palace. Just before the wedding, the king named Philip Duke of Edinburgh, which is what he is called today, as well as Nate, Earl of Merieult, and Baron Greenwich. Although there is no prince's spouse like Prince Albert, they have also issued a decree that Philip will be called His Highness. He was awarded the Guardian Medal, which is the highest honor that the king can award. Giving up the titles of princes of Greece and Denmark seems to do Philip no harm.

The wedding was held on1October 20th 1947 165438+. Elizabeth used her wartime rations and was still there, buying cloth for her wedding dress. The royal family realized that it was too extravagant in the difficult times of the country, but the country and the Commonwealth were still eager to celebrate with the royal family. They received thousands of blessing letters and telegrams, and Gandhi sent a belt (the family thought it was very interesting and had to assume that it had not been used). Thousands of people came out in the cold weather to watch the king and Princess Elizabeth take the Irish national coach to Westminster Abbey. Winston Churchill called.