Death of Queen Elizabeth II has been announced at the age of 96, ending longest reign of any British monarch
Passing of Her Majesty comes 17 months after her husband Prince Philip died in April 2021 at the age of 99
Family members gathered by the side of the British monarch at her Scottish home of Balmoral during her final hours, with the nation now poised for a ten-day period of mourning ahead of her funeral
The Queen first met Prince Philip as a 13-year-old girl and from that moment on was a ‘one-man woman’
The teenage romance grew into a deep love that formed the foundation of a marriage that lasted 73 years
When Prince Philip died in 2021, the Queen took solace in knowing they would be reunited in death
Now that day has come, a look back at the great love story that defined her love – and the modern monarchy
The death of Queen Elizabeth II has been announced by Buckingham Palace this afternoon.
England’s longest serving monarch died peacefully at Balmoral, at the age of 96, today with members of the extended royal family, including Prince Charles, the oldest and longest serving heir apparent in British history, by her bedside.
The nation now begins an extended period of mourning, reflecting on her extraordinary life and service – and one of history’s most enduring romances.
Like all great love stories, the Queen and Prince Philip’s had a great beginning. A 13-year-old princess met a handsome young naval officer and, despite her tender years, fell head-over-heels in love.
The princess was Elizabeth, daughter of King George VI and heir to the British throne. The 18-year-old naval cadet was Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark.
From that day on Elizabeth was a ‘one-man woman’. As one friend would later say: ‘She never looked at anyone else. She was smitten from the start’.
His feelings were just as strong. In a letter to his new mother-in-law after their 1947 wedding, he wrote: ‘Lilibet is the only ‘thing’ in this world which is absolutely real to me.’
This deep, unwavering love formed the foundation of a marriage that lasted 73 years and was at the heart of the modern British monarchy. It only ended with the death of the Duke of Edinburgh in April 2021, at the age of 99.
At the time, the Queen turned to words first spoken at their Golden Wedding Anniversary to try and encapsulate all that her husband had meant to her.
‘He has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years, and I, and his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim, or we shall ever know.’
After his death, sources said she was ‘comforted’ by her faith that they would one day ‘be reunited’.
Now, as the nation bids farewell to Queen Elizabeth II, a look back at the great love of her life.
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This deep, unwavering love between the young Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark formed the foundation of a marriage that lasted 73 years and was at the heart of the modern British monarchy. It only ended with the death of the Duke of Edinburgh in April 2021, at the age of 99. Pictured, on their wedding day in 1947 (left) and in June 2020
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Together once more: One of the last photographs taken of the Queen as she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party, Liz Truss, to become Prime Minister and form a new government, at Balmoral Castle on September 6th 2022
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The Queen pictured several months before her death during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June 2022, alongside her son and heir, Prince Charles. After the death of his father, the Prince of Wales was a constant at his mother’s side for
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It began in July 1939 when Princess Elizabeth joined her parents George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and sister, Princess Margaret, on a visit to Dartmouth’s Britannia Royal Naval College (pictured, their first meeting)
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On the balcony at Buckingham Palace are (from left) King George VI, Princess Margaret, Lady Mary Cambridge, Princess Elizabeth, the Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary, at the wedding of Elizabeth and Philip in November 1947
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Even after Prince Philip’s death, the monarch never removed her engagement ring – she was seen wearing it on one of her final day
Queen and Prince Philip’s many fond moments together
It began in July 1939 when Princess Elizabeth joined her parents George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and sister, Princess Margaret, on a visit to Dartmouth’s Britannia Royal Naval College.
She had met Prince Philip on two previous occasions – the 1934 wedding of his cousin, Marina, to her uncle, Prince George, Duke of Kent, and at her father’s 1937 coronation – but on this occasion they were properly introduced.
Eighteen-year-old Philip was tasked with showing the royal visitors around and immediately made an impression on the young princess with piercing blue eyes and coiffed blonde hair, later described as his ‘Viking’ good looks.
There is also an anecdote involving the ever athletic Prince Philip leaping over the tennis net, in a move that thrilled the princess.
Philip and his uncle, Lord ‘Dickie’ Mountbatten were invited to join the family for dinner on board the royal yacht. Elizabeth turned ‘pink-faced’ in the company of the young naval cadet, her governess Marion Crawford later recalled, while the ambitious Lord Mountbatten wrote in his diary that the meeting had been ‘a great success’.
Urged on by his uncle Dickie, Philip asked the King if he could correspond with the young Princess. This was a surprising request as Elizabeth was barely a teenager and the King might well have refused.
But he had come from a line of princes whose marriages had been arranged, not always happily. He believed in marriage ‘of the heart’, a Royal Family cleric later recalled, as his had been to Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon — ‘and hugely successful, even though she at first rejected him.’