Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip celebrate their 73rd wedding anniversary on Friday, and Buckingham Palace has released a photograph of a smiling monarch and her husband looking at a card made by her great-grandchildren Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, alongside other cards and letters from well-wishers as they will not be unable to share the birthday with their family and friends as England is currently under a coronavirus lockdown.
Queen Elizabeth who is 94, and Prince Philip 99, married in London’s Westminster Abbey on Nov 20, 1947, just two years after the end of World War II.
The picture was taken at Windsor Castle, the queen’s home west of London where the couple is currently staying during the lockdown.
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In a nod to their early days of marriage, Queen Elizabeth was wearing a chrysanthemum brooch, made of sapphires and diamonds. That she wore for pictures taken at Broadlands in southern England during the first part of their honeymoon.
According to a report the couple first met when they attended the wedding of Prince Philip’s cousin, Princess Marina of Greece, to Queen Elizabeth’s uncle, the Duke of Kent, in 1934.
Prince Philip is said to have gained the attention of his future wife when the then-13-year-old princess made a visit with her parents to Britain’s Royal Naval College at Dartmouth in southwest England where he was a cadet.
While royal watchers say Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip have had their ups and downs like any married couple, they have avoided the travails of three of their four children whose marriages have ended in divorce, most notably their oldest son Prince Charles’s ill-fated union with his late first wife Princess Diana.
During their 50th wedding anniversary celebration in 1997, Queen Elizabeth said: ‘He has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years.’
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
