The Queen and Prince Philip married in 1947, going on to make history by achieving the longest marriage of any British sovereign. Back then they were, of course, Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, tying the knot in the rather austere years of post-war Britain. So, what really happened on their wedding day?
The engagement
The Queen and Prince Philip’s love story began back in 1939. Princess Elizabeth was just 13 years old, her dashing distant cousin, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, was five years her senior and about to join the Royal Navy. They met as she toured the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, he was the young officer assigned to escort her around that day.
Determined to marry for love, Elizabeth was said to be rather taken with Philip who was described at the time as ‘handsome as any film star.’ The pair were soon writing letters to each other and later, occasional chaperoned meetings took place.
In 1946 Philip proposed in Scotland and she immediately said yes. However, her father King George reportedly insisted the couple resist announcing their engagement until the Princess, who was just 20, was a little older. In the end, her parents gave in to her wishes and Philip officially proposed to Princess Elizabeth in 1947, with a three-carat diamond ring he designed using stones taken from a family tiara that belonged to his mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg. It was created by London jeweller, Philip Antrobus Ltd.
The wedding dress and tiara
The Royal Family were adamant that the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip would reflect the country’s post-war situation while also offering a chance for the nation to celebrate.
Like many brides at the time, Princess Elizabeth had to save her rationing coupons to buy the materials for her dress but was given an extra 200 from the government to help. While well-wishers generously sent their own to the royal, they had to be sent back as rules dictated that coupons could not be shared outside of households.
Designed by Norman Hartnell, Princess Elizabeth’s wedding dress was made from ivory silk, duchesse satin and silver thread, the dress featured crystals, 10,000 seed pearls, a fitted bodice, heart-shaped neckline, long sleeves and a 15ft train. It was made in just seven weeks by 350 skilled women since the wedding took place only four months after the couple’s engagement announcement. Norman Hartnell also designed Elizabeth’s going away outfit.
Princess Elizabeth’s wedding day tiara was called the Queen Mary Fringe Tiara. It had belonged to her grandmother, Queen Mary, and had been given to her as a wedding present in 1893. It was remade from a tiara/necklace that Queen Victoria had bought from Collingwood and Co.
As Elizabeth was getting ready on the morning of the wedding, it snapped. Luckily royal jeweller Garrard was apparently on hand to fix it and the Queen later revealed, 'I think he taped up the spring.'
Princess Elizabeth’s other wedding day jewellery included two pearl necklaces, the shorter of the two necklaces was the 'Queen Anne' necklace, said to have belonged to Anne, the last Stuart Queen. The other was known as the 'Queen Caroline', and is said to have belonged to the wife of King George II. Both necklaces were left to the Crown by Queen Victoria and were given to Elizabeth as a wedding present by her father.
All royal bridal bouquets contain myrtle from a myrtle bush planted by Queen Victoria at Osborne House. Princess Elizabeth’s also had white orchids and it was laid on the grave of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey the day after the wedding.
The bridal party
There were eight bridesmaids at Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s wedding – Princess Margaret, Princess Alexandra, Lady Pamela Mountbatten, Diana Bowes-Lyon, Lady Elizabeth Lambart, Margaret Elphinstone, Lady Caroline Montagu-Douglas-Scott and Lady Mary Cambridge.
Her two pages were five-year olds Prince William of Gloucester and Prince Michael of Kent.
The bridesmaids were given silver Art Deco-style compacts with the couple's initials and a crown engraved on the lid and set with five cabochon sapphires.
The Duke of Edinburgh's best man was David Mountbatten, the Marquess of Milford Haven.
The wedding ceremony
Knowing that Elizabeth hated cigarettes because of her father’s habit, Prince Philip reportedly gave up smoking on the morning of his wedding 'suddenly and apparently without difficulty', according to his valet, John Dean.
The wedding took place at Westminster Abbey on 20th November 1947 at 11.30am. Princess Elizabeth was the 10th member of The Royal Family to be married at Westminster Abbey.
There were 2,000 guests in attendance including the likes of The King of Iraq, Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands and The Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg and Princess Elisabeth of Luxembourg. The ceremony was broadcast on the radio to millions of listeners.
Together with her father, Princess Elizabeth left Buckingham Palace in the Irish State Coach. In her later years, it was Queen Victoria’s state carriage of choice, as she declined to use the Gold State Coach following the death of Prince Albert.
The wedding ceremony was officiated by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, and the Archbishop of York, Cyril Garbett.
The organist and Master of the Choristers at the Abbey, Australian William Neil McKie, was the director of music for the wedding and there were 91 singers; the abbey choir was joined by the choirs of the Chapel Royal and St George's Chapel in Windsor.
The service started with a specially composted fanfare by Arnold Bax and finished with Felix Mendelssohn's 'Wedding March' with ceremony hymns including 'Praise, my Soul', the 'King of Heaven', and 'The Lord's my Shepherd'.
The bride and groom knelt on orange boxes covered in pink silk at the altar as a nod to post-war austerity.
On day the day of the wedding, Philip was given the title of Duke of Edinburgh by his father-in-law King George VI. After the Queen ascended the throne in 1953, she made the decision in 1957 to make Philip a prince of the UK, in addition to his dukedom.
The wedding rings
The wedding rings were made from a nugget of Welsh gold which came from the Clogau St David's mine, near Dolgellau.
According to Royal biographer Ingrid Seward who wrote Prince Philip: Revealed, Philip had a secret message inscribed inside his wife's wedding band, a message that only the engraver, Elizabeth and her husband know the contents of.
The wedding breakfast
After the service a wedding breakfast was held at lunchtime in the Ball-Supper Room at Buckingham Palace for 150 guests only, with Filet de Sole Mountbatten, Perdreau en Casserole and Bombe Glacée Princess Elizabeth on the menu.
During the breakfast, the string band of the Grenadier Guards played music while guests were greeted to individual posies of myrtle and white Balmoral on their place settings as the wedding favours.
Famously, the newlyweds went onto the balcony at Buckingham Palace to wave to the huge crowds on the mall.
The wedding cake
Although the royal couple received 11 wedding cakes, the official traditional fruit cake was baked by McVitie and Price and was four tiers and nine feet high. The wedding cake was decorated with both coat of arms, including the monograms of the bride and groom, sugar-iced figures of their favourite activities, and regimental and naval badges.
The newlyweds cut the cake using the Duke's Mountbatten sword, which was a wedding present from the King.
10,000 people sent telegrams congratulating Elizabeth and Philip and 2,500 wedding presents were sent from around the world. These included a cloth from Mahatma Gandhi that he’d woven himself, which Queen Mary mistook for an ‘indelicate’ loincloth.
The royal honeymoon
After their wedding breakfast, Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip headed to Waterloo station, joined by Elizabeth’s corgi, Susan, catching a train to Hampshire to spend their wedding night in Broadlands, the home of Philip's uncle, Earl Mountbatten.
The rest of their royal honeymoon was spent at Birkhall on the Balmoral Estate in Scotland.
