1 00:00:08,280 --> 00:00:11,000 Few people in Britain today can remember a time 2 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:13,520 before Prince Philip. 3 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:16,480 REPORTER: How are you, sir? Are you well, sir? 4 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:18,000 What, do I look ill? 5 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:22,040 Bluff, direct, sometimes tactless, 6 00:00:22,040 --> 00:00:25,800 he is an apparently eternal fixture of the British landscape. 7 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:28,040 No, you idiots! 8 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:31,400 For nearly 70 years he's been at the Queen's side, 9 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:34,400 their marriage the bedrock of the monarchy. 10 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:38,040 But the road to marriage was anything but smooth. 11 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:44,160 As a young man, Prince Philip was seen as an outsider and a threat. 12 00:00:44,160 --> 00:00:47,600 People felt this fellow's too good-looking, 13 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:49,640 we really don't know where he comes from. 14 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:53,920 He wasn't "one of us". He didn't go to Eton 15 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:58,040 and some of his family were married to Germans. 16 00:00:58,040 --> 00:00:59,280 They were beastly to him. 17 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:05,480 This is the untold story of the high stakes, dynastic power struggle 18 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:08,480 that lay behind the Queen's marriage. 19 00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:12,600 On the one side, the royal and political establishment... 20 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:15,560 Prince Philip was completely excluded. 21 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:20,800 Churchill really made him feel totally apart from the whole thing. 22 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:22,480 ..on the other, Philip's uncle, 23 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:26,000 world-class charmer, and world-class schemer, 24 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:28,680 Lord Louis Mountbatten. 25 00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:32,320 Mountbatten was ruthlessly ambitious 26 00:01:32,320 --> 00:01:34,600 and the thing that he wanted more than anything else 27 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:37,240 was his nephew to marry the future Queen. 28 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:43,600 Dickie Mountbatten saw Philip as a kind of quasi-king. 29 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:46,840 It's a story of plotting and intrigue 30 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:50,200 that's only being pieced together now for the first time, 31 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:52,960 with the help of unpublished documents 32 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:57,680 and exclusive interviews with some of Philip's closest relatives. 33 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:01,640 The story of a penniless Greek prince from a family 34 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:03,960 with dubious German connections. 35 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:07,040 He talked a lot about the new political party 36 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:11,200 which he had joined, about a man called Adolf Hitler. 37 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:15,400 A young man who found himself at the heart of a ferocious struggle. 38 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:20,440 He said, "I don't know if I'm being very brave or very stupid 39 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:22,680 "going ahead with this wedding." 40 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:25,640 A struggle whose outcome would have profound implications 41 00:02:25,640 --> 00:02:27,480 for the future of the monarchy 42 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:30,000 and even threatened to open a damaging rift 43 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:32,320 in the royal marriage itself. 44 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:36,640 The situation seemed very fraught indeed. 45 00:02:36,640 --> 00:02:39,160 At one point she was even near tears. 46 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:54,040 On November 20th, 1947, the drab austerity of post-war Britain 47 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:57,280 was brightened by the pomp and glamour of a royal wedding. 48 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:03,240 The 21-year-old heir to the throne, Princess Elizabeth, 49 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:06,800 was marrying her third cousin, Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten. 50 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:12,080 'It was amazing' 51 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:15,200 cos it was the first bit of colour 52 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:17,960 that anybody had seen since the war. 53 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:22,040 It was unforgettable, like a fairy story. 54 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:27,000 But this was a fairy tale with a twist. 55 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:28,160 Many inside the Abbey 56 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:30,960 would rather the wedding was not happening at all. 57 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:36,120 'They thought that Philip was not a gentleman,' 58 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:41,480 they thought that he was rude, he was unmannerly, he was arrogant 59 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:46,360 and they suspected that he might be unfaithful to her. 60 00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:51,200 Courtiers, politicians, 61 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:55,360 even members of the royal family all had their doubts. 62 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:57,680 And some were ferociously hostile. 63 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:00,320 But for one man, 64 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:03,440 this was the culmination of a decade-long campaign, 65 00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:05,440 the dawn of a new era, 66 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:08,080 Philip's uncle, Louis Mountbatten. 67 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:12,200 The moment that Philip and Elizabeth 68 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:14,960 walked down the aisle as man and wife, 69 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:20,040 he felt that his lifetime's ambition had been achieved. 70 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:24,480 He truly believed that he was now the pater familias 71 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:25,800 of the royal family. 72 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:31,680 Louis Mountbatten and his wife Edwina 73 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:35,680 had been the golden couple of the pre-war era. 74 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:41,160 Their home videos from the 1920s and '30s capture their lifestyle. 75 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:45,000 Mountbatten and his wife lived the most extravagant life 76 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:47,600 that you could possibly imagine. 77 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:50,800 This is the jazz age, cocktails and laughter, what comes after. 78 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:52,360 This is the world of Noel Coward. 79 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:55,280 We all loved him. 80 00:04:55,280 --> 00:04:57,840 He was a tremendous personality, 81 00:04:57,840 --> 00:05:00,640 he had an enormous ego, which I think he'd admit to. 82 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:04,840 People, I know it, either they loved him or they hated him. 83 00:05:04,840 --> 00:05:06,880 Really seriously. We all loved him. 84 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:11,560 Always known to his family as Dickie, 85 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:14,840 Philip's uncle was a great grandson of Queen Victoria. 86 00:05:14,840 --> 00:05:19,440 His wife, heir to a fabulously wealthy financier. 87 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:21,560 They liked nightclubs and dances 88 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:24,200 and living it up with the best people 89 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:27,640 and particularly consorting with the top royals of their generation. 90 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:34,960 Here, the Duke of Kent, the younger son of King George V, 91 00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:39,200 can be seen with Mountbatten's two daughters, 92 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:41,960 Pamela and Patricia. 93 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:45,560 Oh, yes. Well, they were very much of their generation 94 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:47,400 of bright young things. Yes. 95 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:51,360 And they were fortunate to be rich - polo ponies and fast boats 96 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:53,120 and things. 97 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:55,760 They certainly lived it up. 98 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:58,920 Mountbatten was a charmer and a bon viveur. 99 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:04,600 He was also a man of ferocious ambition, 100 00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:08,120 an ambition that had its roots in childhood trauma. 101 00:06:10,840 --> 00:06:12,480 At the start of World War I, 102 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:16,040 Dickie's father had been forced to stand down as First Sea Lord 103 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:19,760 at the Admiralty because of his German origins. 104 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:23,480 The family were originally called Battenberg. 105 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:26,640 Young Dickie never got over the humiliation. 106 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:30,120 He was terribly hurt 107 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:35,160 and I think my father unconsciously saw it as a target. 108 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:36,960 Don't you think that's right? Mm. 109 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:42,000 That he would want to try and get up as far as his father had 110 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:44,000 in order to vindicate him. 111 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:50,720 The young Mountbatten set himself the aim of becoming First Sea Lord. 112 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:53,440 He was ambitious too for his dynasty 113 00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:56,000 and in 1936, a crisis in the monarchy 114 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:58,120 presented him with an opportunity. 115 00:06:59,840 --> 00:07:03,840 Dickie had been close friends with King Edward VIII, 116 00:07:03,840 --> 00:07:05,840 but when Edward was forced to abdicate 117 00:07:05,840 --> 00:07:08,840 in favour of his younger brother George, 118 00:07:08,840 --> 00:07:12,200 Mountbatten moved swiftly to ingratiate himself 119 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:13,560 with the new regime. 120 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:19,040 He's seen here at a naval review in 1937 121 00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:22,720 with King George's daughter, Princess Elizabeth, 122 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:24,760 now heir to the throne, 123 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:29,040 whose position opened up intriguing possibilities. 124 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:32,040 'Princess Elizabeth is going to be the Queen,' 125 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:35,200 there's a limited pool of potential husbands, 126 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:39,920 really quite limited, a few senior aristocrats 127 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:42,960 and a few international princes. 128 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:47,440 Mountbatten had the perfect candidate - 129 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:50,800 his nephew, Prince Philip of Greece, 130 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:52,800 the son of his sister Alice. 131 00:07:54,120 --> 00:08:00,000 Dickie saw Philip, his nephew, as the obvious consort 132 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:01,920 to the future Queen Elizabeth. 133 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:09,680 His looks, his ancestry qualified Philip for that role. 134 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:12,720 Philip had been at boarding school in Scotland. 135 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:14,560 In the spring of 1939, 136 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:17,760 he enrolled as a cadet at Dartmouth Naval College. 137 00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:23,400 And it was there, on July 22nd, 1939, 138 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:27,600 that Mountbatten succeeded in engineering a historic encounter 139 00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:31,600 between his nephew and Princess Elizabeth. 140 00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:34,920 King and Queen are going to visit the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth 141 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:39,200 and they are to be shown round by Mountbatten 142 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:42,120 and Mountbatten has the idea 143 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:45,600 that if Philip is put in charge of the young princesses, 144 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:47,040 then who knows what might happen? 145 00:08:48,520 --> 00:08:51,760 Philip is pushed to the fore, 146 00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:55,400 he's constantly being shoved into the eyeline 147 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:59,600 of the extremely susceptible young princess. 148 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:04,280 The meeting was captured in these historic, grainy images. 149 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:09,760 Lord Mountbatten wanted to strike the spark that day and it worked. 150 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:14,040 There's no question that 13-year-old Princess Elizabeth 151 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:20,400 fell in love with the 18-year-old Adonis, Prince Philip. 152 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:23,120 Princess Elizabeth was completely smitten. 153 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:25,120 And as far as she was concerned, I think, 154 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:27,840 from then on he was the one for her. 155 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:32,680 Mountbatten had proved a superb Cupid. 156 00:09:32,680 --> 00:09:36,760 But Philip and his uncle would soon discover many around the princess 157 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:39,920 were far less keen on seeing the romance flourish. 158 00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:50,400 At Dartmouth Naval College in 1939, Louis Mountbatten had successfully 159 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:54,640 played Cupid for his nephew, Prince Philip, and Princess Elizabeth. 160 00:09:56,320 --> 00:09:59,920 But not everyone was as impressed with Philip as she was. 161 00:09:59,920 --> 00:10:03,560 The young pretender was impeccably royal. 162 00:10:03,560 --> 00:10:06,800 But his background raised other, troubling questions. 163 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:17,120 Philip had been born in this house on the Greek island of Corfu 164 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:20,440 18 years before, in the summer of 1921. 165 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:26,560 Although his uncle was King of Greece, Philip didn't have 166 00:10:26,560 --> 00:10:29,640 a drop of Greek blood, being descended from Danish 167 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:32,600 and German royalty, as well as Queen Victoria. 168 00:10:36,680 --> 00:10:41,920 In September 1922, when Philip was just a year old, a revolution 169 00:10:41,920 --> 00:10:45,160 broke out in Athens following defeat in a war against Turkey. 170 00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:49,400 The King, Philip's uncle, was overthrown. 171 00:10:50,760 --> 00:10:54,520 And Philip's father, Prince Andrea, was arrested. 172 00:10:54,520 --> 00:10:57,360 Prince Philip's father was a scapegoat. 173 00:10:57,360 --> 00:11:01,280 Accused - he was a soldier - of poor leadership, of disobeying an order. 174 00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:06,080 Prince Rainer of Hesse in Germany is Philip's nephew, 175 00:11:06,080 --> 00:11:08,480 the son of Philip's sister, Sophia. 176 00:11:10,560 --> 00:11:13,360 In her old age, Sophia wrote a private memoir 177 00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:16,760 which has never before been shared with the public. 178 00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:20,800 In it, Philip's sister vividly describes 179 00:11:20,800 --> 00:11:23,000 the family's trauma in 1922. 180 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:27,920 "My father's trial ended with him being sentenced to death. 181 00:11:27,920 --> 00:11:30,480 "Many governments tried to save his life, 182 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:33,040 "including King Victor Emmanuel of Italy, 183 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:36,280 "King Alfonso XIII of Spain, and the Pope, 184 00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:41,760 "but finally my father's first cousin, King George V of England, 185 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:45,200 "succeeded in having the death sentence remitted." 186 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:49,640 Andrea's family connections had saved his life. 187 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:52,640 But he was sentenced to perpetual exile. 188 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:58,840 Philip's family fled their home on Corfu aboard a British battleship. 189 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:04,680 But if they'd hoped for a welcome in Britain, they were disappointed. 190 00:12:04,680 --> 00:12:08,080 This is only five years since the Russian Revolution, 191 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:10,400 European royalty is on the run. 192 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:15,080 I don't think the King was eager to have exiled royals 193 00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:17,600 wandering around in London 194 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:21,480 spreading the idea that royalty can be overthrown. 195 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:27,920 Unwelcome in Britain, the family moved to Paris. 196 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:31,400 This recently discovered archive 197 00:12:31,400 --> 00:12:35,120 shows Philip's parents with relatives. 198 00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:38,440 Andrea and his family rented one house and then 199 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:40,720 they couldn't afford that, so they moved to another, 200 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:43,000 so there was always a sense of impermanence. 201 00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:47,200 Under the pressure of exile, 202 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:50,400 Philip's parents' marriage deteriorated. 203 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:55,080 His mother, Princess Alice, began to show signs of mental illness. 204 00:12:57,280 --> 00:13:01,400 On May 2nd 1930, Philip went on a family outing 205 00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:04,240 and came home to find his mother had been hauled off 206 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:06,200 to a mental asylum. 207 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:09,760 He'd scarcely see her for the rest of his childhood. 208 00:13:09,760 --> 00:13:14,560 As for his father, he moved in with his mistress. 209 00:13:14,560 --> 00:13:17,400 Andrea said, "I'm not going to cope with this family, 210 00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:20,560 "I'm not going to have anything more to do with it, I'm off." 211 00:13:20,560 --> 00:13:23,720 He decided that the best place for him was the South of France, 212 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:25,280 Monte Carlo, somewhere where 213 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:28,680 he could sip Champagne and look at the waves bouncing along. 214 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:33,880 Just nine years old, Philip was effectively an orphan. 215 00:13:37,920 --> 00:13:40,640 He was sent to boarding school in Britain, 216 00:13:40,640 --> 00:13:43,720 and came increasingly under the wing of his uncle Louis Mountbatten, 217 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:46,920 whose country home at Adsdean in Sussex 218 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:50,000 he had first visited in the 1920s. 219 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:53,760 His cousin Patricia fondly recalls his visits. 220 00:13:55,400 --> 00:14:01,040 He's three years older than me. He was very boyish, full of fun. 221 00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:03,800 Up to pranks - quite nice pranks. 222 00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:07,440 And just somebody that one welcomed, 223 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:11,000 rather than think, "Oh, it's a bit of a bore, so and so's coming," 224 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:16,000 you thought, "How nice, he's going to come and enliven life." 225 00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:20,480 But young Philip's destiny lay in the balance. 226 00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:23,120 As third in line to the Greek throne, 227 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:25,800 he was torn between his English relatives 228 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:28,080 and his birthright as a Greek royal. 229 00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:34,040 In 1935, the Greek monarchy was restored. 230 00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:36,840 The body of Philip's uncle, King Constantine, 231 00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:39,280 was returned to Athens for burial, 232 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:43,400 and the 15-year-old Philip can be seen in film of the ceremony, 233 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:47,280 shown here for the first time on British TV. 234 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:51,240 The question was, where did his future lie? 235 00:14:51,240 --> 00:14:54,800 It was touch and go. I think that the King of Greece, 236 00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:56,280 left to himself, 237 00:14:56,280 --> 00:15:02,200 would probably have wanted Philip to come back to join the Greek Navy, 238 00:15:02,200 --> 00:15:04,840 but his uncle had absolutely no doubt at all 239 00:15:04,840 --> 00:15:08,760 that his career ought to be in Britain and in the British Navy. 240 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:13,720 Mountbatten was determined to keep his young protege under his wing. 241 00:15:13,720 --> 00:15:17,200 He firmly steered him towards Dartmouth Naval College 242 00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:22,840 and his fateful 1939 encounter with the future Queen. 243 00:15:22,840 --> 00:15:25,200 Mountbatten would have told him straight away, 244 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:28,480 "Look, here's your best chance, son. Do what I tell you 245 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:32,200 "and you could become the husband of the future monarch." 246 00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:38,800 A few weeks after Philip and Elizabeth's meeting, 247 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:40,840 the Second World War broke out 248 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:44,160 and the handsome young prince was sent away to sea. 249 00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:51,040 Philip's first captain later wrote a revealing memoir - 250 00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:53,280 a memoir that has never been published, 251 00:15:53,280 --> 00:15:56,320 but that has been shown to this programme by his family. 252 00:15:57,960 --> 00:16:01,360 It contains a snap of the 18-year-old Philip. 253 00:16:02,640 --> 00:16:06,240 It also contains an account of a remarkable conversation 254 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:09,320 that suggests the young prince was already well aware 255 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:11,240 of Mountbatten's plans for him. 256 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:17,840 "My Uncle Dickie has ideas for me," the young midshipman confided. 257 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:20,600 "He thinks I could marry Princess Elizabeth." 258 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:22,680 "Are you really fond of her?" 259 00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:25,280 the somewhat startled captain replied. 260 00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:30,040 "Oh, yes, very. I write to her every week," said Philip. 261 00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:33,240 Elizabeth was still just 13. 262 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:37,560 It's perfectly clear that this was a campaign 263 00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:41,840 with Dickie Mountbatten as the general 264 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:46,280 and the key fighter in the campaign being Philip. 265 00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:48,440 The prince would serve with distinction 266 00:16:48,440 --> 00:16:50,840 through the Second World War. 267 00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:54,680 And while he was proving his mettle on the High Seas, 268 00:16:54,680 --> 00:16:57,320 Princess Elizabeth was growing up. 269 00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:01,160 JAUNTY MUSIC 270 00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:04,480 She spent the war years at Windsor. 271 00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:08,160 Third cousin Philip was a regular visitor. 272 00:17:10,600 --> 00:17:14,120 At Christmas 1943, he watched her play Aladdin 273 00:17:14,120 --> 00:17:17,200 in a pantomime with her sister Margaret. 274 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:20,000 Her governess later described the event. 275 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:24,440 "I have never known Lilibet so animated. 276 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:29,360 "There was a sparkle about her none of us had ever seen before." 277 00:17:29,360 --> 00:17:33,840 But the princess's parents, the King and Queen, were not quite as keen. 278 00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:39,000 Exotic, mysterious foreigners generally hold more appeal 279 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:42,440 for teenage girls than their fathers, 280 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:44,720 as one courtier later recalled. 281 00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:48,280 "The family were at first horrified 282 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:51,760 "when they saw that Prince Philip was making up to Princess Elizabeth. 283 00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:55,680 "They felt he was rough, ill-mannered, uneducated, 284 00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:58,440 "and would probably not be faithful." 285 00:17:58,440 --> 00:18:02,560 The King and Queen had one reservation in particular - 286 00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:03,800 Philip's Germanness. 287 00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:06,760 Like the royal family itself, 288 00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:10,480 Philip's ancestry contained much German blood. 289 00:18:10,480 --> 00:18:13,920 But there was a second, more serious problem. 290 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:19,120 Philip's four older sisters, all of whom had married Germans. 291 00:18:20,360 --> 00:18:23,280 Three of their husbands became Nazis - 292 00:18:23,280 --> 00:18:26,480 two of them from the aristocratic von Hessen family, 293 00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:30,120 whose ancestral home at Wolfsgarten near Frankfurt 294 00:18:30,120 --> 00:18:32,760 Philip had visited on family holidays. 295 00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:36,080 Prince Rainer's parents were married nearby. 296 00:18:36,080 --> 00:18:40,160 My mother, the youngest, was the first one to get married. 297 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:41,480 She was 16. 298 00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:46,240 This is my father, Christoph of Hesse, and my mother, Sophia, 299 00:18:46,240 --> 00:18:49,920 and, er, here we have the whole group. 300 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:53,440 Actually, Philip sitting here is the only person 301 00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:56,640 still existing today. All the others have gone. 302 00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:00,720 The private memoirs of Philip's sister, 303 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:03,200 Sophia, Prince Rainer's mother, 304 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:07,280 contain an account of a meeting with a family friend - 305 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:11,520 Herman Goering, some years before the Nazis seized power. 306 00:19:12,840 --> 00:19:17,240 "He talked a lot about the new political party which he had joined, 307 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:21,720 "especially about the party leader, a man called Adolf Hitler. 308 00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:25,840 "As Goering was insistent that we should meet Hitler personally, 309 00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:29,720 "we decided to ask him to lunch at our flat. 310 00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:33,920 "I have to say here that although Cre and I 311 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:37,200 "changed our political view fundamentally some years later, 312 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:43,000 "we were impressed by this charming and seemingly modest man." 313 00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:47,560 Prince Rainer's parents later attended Goering's wedding, 314 00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:52,600 where Philip's sister Sophia was photographed at the top table, 315 00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:54,120 with Hitler. 316 00:19:54,120 --> 00:19:58,280 By this time Prince Rainer's father was an SS colonel 317 00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:02,000 and head of one of the Nazi intelligence agencies. 318 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:06,120 Prince Rainer has confronted unflinchingly his family's past, 319 00:20:06,120 --> 00:20:08,600 and wrestled with it throughout his life. 320 00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:12,760 It still continues to be haunting. 321 00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:15,640 That is for sure. 322 00:20:15,640 --> 00:20:20,200 During the Second World War, it was a problem, too, for Prince Philip. 323 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:25,960 In 1937, his sister Cecile and her husband, both Nazi members, 324 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:28,640 had been killed in a plane crash. 325 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:31,600 The pictures of Philip at the funeral in Darmstadt 326 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:34,160 made for uncomfortable viewing. 327 00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:38,920 The Queen - who had lost a brother in the First World War - 328 00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:42,520 was particularly hostile to Philip's German connections. 329 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:46,800 The story went that she used to refer to him 330 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:48,840 as "the Hun" at one point. 331 00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:51,080 She would have preferred someone from her own 332 00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:55,400 type of background, a member of the British aristocracy 333 00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:57,280 and not a sort of foreign, 334 00:20:57,280 --> 00:21:00,520 and worst of all, quite German prince. 335 00:21:02,120 --> 00:21:06,000 Philip, though, still had one champion in his corner - 336 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:07,920 Uncle Dickie. 337 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:11,280 The war had launched Mountbatten on a meteoric rise, 338 00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:15,800 and he was now Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the Far East. 339 00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:24,240 But the pushy newcomer at the top table aroused deep distrust. 340 00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:27,840 Mountbatten definitely had infinite capacity 341 00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:30,480 for kindling suspicion among those around him. 342 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:34,040 Suspicion because of his ambitions, suspicion of his cunning 343 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:36,000 and his capacity for manoeuvring. 344 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:38,800 General Sir Gerald Templar said to him once, 345 00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:40,800 said, "Dickie, you're so crooked 346 00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:43,320 "that if you swallowed a nail, you'd shit a corkscrew." 347 00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:50,080 Mountbatten also had a reputation for being a dangerous radical. 348 00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:52,120 The older members of the establishment 349 00:21:52,120 --> 00:21:57,400 were very frightened of any fresh air coming along. 350 00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:01,560 And he certainly produced a gale of fresh air with him. 351 00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:04,560 They thought that change was never for the good. 352 00:22:04,560 --> 00:22:08,880 My father thought change was nearly always excellent. 353 00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:10,520 In the midst of the war, 354 00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:15,400 Mountbatten continued to find time to press his nephew's case. 355 00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:16,920 Dynastic ambition aside, 356 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:20,200 he believed a marriage between Philip and Elizabeth 357 00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:23,320 would be an ideal arrangement for all concerned. 358 00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:26,840 The characters of Prince Philip 359 00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:30,120 and Princess Elizabeth matched extremely well. 360 00:22:30,120 --> 00:22:32,920 And I think he genuinely thought 361 00:22:32,920 --> 00:22:35,880 that this was something that should be really considered. 362 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:38,000 Might be a very good idea. 363 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:42,840 On a trip to London in 1944, Mountbatten suggested to King George 364 00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:47,280 that they open talks with the Greek King about a possible marriage. 365 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:50,120 King George slapped him down. 366 00:22:50,120 --> 00:22:52,960 "I know you like to get things settled at once, 367 00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:55,440 "once you have an idea in mind, 368 00:22:55,440 --> 00:22:58,560 "but I have come to the conclusion that we are going too fast." 369 00:22:58,560 --> 00:23:03,080 Mountbatten, as ever, was proving over-enthusiastic. 370 00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:05,080 He was beating the Japanese. 371 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:08,200 The royal family were proving trickier. 372 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:19,120 On May 8, 1945, the war in Europe came to an end. 373 00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:24,960 On his return to Britain, Philip became an increasingly 374 00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:27,240 regular visitor to the palace. 375 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:31,280 Elizabeth's governess was impressed by what she saw. 376 00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:35,800 He came into the palace like a refreshing sea breeze. A forthright 377 00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:39,920 and completely natural young man, given to say what he thought. 378 00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:46,920 Philip was now an intelligent, worldly 24-year-old, 379 00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:49,920 and was starting to sense his over-enthusiastic uncle 380 00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:52,440 might be a double-edged sword. 381 00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:57,920 He wrote delicately to the returning conqueror of Japan. 382 00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:02,240 "Please, I beg of you, not too much advice in an affair of the heart, 383 00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:05,240 "or I shall be forced to do the wooing by proxy." 384 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:11,200 Philip was taking charge. 385 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:15,200 And in August 1946, he was invited to holiday with the royal family 386 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:18,920 at Balmoral - a traditional ordeal to be endured 387 00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:21,840 by prospective royal in-laws. 388 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:26,280 By now the King was beginning to be won over 389 00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:29,760 by Philip's breezy naval charm. 390 00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:32,920 Others around the royal family remained deeply hostile, 391 00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:35,640 as one courtier noted. 392 00:24:35,640 --> 00:24:39,800 MAN: Lords Salisbury, Eldon and Stanley think him no gentleman, 393 00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:43,240 and in a sense they are right. 394 00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:47,240 They also profess to see in him a Teutonic strain. 395 00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:51,200 They were beastly to him. They didn't like him. 396 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:53,760 He was rather like Princess Diana 397 00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:57,640 when she first came into the royal compound. 398 00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:02,520 He wasn't one of us. He didn't go to Eton, he didn't shoot. 399 00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:05,680 And you couldn't be certain, because he was Greek, 400 00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:08,200 or Greek/German, you couldn't be certain 401 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:11,120 he wouldn't do something wrong at the wrong moment. 402 00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:16,320 It was at Balmoral Philip committed one of his earliest gaffes. 403 00:25:16,320 --> 00:25:20,360 MAN: Everybody there wears the kilt and Philip had to borrow one. 404 00:25:20,360 --> 00:25:22,360 Didn't really want to do it, 405 00:25:22,360 --> 00:25:26,280 and wanted still to show his independence, and went 406 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:30,760 into the room where the King stood and dropped into a deep curtsy. 407 00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:33,720 The King was not amused. 408 00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:40,120 But for the Princess, none of this mattered and Philip knew it. 409 00:25:40,120 --> 00:25:43,280 MAN: He has absolutely captured the Princess's heart. 410 00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:45,840 She was infatuated with him, 411 00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:48,320 she was absolutely besotted with him. 412 00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:53,760 MAN: At Balmoral that year, Prince Philip simply proposed to her. 413 00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:56,760 He didn't go to the King first of all 414 00:25:56,760 --> 00:25:59,800 to say, "I'm going to ask for your daughter's hand in marriage," 415 00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:03,160 He actually checked it out with her, what did she think, 416 00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:05,800 and of course she thought yes. 417 00:26:07,360 --> 00:26:09,760 But the King was still not convinced 418 00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:13,360 and insisted on a year's delay before any announcement 419 00:26:13,360 --> 00:26:16,440 was made, to give the Princess time to reflect. 420 00:26:20,120 --> 00:26:23,720 Two months later, at the wedding of Lord Mountbatten's daughter 421 00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:28,000 Patricia, the world's press began to sense something was brewing. 422 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:31,400 NEWSREEL: Then Lord Louis himself arrived, escorting his daughter. 423 00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:33,160 And I'm sure you'll agree with me 424 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:36,200 that Miss Patricia was the loveliest bride of the year. 425 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:39,760 Princess Elizabeth was a bridesmaid 426 00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:42,800 and Prince Philip was filmed taking her coat. 427 00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:47,600 I don't think anyone thought anything about it. 428 00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:52,120 But the next day there was a picture, I think, of it 429 00:26:52,120 --> 00:26:56,840 and somehow that I think was the first intimation that 430 00:26:56,840 --> 00:27:01,360 the press had that this might be something interesting. 431 00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:08,640 As press speculation began to mount, the royal family whisked 432 00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:12,240 the young princess off on a tour of South Africa. 433 00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:17,000 For four whole months, she would be away from her secret fiance. 434 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:20,160 But if her parents had hoped separation might weaken her resolve, 435 00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:22,240 they were disappointed. 436 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:24,640 FANFARE 437 00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:30,480 On my 21st birthday, I welcome the opportunity to speak to all 438 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:34,680 the peoples of the British Commonwealth and Empire. 439 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:37,760 As she turned 21, the future queen's attachment to Prince Philip 440 00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:40,560 remained firm and unshakeable. 441 00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:45,880 And while she gained experience of her first major foreign tour, 442 00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:49,280 back in London, Philip's Uncle Dickie was once more able 443 00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:51,360 to make himself useful. 444 00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:55,880 There's no doubt that in this affair, Mountbatten saw 445 00:27:55,880 --> 00:27:59,480 himself as Mr Fix It. He'd be able to sort everything out. 446 00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:02,120 "Got reservations about Philip? Totally sound, 447 00:28:02,120 --> 00:28:05,440 "totally sound fellow. Don't you worry, we'll get it sorted." 448 00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:09,280 A superb networker, Mountbatten had close relations 449 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:12,800 with both the press and the new Labour government. 450 00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:16,560 A letter from Mountbatten to the journalist 451 00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:21,080 and Labour MP Tom Driberg survives, stressing Philip's Britishness. 452 00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:26,480 "He left Greece at the age of one and has only spent three months 453 00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:31,800 "of his entire life since in Greece and cannot even speak the language." 454 00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:35,920 But in his campaign to rebrand Philip as a dyed-in-the-wool 455 00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:40,200 Englishman, Uncle Dickie still confronted one problem - 456 00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:43,480 his nephew's slightly awkward surname. 457 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:47,120 His father, Prince Andrea, descended from the line 458 00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:51,760 of Schleswig Holstein Sonderburg Glucksburg - not really a very easy 459 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:56,440 name to trip off the tongue and one with a rather Germanic feel to it. 460 00:28:56,440 --> 00:28:59,760 As ever, Mountbatten had a suggestion. 461 00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:01,640 Mountbatten sort of said, 462 00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:04,400 "Well, why don't you why don't you call yourself Mountbatten? 463 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:06,600 "I mean, that's your mother's name, after all." 464 00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:08,600 Philip agreed. 465 00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:13,400 When he was finally granted British citizenship in February 1947, 466 00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:17,840 he had been miraculously transformed from Prince Philip of Greece 467 00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:20,880 to Lt Philip Mountbatten. 468 00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:24,400 A few months later the engagement was finally announced, 469 00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:29,640 the newsreels portraying Philip as a thoroughly British naval officer. 470 00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:31,920 NEWSREEL: Off duty, Lt Philip describes highlights 471 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:34,480 of the royal review to his wardroom companions. 472 00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:38,640 Until the royal wedding in November, it's the Navy first. 473 00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:40,640 Uncle Dickie's spin had worked. 474 00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:45,240 In the weeks before the wedding, Philip posed happily 475 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:49,560 for the cameras with his fiancee and her family. 476 00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:53,560 But behind the scenes, tensions remained. 477 00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:57,000 Philip's politics were one source of friction with his new in-laws. 478 00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:04,360 Philip's political views were influenced by his progressive uncle, 479 00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:08,600 Mountbatten, who was now serving as viceroy in India for the Labour 480 00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:12,960 government, organising the country's transition to independence. 481 00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:15,800 Mountbatten had become close friends with Indian 482 00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:19,200 Independence leader, Mahatma Gandhi. 483 00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:22,760 Gandhi was very excited about the wedding. 484 00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:25,960 He said, "I would like really to have sent a gift, 485 00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:27,920 "but as you know, I have nothing. 486 00:30:27,920 --> 00:30:32,320 "I have given away all my earthly possessions." 487 00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:35,200 Mountbatten had a solution. 488 00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:38,920 "Why not send a piece of cloth woven on your famous spinning wheel," 489 00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:41,560 he suggested to Gandhi. 490 00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:44,880 Unfortunately, when it arrived, the Queen's grandmother, 491 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:50,280 Queen Mary, mistook the gift for Gandhi's famous loin cloth. 492 00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:52,480 And she said that this was most indelicate, 493 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:55,320 what a horrible thing, a most indelicate present. 494 00:30:55,320 --> 00:30:58,040 And the funny thing was, and to Philip's great credit, 495 00:30:58,040 --> 00:30:59,800 he stuck up for Gandhi. 496 00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:02,120 He said, "No, Gandhi is a great man. 497 00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:04,840 "You shouldn't be criticising him." 498 00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:07,840 And Queen Mary gave him a sort of royal glare 499 00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:09,800 and marched on. 500 00:31:11,080 --> 00:31:12,920 With the wedding day looming, 501 00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:17,800 Mountbatten flew home to be guest of honour at his nephew's stag do. 502 00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:22,800 For him, this was the culmination of a decade's dreaming and scheming. 503 00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:29,440 But as the wedding day dawned on November 20, 1947, 504 00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:32,520 Mountbatten's young protege was anxious. 505 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:38,680 That morning, Philip had a revealing conversation with his cousin Patricia. 506 00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:43,240 We were sitting having breakfast at Kensington Palace 507 00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:48,800 and he said, "I don't know if I'm being very brave or very stupid 508 00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:51,280 "going ahead with this wedding." 509 00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:55,400 And I said, "Well, I'm quite sure you're being very brave." 510 00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:59,800 I think was well aware that he wasn't just taking on an immediate family, 511 00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:04,760 he was taking on all the outer aspects of the court life. 512 00:32:04,760 --> 00:32:07,680 I mean, he was really well aware, I think. 513 00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:10,920 that there were going be difficulties. 514 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:13,360 The fairytale wedding went ahead, 515 00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:17,160 Philip and Elizabeth swearing their vows in Westminster Abbey 516 00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:20,840 before the great and the good of the British establishment. 517 00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:24,200 But Philip and his uncle were painfully aware that key battles 518 00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:27,400 lay ahead over the question of what Philip's role 519 00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:31,120 would be as husband to the future Queen. 520 00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:35,280 Battles that would threaten to drive a wedge between the young couple 521 00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:38,720 and would shape the future of Elizabeth's reign. 522 00:32:46,260 --> 00:32:49,260 NEWSREEL: Hemmed in by well-wishers, the royal car had great difficulty 523 00:32:49,260 --> 00:32:53,780 in getting back to Broadlands, the honeymoon retreat of the royal pair. 524 00:32:53,780 --> 00:32:56,620 Following their wedding in November 1947, 525 00:32:56,620 --> 00:32:59,620 Philip and Elizabeth spent the first part of their honeymoon 526 00:32:59,620 --> 00:33:02,380 at Dickie Mountbatten's country residence 527 00:33:02,380 --> 00:33:04,260 at Broadlands in Hampshire. 528 00:33:05,900 --> 00:33:09,820 But behind the images of young love, tensions bubbled. 529 00:33:11,340 --> 00:33:15,340 There had been no prince consort since the days of Queen Victoria 530 00:33:15,340 --> 00:33:20,180 and her "meddling" German husband, Prince Albert, a century before. 531 00:33:20,180 --> 00:33:23,340 Many feared Mountbatten would encourage his nephew to play 532 00:33:23,340 --> 00:33:26,740 a similar role once his wife sat on the throne. 533 00:33:27,980 --> 00:33:32,780 Dickie Mountbatten saw Philip as a kind of quasi-king 534 00:33:32,780 --> 00:33:35,540 wielding enormous influence. 535 00:33:35,540 --> 00:33:40,220 It was hitting the dynastic jackpot as far as Mountbatten was concerned. 536 00:33:41,660 --> 00:33:44,860 These fears came to the fore at the end of 1948 537 00:33:44,860 --> 00:33:47,900 when King George VI fell seriously ill. 538 00:33:49,100 --> 00:33:51,340 The King's illness raised the possibility 539 00:33:51,340 --> 00:33:54,660 a regent might be required to reign on his behalf. 540 00:34:01,020 --> 00:34:04,620 The obvious candidate was the Princess. 541 00:34:04,620 --> 00:34:07,300 It was assumed that she would be under the control 542 00:34:07,300 --> 00:34:09,660 of her husband and his uncle. 543 00:34:11,140 --> 00:34:14,140 The fear of Mountbatten sparked an extraordinary plot 544 00:34:14,140 --> 00:34:18,340 involving the exiled Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII, 545 00:34:18,340 --> 00:34:23,020 who had abdicated in 1936, and his wife, Wallis Simpson, 546 00:34:23,020 --> 00:34:28,580 a plot only recently uncovered by historian Christopher Wilson. 547 00:34:28,580 --> 00:34:30,020 At that time 548 00:34:30,020 --> 00:34:34,140 a minor aristocrat and complete scoundrel 549 00:34:34,140 --> 00:34:36,380 called Kenneth de Courcy, 550 00:34:36,380 --> 00:34:41,820 was cruising around the Duke of Windsor, who was exiled in Paris. 551 00:34:41,820 --> 00:34:45,700 De Courcy suggested to the Duke of Windsor 552 00:34:45,700 --> 00:34:49,420 that if he played his cards right he could come back to Britain, 553 00:34:49,420 --> 00:34:51,340 sit on the throne as regent. 554 00:34:54,260 --> 00:34:56,460 De Courcy wrote to the Duke's wife. 555 00:34:58,780 --> 00:35:01,860 "I may tell you most confidentially that a regency 556 00:35:01,860 --> 00:35:03,620 "has already been discussed. 557 00:35:03,620 --> 00:35:06,980 "I don't think it too much to say that if the regency should be one 558 00:35:06,980 --> 00:35:09,060 "primarily influenced by the Mountbattens 559 00:35:09,060 --> 00:35:12,540 "the consequences for the Dynasty might be fatal." 560 00:35:14,180 --> 00:35:17,180 De Courcy here is playing on fears, 561 00:35:17,180 --> 00:35:19,940 and they're fears expressed by courtiers 562 00:35:19,940 --> 00:35:23,180 and those who surround the royal household 563 00:35:23,180 --> 00:35:27,660 and they're very real fears. They were very worried 564 00:35:27,660 --> 00:35:30,940 that the Mountbattens would suddenly take the House of Windsor 565 00:35:30,940 --> 00:35:34,540 by the scruff of its neck and turn it into something else altogether. 566 00:35:35,980 --> 00:35:38,620 Shortly afterwards, the King recovered 567 00:35:38,620 --> 00:35:42,180 and the near-treasonable plot was dropped. 568 00:35:42,180 --> 00:35:45,060 But the hostility towards Mountbatten and his nephew 569 00:35:45,060 --> 00:35:48,540 within the Establishment worsened in 1951, 570 00:35:48,540 --> 00:35:52,260 with the return of the Conservatives to power. 571 00:35:52,260 --> 00:35:56,260 During the war, Churchill and Mountbatten had been close. 572 00:35:56,260 --> 00:35:59,380 But the relationship soured over Mountbatten's role 573 00:35:59,380 --> 00:36:02,140 in Indian independence. 574 00:36:02,140 --> 00:36:06,740 Unfortunately, Winston had allowed his emotions to rule his head. 575 00:36:06,740 --> 00:36:09,340 He said to my father, you know, 576 00:36:09,340 --> 00:36:12,180 "You gave away India," which was a marvellous idea - 577 00:36:12,180 --> 00:36:14,620 as though my father had woken up one morning and thought, 578 00:36:14,620 --> 00:36:17,180 "I know what I'll do - I'll give away India." 579 00:36:17,180 --> 00:36:20,780 He really couldn't forgive him for quite a long time. 580 00:36:20,780 --> 00:36:26,500 He said to Dickie Mountbatten, "What you did in India 581 00:36:26,500 --> 00:36:30,700 "is as though you slapped me across the face with a whip." 582 00:36:30,700 --> 00:36:34,780 Churchill's hostility to Mountbatten extended to his nephew, Philip. 583 00:36:36,420 --> 00:36:40,340 Churchill apparently disliked and distrusted Prince Philip. 584 00:36:42,020 --> 00:36:47,140 I think he thought him too brash, too arrogant, too pushy, 585 00:36:47,140 --> 00:36:48,940 not quite English. 586 00:36:48,940 --> 00:36:52,660 Many other conservatives also viewed Philip, like his uncle, 587 00:36:52,660 --> 00:36:55,860 as a dangerous idealist. 588 00:36:55,860 --> 00:37:00,300 We all know that utopia is unobtainable, 589 00:37:00,300 --> 00:37:03,620 but if we know the world that we want, 590 00:37:03,620 --> 00:37:05,540 then at least we can work for it. 591 00:37:08,620 --> 00:37:10,660 In his private diaries, 592 00:37:10,660 --> 00:37:13,940 the future Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan 593 00:37:13,940 --> 00:37:16,500 was contemptuous. 594 00:37:16,500 --> 00:37:20,180 "I fear this young man is going to be as big a bore as Prince Albert 595 00:37:20,180 --> 00:37:22,260 "and as great a trouble. 596 00:37:22,260 --> 00:37:25,300 "Let us hope that the King may live to be a great age 597 00:37:25,300 --> 00:37:28,940 "and the power of the Mountbattens be cached accordingly." 598 00:37:32,900 --> 00:37:34,380 It proved a forlorn hope. 599 00:37:36,500 --> 00:37:39,140 NEWSREEL: The passing of King George VI 600 00:37:39,140 --> 00:37:41,620 came as a sudden and most grievous shock to his people 601 00:37:41,620 --> 00:37:42,700 all over the world. 602 00:37:44,380 --> 00:37:48,620 The death of the King in February 1952, aged just 56, 603 00:37:48,620 --> 00:37:52,620 came as the Prince and Princess began a tour of Kenya. 604 00:37:54,420 --> 00:37:58,180 With them, serving as Princess Elizabeth's lady-in-waiting, 605 00:37:58,180 --> 00:38:01,260 was Mountbatten's daughter Pamela. 606 00:38:01,260 --> 00:38:04,780 More than 60 years on, she vividly recalls the moment 607 00:38:04,780 --> 00:38:07,300 Philip informed Elizabeth that the King had died. 608 00:38:09,020 --> 00:38:13,300 He gets up and goes out into the little sitting room 609 00:38:13,300 --> 00:38:15,340 and, you know, obviously says to her 610 00:38:15,340 --> 00:38:18,180 something like, you know, "Come for a walk in the garden." 611 00:38:18,180 --> 00:38:20,220 And they go together. 612 00:38:20,220 --> 00:38:23,220 And we peep through the window the whole time. 613 00:38:23,220 --> 00:38:26,540 And you could tell from the body language 614 00:38:26,540 --> 00:38:29,620 the moment that he tells her, you know. 615 00:38:31,540 --> 00:38:35,420 And, um, she comes...they come in 616 00:38:35,420 --> 00:38:41,460 and, er, I think then I...I went up and gave her a hug, 617 00:38:41,460 --> 00:38:43,700 you know, about her father, 618 00:38:43,700 --> 00:38:46,300 and then I thought, "My God, of course she's Queen," 619 00:38:46,300 --> 00:38:48,060 so then I drop into a curtsey. 620 00:38:51,300 --> 00:38:55,140 The royal couple dashed back to a cold, grey England for the funeral. 621 00:38:56,900 --> 00:39:00,260 While the new Queen grieved, Philip - seen here on the left - 622 00:39:00,260 --> 00:39:02,500 had his own anxieties. 623 00:39:02,500 --> 00:39:05,540 Although he hadn't lost a beloved father... 624 00:39:07,700 --> 00:39:10,980 ..it meant the end... the end of his career. 625 00:39:10,980 --> 00:39:14,300 He would have been at the head of the Navy in no time. 626 00:39:14,300 --> 00:39:17,420 Everything has to be given up. 627 00:39:17,420 --> 00:39:22,060 From now on, being husband of the Queen would be a full-time job. 628 00:39:23,660 --> 00:39:26,580 But if Philip had doubts about his future role, 629 00:39:26,580 --> 00:39:29,900 Uncle Dickie had no such reservations. 630 00:39:29,900 --> 00:39:33,980 A few days after the King's death, Mountbatten gave a dinner party 631 00:39:33,980 --> 00:39:35,660 at Broadlands in Hampshire, 632 00:39:35,660 --> 00:39:39,820 and let slip the mask of his own dynastic ambition, 633 00:39:39,820 --> 00:39:42,620 fuelling the darkest fears of his enemies. 634 00:39:44,100 --> 00:39:47,340 During the course of the evening he said, 635 00:39:47,340 --> 00:39:50,340 "The House of Mountbatten now reigns." 636 00:39:52,340 --> 00:39:53,860 A very indiscreet thing, 637 00:39:53,860 --> 00:39:56,660 and characteristically indiscreet thing, to say. 638 00:39:56,660 --> 00:39:59,180 It was almost treasonable in a way, 639 00:39:59,180 --> 00:40:03,500 and certainly it shocked the people who heard him speak. 640 00:40:03,500 --> 00:40:06,380 One of the people who was there was so shocked 641 00:40:06,380 --> 00:40:09,140 that the next morning he went to see Queen Mary. 642 00:40:10,980 --> 00:40:13,860 The Queen's grandmother was appalled at the suggestion 643 00:40:13,860 --> 00:40:18,340 the dynasty's name would change from Windsor to Mountbatten, 644 00:40:18,340 --> 00:40:21,940 and reportedly turned her anger on Prince Philip. 645 00:40:21,940 --> 00:40:25,500 "What the devil does that damned fool Edinburgh think 646 00:40:25,500 --> 00:40:27,980 "that the family name has got to do with him?" 647 00:40:29,780 --> 00:40:31,180 After a sleepless night, 648 00:40:31,180 --> 00:40:35,260 Queen Mary contacted Churchill - not Philip's greatest fan. 649 00:40:37,220 --> 00:40:40,580 He immediately brought pressure on the young Queen, 650 00:40:40,580 --> 00:40:43,540 who found herself torn between her husband 651 00:40:43,540 --> 00:40:47,180 and the combined weight of the political and royal establishment. 652 00:40:49,180 --> 00:40:51,180 Here was her Prime Minister 653 00:40:51,180 --> 00:40:56,780 coming to see her about a matter that he considered very important. 654 00:40:56,780 --> 00:40:59,540 And the Prime Minister being Winston Churchill 655 00:40:59,540 --> 00:41:03,780 and she's a girl of 25... Yes. ..competing with Winston. 656 00:41:03,780 --> 00:41:06,140 Yes. Here was a very, very young monarch 657 00:41:06,140 --> 00:41:08,300 and a very old Prime Minister, 658 00:41:08,300 --> 00:41:11,180 and she felt, I think, she couldn't go against 659 00:41:11,180 --> 00:41:15,380 the first sort of constitutional advice she was being given. 660 00:41:15,380 --> 00:41:18,980 The Queen Mother, too, opposed any name change. 661 00:41:18,980 --> 00:41:24,500 Faced with this united front, the young Queen did as she was told. 662 00:41:24,500 --> 00:41:29,060 Within days of Mountbatten opening his mouth at his dinner party 663 00:41:29,060 --> 00:41:33,180 publicly it was announced that the House of Windsor 664 00:41:33,180 --> 00:41:35,540 would remain the House of Windsor. 665 00:41:35,540 --> 00:41:39,100 The Windsor dynasty had closed ranks. 666 00:41:39,100 --> 00:41:43,100 Mountbatten's quip had backfired disastrously. 667 00:41:43,100 --> 00:41:47,220 Philip was furious, reportedly venting his anger in private. 668 00:41:47,220 --> 00:41:49,940 "I am the only man in the country 669 00:41:49,940 --> 00:41:52,780 "not allowed to give his name to his children. 670 00:41:52,780 --> 00:41:54,740 "I'm nothing but a bloody amoeba." 671 00:41:55,900 --> 00:41:59,860 Naturally it upset Prince Philip, because I think the thought 672 00:41:59,860 --> 00:42:03,260 that your own child is not going to have your name, 673 00:42:03,260 --> 00:42:06,540 to any man would be very upsetting. 674 00:42:06,540 --> 00:42:09,340 I think that was probably the only thing between them 675 00:42:09,340 --> 00:42:11,660 that did cause hurt for quite a long time. 676 00:42:13,940 --> 00:42:17,180 As the young family moved into Buckingham Palace, 677 00:42:17,180 --> 00:42:19,660 it was soon clear the family name was not the only issue 678 00:42:19,660 --> 00:42:22,500 where the Prince was going to be sidelined. 679 00:42:22,500 --> 00:42:25,540 Prince Philip once said to me, "The King died 680 00:42:25,540 --> 00:42:26,940 "and everything changed." 681 00:42:26,940 --> 00:42:32,180 Suddenly...his wife was his wife 682 00:42:32,180 --> 00:42:34,540 but she was also the Queen. 683 00:42:34,540 --> 00:42:36,460 And I said to the Duke of Edinburgh, 684 00:42:36,460 --> 00:42:38,660 "Were there people there telling you what to do?" 685 00:42:38,660 --> 00:42:41,980 He said, "No, there were people there telling me, 'Keep out.'" 686 00:42:41,980 --> 00:42:44,460 Prince Philip was completely excluded 687 00:42:44,460 --> 00:42:48,580 and unwelcome at court, unwelcome at Buckingham Palace. 688 00:42:48,580 --> 00:42:50,180 You know, everybody closed ranks. 689 00:42:50,180 --> 00:42:52,260 "No, no need to tell you, no." 690 00:42:52,260 --> 00:42:56,460 And Churchill would advise that he couldn't take part. 691 00:42:56,460 --> 00:42:58,420 Yes, yes. 692 00:42:58,420 --> 00:43:01,980 You know, Churchill really made him feel totally apart 693 00:43:01,980 --> 00:43:03,660 from the whole thing. 694 00:43:03,660 --> 00:43:06,220 He was certainly, I think, kept down I think by everybody 695 00:43:06,220 --> 00:43:07,820 as much as possible, really. 696 00:43:09,940 --> 00:43:12,340 ALL: God save the Queen! 697 00:43:12,340 --> 00:43:15,860 Philip had never expected to be a king, 698 00:43:15,860 --> 00:43:20,900 but nor had he expected to be so brutally and crudely sidelined. 699 00:43:20,900 --> 00:43:24,380 I think that Philip felt emasculated by the position 700 00:43:24,380 --> 00:43:26,140 that he had to occupy. 701 00:43:26,140 --> 00:43:29,020 The Queen, in effect, was wearing the trousers. 702 00:43:30,900 --> 00:43:34,100 But there would be an unexpected twist in the saga 703 00:43:34,100 --> 00:43:35,980 of the royal surname. 704 00:43:37,780 --> 00:43:41,100 In 1960, at the time of the birth of Prince Andrew, 705 00:43:41,100 --> 00:43:44,140 a surprise announcement was made. 706 00:43:44,140 --> 00:43:48,660 In future, the Queen's non-royal descendants would be known as 707 00:43:48,660 --> 00:43:52,860 Mountbatten-Windsor - a compromise proposed by the Queen herself, 708 00:43:52,860 --> 00:43:58,500 as Harold Macmillan, now Prime Minister, made clear in his diary. 709 00:44:00,220 --> 00:44:02,460 "The Queen only wishes, properly enough, 710 00:44:02,460 --> 00:44:04,540 "to do something to please her husband, 711 00:44:04,540 --> 00:44:07,900 "with whom she is desperately in love. 712 00:44:07,900 --> 00:44:11,020 "What upsets me is the Prince's almost brutal attitude 713 00:44:11,020 --> 00:44:12,700 "to the Queen over all this." 714 00:44:14,180 --> 00:44:16,700 Macmillan's deputy, Rab Butler, 715 00:44:16,700 --> 00:44:21,900 also reported the Queen to be close to tears when discussing the issue. 716 00:44:21,900 --> 00:44:23,820 That certainly indicates to me 717 00:44:23,820 --> 00:44:26,580 that in the presence of both the Prime Minister 718 00:44:26,580 --> 00:44:28,740 and the Deputy Prime Minister, 719 00:44:28,740 --> 00:44:32,500 the situation had seemed very fraught indeed. 720 00:44:34,220 --> 00:44:37,820 13 years later, the new name appeared for the first time 721 00:44:37,820 --> 00:44:40,500 on the wedding certificate of Princess Anne. 722 00:44:43,220 --> 00:44:48,500 The irrepressible Mountbatten, now in his 70s, was delighted. 723 00:44:48,500 --> 00:44:52,500 CHRISTOPHER WILSON: I remember going to see him at Broadlands, 724 00:44:52,500 --> 00:44:55,980 after Princess Anne had married. 725 00:44:55,980 --> 00:44:58,020 I went in and, er... 726 00:44:58,020 --> 00:45:00,540 it was his tie I noticed first of all, 727 00:45:00,540 --> 00:45:02,580 and, erm, I said, "Oh, look!" 728 00:45:02,580 --> 00:45:05,180 And it was a sort of "M" up this way and then a "W" down that way, 729 00:45:05,180 --> 00:45:06,460 a mirror image. 730 00:45:06,460 --> 00:45:11,060 I said, "Oh, oh, that's rather wonderful. 'M' for Mountbatten?" 731 00:45:11,060 --> 00:45:14,860 He said, "No, no. 'MW' for Mountbatten-Windsor." 732 00:45:14,860 --> 00:45:17,140 And then he pointed to the carpet, 733 00:45:17,140 --> 00:45:20,220 and there it was embroidered with Ms and Ws all over. 734 00:45:22,700 --> 00:45:25,700 Mountbatten had outlived many of his enemies, 735 00:45:25,700 --> 00:45:28,500 and he had his own small victory. 736 00:45:29,860 --> 00:45:32,500 He remained close to the royal family 737 00:45:32,500 --> 00:45:35,460 and became a mentor to Prince Charles in particular. 738 00:45:37,860 --> 00:45:42,820 In 1979 he was murdered by the IRA while on holiday in Ireland. 739 00:45:44,580 --> 00:45:46,980 A few years before his death he wrote, kindly, 740 00:45:46,980 --> 00:45:49,540 to his nephew, Philip. 741 00:45:51,260 --> 00:45:55,060 "I've always been very fond of you from a small boy upwards. 742 00:45:55,060 --> 00:45:58,060 "You sometimes seemed rather disappointed - 743 00:45:58,060 --> 00:46:00,740 "perhaps frustrated would be a better word - 744 00:46:00,740 --> 00:46:04,340 "but I feel you underestimate your effect on the UK, 745 00:46:04,340 --> 00:46:07,060 "and especially the Commonwealth." 746 00:46:08,740 --> 00:46:13,740 Philip's has been a life spent walking two steps behind his wife. 747 00:46:13,740 --> 00:46:17,500 It wasn't quite the role he'd envisaged for himself. 748 00:46:17,500 --> 00:46:21,340 And it's perhaps not surprising that at times his temper has flared 749 00:46:21,340 --> 00:46:23,580 and his irritation has shown. 750 00:46:24,940 --> 00:46:28,260 But he's survived. 751 00:46:28,260 --> 00:46:31,300 GYLES BRANDRETH: I think a lot of people don't realise the skilful way 752 00:46:31,300 --> 00:46:36,500 he has coped with the inversion of the traditional structure 753 00:46:36,500 --> 00:46:38,500 of a husband and wife. 754 00:46:40,100 --> 00:46:44,260 He's made it work. He's made it work for the monarchy 755 00:46:44,260 --> 00:46:47,220 and I think in the long run he's made it work for himself. 756 00:47:12,100 --> 00:47:15,060 Subtitles by Ericsson