Read only his background till he married Princess Elizabeth 80 pages 17/7/21
He worked in public life from 1952 to retirement in 2017 accompanying the Queen. In that time she made 266 visits to 116 countries.
1913 His
grandfather George I was assassinated in Greece.
Tragedy 1. In 1930 his
mother Princess Alice suffered from manic depression and was separated from her
only son for 7 years and his father left for the south of France with his
mistress.
Tragedy 2. George VI
died at the age of 56 so after only 4 years their marriage, Phillip had to give
up his navel career. 40 % of polled readers objected to Princess Elizabeth
marrying someone foreign, despite him having spent the whole of WW2 in the
British navy. He was called Phil the Greek even though he had not a drop of
Greek blood.
He was born Prince
Phillipos of Greece on the Island of Corfu. His father was Prince Andrew of
Denmark.
1967 Greek Royal family
were overthrown. His mother was 36 when he was born.
His mother Princess
Alice of Battenberg was Queen Victoria's daughter. Phillips family was royalty
on all sides whereas Elizabeth mother was a commoner. In childhood he
spoke English, French and German.
His aunt Princess George
was involved studying psychoanalysis, friendly with Sigmund Freud and paid
to send Phillip and his sisters to private schools in Paris.
1907 Marie married
Phillips uncle Prince George who had in 1891 saved Prince later Tsar Nicholas
II from being assassinated in Otsu Japan with his walking stick.
1919 -1920 As a result
of the Greek Turkish War his father Prince Andrew was exiled from his
homeland.
1937 Phillips sister
Cecile, husband, 2 sons died in an air crash. Phillip was at the funeral with
his 3 remaining sisters and brother in laws and a man in a SS uniform and other as a storm
trooper. Herman Goring was in the procession. Philip’s younger sister Sophie
was married to Prince Christoph of Hesse and friends of Goring. A number of
relatives were members of the Nazi party.
1948 Phillips 3
sisters were not invited to the wedding but in 1953 were invited to the
Coronation and sat in the Royal box with their mother Princess Alice behind the
Queen mother and Princess Margaret.
Louis Mountbatten was murdered
2 years before Charles married Diana Spencer
From 1933 aged 9 to 1947
aged 28 Phillip had no permanent family home.
1941 March Italy's
greatest defeat in WW2 off Cape Mattapan was Prince Phillip greatest hour. In 5
minutes Admiral Cunningham’s crews sunk 3 heavy Italian cruisers, 2
battleships, 2300 Italian troops killed and 1015 captured. Bletchley Park
had tipped them off and the British had radar that the Italian did not have.
1942 Prince Arthur was
the last of Victoria’s sons, her 7th child who died at the age of 91, he had
been in the navy for 40 years.
1945Phillip was on HMS
Wager that was next to the USS Missouri where Japan signed the surrender.
1947 King, Queen and 2
princesses returned from their tour of South Africa.
1947 July official announcement
of Phillip Elizabeth engagement.
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