The late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were the longest married royal couple in history, having been wed for 74 years at the time of the late Duke of Edinburgh’s death in 2021.
The late monarch famously kept her private life private, but in 1997, she attended a lunch at Banqueting House in London alongside the prime minister at the time, Tony Blair, and made a rare comment about her relationship.
Queen Elizabeth’s long-forgotten marriage comment
The Queen made a speech at the lunch held to mark her and Philip’s golden wedding anniversary, having attended a gala lunch at London’s Guildhall with her husband the day before to mark the same milestone.
© Getty Images“Yesterday, I listened as Prince Philip spoke at the Guildhall, and I then proposed our host’s health. Today, the roles are reversed,” the mother of King Charles said. “All too often, I fear, Prince Philip has had to listen to me speaking.”
Prince Philip’s influence
Despite her “fear” of her husband having to listen to her make long speeches throughout their time together, the Queen did highlight that Philip would often weigh in on her public addresses before she took to the lectern.
© Getty“Frequently, we have discussed my intended speech beforehand and, as you will imagine, his views have been expressed in a forthright manner,” she revealed. “He is someone who doesn’t take easily to compliments, but 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.”
The Queen reflects on her married years
Flash forward 15 years, and the Queen took the opportunity to gush over her husband in public again, leaving many years in between where she refrained from commenting on her marriage publicly.
© PA Images via Getty Images“During these years as your Queen, the support of my family has, across the generations, been beyond measure,” the royal said in her Diamond Jubilee address to Parliament at Westminster Hall in 2012.
Echoing her sentiments from 1997, the royal added: “Prince Philip is, I believe, well-known for declining compliments of any kind. But throughout, he has been a constant strength and guide.”
The secret to a happy marriage
Even in their time apart, the Queen and Prince Philip put the unwavering strength of their bond on full display. They were not a couple who had to spend excessive amounts of time together in order to feel reassured.
© Getty ImagesIn fact, in 2017, Prince Philip relocated to Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate to commence a quiet retirement while his wife remained at Windsor Castle to honour her duties as an active monarch.
During their final years together, the pair focused on quality over quantity when it came to their alone time. In September 2020, ahead of the second national Covid-19 lockdown, Vanity Fair reported: “When Philip retired in 2017, he settled into a private and solitary way of life, though royal historian Hugo Vickers said that the queen would take the train to visit him frequently before the pandemic started.”
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