When and where did The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh first meet?
What was Princess Elizabeth’s wedding ring made from?
Where did Prince Philip have his stag night?
How many grandchildren do the Royal Couple have?

Find out the answers to these questions and more in our 60 facts section.

  1. The Queen is the first British monarch to have celebrated a Diamond Wedding Anniversary.
  2. Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip first met when they attended the wedding of Prince Philip’s cousin, Princess Marina of Greece to The Duke of Kent, who was an uncle of Princess Elizabeth, in 1934.
  3. The engagement between Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten R.N was announced on the 9th July, 1947.  Prince Philip was born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark.  He joined the Royal Navy in 1939 and after the war, in February 1947, became a naturalised British subject.  Prince Philip was required to choose a surname in order to continue his career in the Royal Navy, and adopted Mountbatten, the name of his mother’s British relatives.  He was created “Duke of Edinburgh” by King George VI on marriage.
  4. The platinum and diamond engagement ring was made by the jewellers, Philip Antrobus Ltd, using diamonds from a tiara belonging to Prince Philip’s mother.
  5. Prince Philip had two stag parties the night before the wedding – the first at the Dorchester to which the press were invited and the second with his closest friends at the Belfry Club.

  1. The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh were married in Westminister Abbey on the 20th November, 1947 at 11.30am with 2000 invited guests.
  2. This was the first, and so far only time in British history, that the heir presumptive to the throne had been married.
  3. The Queen was the 10th member of the Royal Family to be married in the Abbey. The first Royal wedding to take place in the Abbey was when King Henry I married Princess Matilda of Scotland on 11th November, 1100. On April 26th, 1923 The Queen’s parents King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (then The Duke and Duchess of York) were married there.
  4. There were two pages: HRH Prince William of Gloucester (aged 5) and HRH Prince Michael of Kent (aged 5).
  5. Guests attending the wedding included the The King and Queen of Denmark, the King and Queen of Yugoslavia, the Kings of Norway, Romania and the Shah of Iran.


Princess Elizabeth and The Duke of Edinburgh leave Westminster Abbey following their wedding in November 1947.
© Press Association

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