Over the course of his life, Prince Philip has been known to make a controversial comment or two.
And according to a report, he uttered one of his most surprising declarations just before his wedding to the Queen back in 1947.
A story published by Express.co.uk today suggests that the Duke of Edinburgh expressed doubts that he was doing the right thing in marrying the future monarch.
The article cites a 1995 report published in The Mirror, in which royal correspondent James Whitaker made claims about the wedding at Westminster Abbey.
Whitaker reckoned that, as Philip prepared to tie the knot with the then-Princess Elizabeth, a relative told him to have a “great day”.
The Duke is said to have replied: “I don’t know if I’m being very brave or very foolish.”
It’s also claimed in Express.co.uk’s article that Philip ‘struggled with constantly being in the Queen’s shadow’ in the early days of their marriage.
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The report states that an Australian once told the Duke: “My wife is a doctor of philosophy and much more important than I am.”
To which Philip is said to have replied: “Ah yes, we have that trouble in our family too.”
The Queen is said to have had her first publicised meeting with Prince Philip when she was 13 and he was 18.
Though the distant cousins had previously attended the same functions with their respective families, their first proper encounter is believed to have occurred at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth in 1939.
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Elizabeth was visiting with her father King George VI and mother Queen Elizabeth, while Philip was a naval cadet at the college.
According to the official biographer for George VI, Sir John Wheeler-Bennett, it was a pivotal moment for the future couple.
He wrote: ”This was the man with whom Princess Elizabeth had been in love from their first meeting.”
Well, if it’s true that the Duke of Edinburgh had doubts about marrying the future Queen, they turned out to be unfounded – this November, the couple will have been happily wed for 72 years.
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