‘Protagonist’ in Empire’s Longest Love Story -1939/2022: Good Night Sweet Princess…

The literally glittering and visually dazzling Imperial State Crown with nearly 3,000 diamonds and gems set into its platinum frame– [a blue sapphire weighing 104 carats and is believed to have originated from Sri Lanka studded prominently] adorned the coffin carrying the remains of late Queen Elizabeth II. She will be honored with a state funeral at Westminster Abbey today at 3.30 pm local time. Nearly 500 dignitaries from around the globe are set to descend on London to pay their last respects to the long-reigning monarch alongside the Royal family in one of the biggest diplomatic events of the century, A Sri Lanka born, Vanessa Nandakumaran, became the first to pay respects to the late Queen in London, as she joined and endured long hours standing in the miles long line of mourners at the palace.

Alathea Howard, later Countess Fitzwilliam, was Princess’ friend who left a record that presents an exclusive window into life of the nation’s future Queen. At the commencement of the war, Alathea was sent to live with her grandfather Lord Fitzalan and maiden Aunt Magdalen at Cumberland in Windsor Great Park. The friendship she had with Elizabeth and  Margaret, who left London too for Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park made Alathea riding her bicycle to the Castle spend her days with the Royals. She wrote on Lilibet’s ardent courtship that lasted beyond-the bonds of matrimony and vows, “to love and to cherish, till death do us apart, according to God’s holy law...” 

As many children did, Alathea had been keeping a diary which offer fascinating insights into the life of the Royals. Through the unfiltered prose of a young writer, one can observe an intimate portrait of  Princess Elizabeth. There are quite a lot of things in her diaries about times she was with them.   

Lilibet 13 – Cut photos of “My boy”

Alathea says, ‘Elizabeth fell in love with an eighteen year-old boy, and they began to exchange letters from the age of 13’. In one particularly pleasant entry on April 3, 1941, the 14-year-old Lilibet confides in Alathea about “My boy,” saying she “cuts photos [of him] out of the paper.” In turn, Alathea divulged of her own teenage crush and records in the diary Lilibet as saying, “We part at the moment the wiser for two secrets.” ‘My boy’ was none other than, Philip himself.

Adding another record to royal archives, the marriage was the longest of any British monarch, lasting more than 73 years until Philip’s death in April 2021. The wedding took place on November 20, 1947; Prince Philip was not only Queen’s constant companion and support for seven decades, but enamored lover for eighty three years until his death on April 9, 2021, but his imperative role in the monarchy went largely unnoticed. Ingrid Seward’s biography of the Duke, gives the full story of his amazing role and achievements. 
Concerned by her father’s poor health caused by heavy smoking, Elizabeth insisted that Philip give up smoking, which he did on their wedding day. 

[Ref.“The Windsor Diaries: My Childhood with the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret” --Alathea Howard]. 

VE Day: Slipped out to join crowds

Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany’s unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, May 8, 1945. Delight and relief broke through the fear and gloom of World War II, and everyone in Britain gathered with their loved ones to celebrate. The Queen was then 19 years old and first in line to the throne, hemmed in by royal protocol and formality.

When Queen declared 70th VE Day celebrations in 2015 across Europe, her mind may well travel back to that special day. The film ‘A Royal Night Out’ shows, she was able - for one night only - to slip out unnoticed beyond the Palace walls and, with her sister Margaret join in the thousands of revelers across London town; [however, the writers of the film have let their imaginations run wild with their narrative], with the young Princess Margaret and the King and Queen left to keep the home fires burning in Buckingham Palace. Lilibet later she revealed how she and her sister Margret “cheated” to make sure their parents appeared on the balcony to their shouts of “We want the King.”
“We were successful in seeing my parents on the balcony, having cheated slightly because we sent a message into the house to say we were waiting outside, I think it was one of the most memorable nights of my life,” the Queen wrote in her diary.

However, the princesses were accompanied at all times by a 16-strong squad of chaperones. There is also no public suggestion they misbehaved, disappeared or fell in love in contrast to fictionalized story in the film.
Unlike in Sri Lanka, entering Buckingham Palace was not a crime: Intruder was not charged! An occasion that would secure a place in history as one of the major security breaches of the 20th century.  

Prime ministers have come and gone; the royal family itself has endured division; battles have been fought, won and lost. But in 1982, immediately after celebrating her ‘official’ 56th birthday, the Queen became involved in one of the most bizarre – and scandalous – incident of her reign. In one of Britain’s biggest security disgraces, the intruder snuck into Palace on July 9, 1982, breaking into the home of the British monarch, let alone Her Majesty’s bedroom around 6.45 am should be no mean feat. The 31-year old Michael Fagan, after a night of drinking, scaled his way up the 14ft boundary walls, dropped silently – and way up a drainpipe onto the roof, and entered through an unlocked window into the residential wing apparently unsuspectingly, to the bedroom to exchange a few words with the 56-year old monarch.

In 1993, BBC interviewed Fagan, he said that he drew the curtains, when she realized there was a trespasser. He sat on the end of her bed — then she yelled at him to leave, and ran out of the room. Fagan explained.  Later, at the behest of Queen, her staff served a drink to the intruder while they lingered for the police to show up.  

Mountbatten the Match-maker? 

Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma was a British naval officer, colonial administrator and relative of the  Royal family. He was a maternal uncle of Prince Philip, and a second cousin of Queen Elizabeth’s father, King George VI. He was appointed, as Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia in the WW II and occupied Kings Pavilion in Kandy, Sri Lanka as his residence. A few years before, Mountbatten (37) asked his nephew, the 18-year old Naval Cadet Philip to accompany the two little princesses Lilibet [Elizabeth]13, and Maggie [Margret] 9, [who happened to be Philip’s third cousins through Queen Victoria], when the Royal family toured the Naval College, Dartmouth in 1938. The walk around the base was the first leg of their journey together that ended in half an hour: but it was also the beginning of an 83 year-long journey through life that ended in 2021 at the death of 99 year old Duke of Edinburg in 2021. 

Eventually, in April 1946, Philip directly approached the King for his daughter’s hand in marriage, unlike in ordinary families, it was granted, provided that formal engagement be deferred until Elizabeth’s 21st birthday. The engagement was announced to the public on July 9, 1947. Today, the Queen will leave the castle watched by billions of mourners around the world, as the profoundly beloved monarch will be laid to rest to join with her family at King George VI Memorial Chapel, at Windsor Castle, the resting place of her parents and sister, and not alongside her ‘My boy’ [Prince Philip’s remains] who was buried in the Royal Vault, proving the Castle’s insensitivity to the 83-year love story. Further, they are breaking centuries of tradition, [since the funeral of George II in 1760], the royal service will not be held at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor, but at Westminster Abbey.

… May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”
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