Rare Details About Prince Philip And Queen Elizabeth's Odd Relationship

It might surprise you to learn that Philip was born far from London. Born a Prince of both Greece and Denmark, he spent his earliest days on the Grecian isle of Corfu. His family, however, soon had to flee their posh villa.

After his father made poor tactical decisions during the Greco-Turkish War, the Prince had to leave his homeland behind for good. He spent his youth educated in schools across France, England, and Germany, and Philip often saw little of his family. But on his own, he thrived.

But Philip's ties to other European royal families kept him in good company. In fact, at the wedding of Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark to Prince George, Duke of Kent, the teenager met an 8-year-old Princess Elizabeth. They would reunite years later, but not before a string of tragedies.

Philip's family fell to pieces. His father was distant, while his mother was committed to a mental hospital. His sister, two nephews, and dear uncle all died within succession of each other. A lesser man might've fallen to pieces, but young Philip gave himself over to a higher cause.

Joining the British Royal Navy in 1939, Philip sprinted into the belly of beast that was World War II. Aboard various battleships, he defended the Mediterranean against Italian invaders. His superiors lauded the intrepid sailor, and a 21-year-old Philip reached the rank of first lieutenant.

He'd already steered the future course of the United Kingdom, but Philip was far from done. That much was clear when he reentered the orbit of the charming Princess Elizabeth. The two fell for each other, though there was a snag in their romantic plans.

Because Elizabeth was first in line for the British throne, the Windsors didn't want any outside influences — namely those of Greece or Denmark — creeping into Buckingham Palace. Philip learned that if he wanted Elizabeth's hand in marriage, he'd have to make a great sacrifice.

Philip had to renounce his royal titles in Greece and Denmark; that was an easy choice for him. But the royal family also refused him the traditional right of having his children bear his own last name — House of Mountbatten — and specified that he could never become King.

He settled for the title of Consort of the Queen, but Philip still looked to make his mark. He proudly accompanied Elizabeth all over the world, though his international visits often came with embarrassing gaffes. These includes refusing to pet a koala out of fear and asking a Kenyan lady if she was a woman.

But the Prince still cut a gallant figure. When his foot wasn't in his mouth, his hands were on the throttle of a plane — his favorite hobby. The sporting fellow taught himself to pilot all manner of aircraft. However, Philip's life couldn't be all fun and games.

As kids came into the picture, Philip was not what you'd consider a warm and fuzzy father figure. The naval veteran and avid sportsman was particularly prickly around the boy who would one day be King.

Philip and the sensitive Prince Charles were just different, and that didn't make their relationship easy. According to royal expert Penny Junor, Philip "has no patience with his eldest son’s soul-searching" and "has spent a lifetime criticizing him and quietly undermining his self-esteem."

On the other hand, Philip supported his son's life decisions by welcoming Princess Diana with open arms — unlike some other royals. She even referred to Philip as "Pa." He grieved her shocking passing, and when Charles remarried years later, Philip neglected to attend.

That isn't to say that Philip ever shirked his royal duties. Over the course of 50 years, he delivered about eight speeches per month at large-scale events and galas. He also became president of the English Speaking Union, which promotes public speaking about international youth.

His efforts have earned Philip serious admirers too. The residents of Tanna, an island in the South West Pacific, actually worship the Prince as a divine being. They believe he fulfilled an ancient prophecy and is responsible for all kinds of key world events, including the elimination of Osama Bin Laden.

But even gods get tired after a while. At the age of 96, Philip announced in 2017 that he was retiring from royal duties. Even then, he still appeared at select military and family ceremonies. He had bigger priorities at his age.

The Duke wanted to spend more time with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, whom he had an easier time understanding than he did with Charles, by most accounts. His guidance and care for them means that Philip's influence will remain in the royal family for generations to come.

Most importantly, he will go down in history as the longest serving consort to a British monarch in history. Most people couldn't stomach being married to a Queen for 74 years, but Philip shared some surprising relationship advice.

"Tolerance is the one essential ingredient of any happy marriage," he revealed in 1997. Even in rough patches, the Duke and the Queen knew they were on the same side. Also, they had separate — but connected — bedrooms, which couldn't hurt. Sadly, they couldn't remain together forever.

Philip's health visibly declined in 2021, and not even a heart procedure earlier in the year could prevent the inevitable. He passed away on April 9th at the age of 99 — just a couple months from reaching triple digits. In his final months, he demanded a "no fuss" funeral, and apparently he and Elizabeth pondered over questions about the family's future.

Philip and Elizabeth were notably worried about the possibility of Charles making shocking alterations to the British Monarchy. Their son is not one to blindly follow tradition and has a reputation for stepping over boundaries set by his mother, especially when it comes to doing the right thing.

He believes that the monarchy should be pared back and that royal expenses should be paid for privately, not out of public coffers. He's lobbied against genetically modified foods, and has called for climate change action, so there's reason to believe Charles might act on other tough topics.

Charles is also in favor of turning the palace into an accessible space for the public, and situating the smaller Windsor Castle as the main dwelling-place of the monarchy instead. And, given his predisposition for shake-ups, it's no surprise that he might choose to investigate a long-hidden cold case.

You see, in the bowels of Westminster Abbey, the royal church that's stood in London since 1245, there's an urn that contains human bones. It's long been suspected that those remains might belong to two murdered princes.

In 1483, the princes Edward V and Richard, Duke of York went missing. The boys were 12 and 9 years old, respectively, and were under the guardianship of their uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester, after their father had suddenly died.

Edward V was in fact no longer prince at that time, as he had automatically succeeded as king once his father died. His brother, the Duke of York, was second in line to the throne, and their uncle was third...but he wanted the boys out of the way.

After the boys began to fade from public view, and disappeared entirely in June 1483, Richard was the number one suspect. This did not prevent him from ascending to the throne, however. His royal title was King Richard III; the public called him Richard the Usurper.

All seemed lost until 1674, when workers discovered two small skeletons in a box buried under a staircase in the Tower of London. There was no inscription on the box, but tellingly, the Tower was exactly where the two missing princes had lived.

Back then, there was no way to know who the remains belonged to. Nobody knew for sure whether they were the lost Edward and Richard — and if anyone had a hunch, they weren't telling. So, the bones were interred in Westminster Abbey and mostly forgotten.

That all changed in the summer of 2012. In August, the University of Leicester assembled a team of archaeologists to search for, and finally find, Richard III's remains, because they too were missing.

After Richard III died, the English royalty scrubbed him from many records. His burial had been unceremonious, in a tomb under a church that had been destroyed by Henry VIII, and there was only one clue that remained.

The best hint to the Usurper's whereabouts was an old map of the church, which matched a site map of a modern London parking lot. Figuring they had a good shot at finding something, the archaeology team got to work digging up the lot.

It wasn't long before they were rewarded. Slowly, the excavation unearthed a human skeleton. It bore severe injuries, undoubtedly sustained in battle, that matched historical descriptions of Richard III's body and wounds.

Researchers were able to obtain a DNA sample from the bones, and traced the old king's relatives to find Michael Ibsen, who descended from Richard's sister Anne of York. Michael's DNA swab matched the other sample enough to determine that the body was Richard's. The historic moment wasn't over, though.

The Richard III Society, which is devoted to bringing truth about the old king's reign to light, called for the bones to be DNA matched with the remains found in the Tower of London all those years prior.

They asked Westminster Abbey to give permission, since that's where the urn is housed, but after the Queen herself was personally consulted, the answer she gave was that testing wouldn't be allowed.

It wasn't the first time Westminster Abbey had been entreated to put the matter to rest. During renovations in the 1990s, permission had been asked to examine some old vaults by fiber-optic camera, to see if those remains could be linked to the lost princes...but the Queen said no.

There's cause to believe that when Charles' time comes, he may be more accommodating to this request than his mom. It's clear he cares about opening up the monarchy more to the public, but there's another reason.

When Charles studied at Cambridge University from 1967 to 1970, he studied archaeology, anthropology, and history. Given those interests, it's highly likely he'd be down to unearth the truth behind the royal remains.

And while we can understand the queen's desire for ancient remains to be left undisturbed — they're her distant family, after all — we can hold out hope that Charles might allow testing, out of love for history and science.