Prince Philip may have cheated on the Queen – but ‘Lilibet’ is his only love
EVER since the day a pompous courtier remarked that Prince Philip was “rough, ill-mannered, uneducated and would probably not be faithful,” the Duke of Edinburgh has been plagued by accusations of affairs.
Being handsome, flirtatious and a brilliant dancer hardly helped the rumours.
And now they have resurfaced in the second series of Netflix’s The Crown, which hints at the duke cheating on his beloved Elizabeth in the early years of their marriage.
In the beginning the prince didn’t give a damn.
He was predisposed to treat women well, having been brought up by three sisters, but was still a man of his time.
This was the age when women were advised their most important job was to “build up and maintain their man’s ego” whatever he did.
Books on how to be a good wife advised women to: “Wear the best quality underwear — preferably pink with lace and ruffles — and listen to their man always.”
They were not to nag or even proffer an opinion or: “He might look for peace elsewhere.”
And if he did stray: “Get over it — forgive and forget or still better — make believe you know nothing.”
Into this ultra-masculine world stepped the beautiful, naive Princess Elizabeth.
And instead of some chinless aristocrat at her side there was an extraordinarily handsome Prince of Greece and Denmark.
He had no estates to his name and no money, but he was of royal blood and shared the same great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria, with the princess.
They married in 1947 and hoped for a family life together before Elizabeth became Queen.
But as her father King George VI’s health deteriorated, the princess was obliged to take on more and more royal duties, leaving Philip to kick his heels when he was home from his Naval duties.
The rumours of flirtations started right after their marriage.
In 1948, when Elizabeth was pregnant with Charles, papers ran a story about Philip’s alleged fling with actress Pat Kirkwood, with whom he danced “until dawn” at a nightclub.
She was forced to deny stories of an affair for the rest of her life.
Then, in 1956, the then-Queen asked her husband to open the Olympics in Melbourne, with the addition of a months-long world tour on board the Royal Yacht Britannia.
His absence fuelled more stories, and although the Queen never spoke about them in public, the Palace was eventually forced to issue a statement that said: “It is quite untrue that there is a rift between the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. It is a lie.”
Philip was pragmatic as always, admitting: “Short of starting libel proceedings, there is absolutely nothing to be done.”
Also linked to him was another actress, Katie Boyle, who called the claims “ludicrous, pure fabrication” and novelist Daphne du Maurier, 14 years his senior.
He was also alleged to have relationships with Jane, Countess of Westmorland, and Sacha, Duchess of Abercorn.
She also denied claims, saying: “I did not go to bed with him . . . It wasn’t like that.”
The longest-lived rumour was that concerning his friendship with cabaret artist Helene Cordet, who called the stories “ridiculous”.
They had been childhood friends and when Helene refused to name the father of her two children conceived while separated from her first husband, suspicions were aroused, especially after Philip became godfather to both.
Despite the denials of all these ladies, the gossip continued.
Satirical magazine Private Eye even linked Philip with Stephen Ward, the society osteopath at the centre of the Profumo affair in 1963.
Ward was a fellow member of Philip’s luncheon club, The Thursday Club, and notorious for throwing wild parties at which “the man in the mask” served drinks wearing only a skimpy apron.
Private Eye took to referring to Philip as “the naked waiter”, but in the investigation by Lord Denning into the Profumo affair Ward was described as an unreliable witness.
The stories continued and Philip did little to stop them.
He spent many weekends apart from his wife and when he was competing in carriage driving events moved from country house to country house.
He would have had plenty of opportunity to conduct discreet affairs, as many of his friends did.
Susie Barrantes, the attractive mother of Sarah Ferguson, came into Philip’s orbit because she and husband Ronald were sometimes weekend guests at Sandringham.
The Queen always seated Philip next to the prettiest lady present — usually Susie — because it kept him happy and in a good mood.
It still does. For many years one of Philip’s great friends has been the beautiful Penny Brabourne, now Lady Mountbatten.
Almost every weekend she was a guest at Windsor Castle, carriage driving with Philip and entertaining him and the Queen with amusing society gossip.
That gossip eventually included her, and when Prince Charles heard of his father’s alleged affair with the butcher’s daughter he was said to have been horrified.
But was it true? I think it too open and too obvious, but it will persist for ever.
The Queen appears not to mind. She knows her husband enjoys the company of pretty women, preferably years younger than he is.
And there is no doubt of his closeness to Penny.
In 1996 a snooping radio ham recorded a phone call made by Philip to a “plummy-voiced” woman, who turned out to be Penny, in which they discussed the bitter marriage battle between Charles and Diana.
Philip tried hard to help Diana but eventually told her that her wayward behaviour was destroying the essence of everything he and the Queen had dedicated their lives to preserving.
Diana decided she was going to do her utmost to discover about his alleged affairs as a revenge for what she saw as his disloyalty.
She believed he had illegitimate children whose identity was never going to be allowed to come to light.
The truth about Philip and his ladies will never be known.
The Queen may have turned a blind eye, as women of her generation often did. She may not have needed to.
She was always secure in Philip’s love.
Their marriage has worked for 70 years and he, in turn, has been her greatest support.
“Lilibet”, as the duke calls her, has always been the most important person in his life.
- Ingrid Seward is the author of My Husband and I: The Seventy-Year Marriage of the Queen and Prince Philip, (Simon & Schuster) £20.
The Crown, starring Claire Foy as the Queen and Matt Smith as Philip, returns for a new series on Netflix on December 8.
WRITER: ROYALS A 'VIRUS'
ROYAL TV drama The Crown is penned by a writer who describes the British monarchy as “a mutating virus” and “deranged”.
Self-proclaimed republican Peter Morgan has also declared that the Queen is “a countryside woman of limited intelligence.”
But that has not stopped him from accepting a CBE last year for services to drama and making a career of writing about the royal family.
Before his current TV Netflix hit, whose new series features Prince Philip enjoying a dalliance with a fictional ballet dancer, Morgan was best known for 2006 movie The Queen.
He also wrote 2013 West End play The Audience, which starred Dame Helen Mirren as Her Majesty.
Public school-educated Morgan, 54, inset, even married into the nobility – his ex-wife Lila Schwarzenberg is an Austrian princess. They have five children together but split up in 2014 after 17 years.
He is now dating former X Files actress Gillian Anderson, 49.
The second series of The Crown, which starts next month, also features a scene with Philip telling a flirty journalist about his pro-Nazi sisters.
Morgan’s father, Arthur Morgenthau, was a German Jew who fled the Nazis in 1933 and found refuge in Britain.
The writer’s other screenplays include Formula One movie Rush, The Last King of Scotland, The Damned United and the Oscar- nominated Frost/Nixon.
