Philip the patriarch
Early in their marriage, the then Princess Elizabeth pointedly took a sharp intake of breath as her husband drove through country lanes, with his uncle, Louis Mountbatten, in the back of the car.
“Look, if you do that once more I will put you out of the car,” Philip shrieked.
When they arrived at their destination, a shaken Mountbatten asked Elizabeth: “Why do you let him speak to you like that?” She replied: “Oh, but you heard what he said – and he meant it.”
Royal biographer, Sarah Bradford, says: “The anecdote illustrates why their marriage was a success. Elizabeth is a traditionalist and, to her, the husband was head of the family, even when, as in her case, she was the heir to the throne.”
Although he spent more than 60 years walking a few paces behind the
