Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip got married on November 20, 1947, and they will be celebrating their 72nd wedding anniversary. But then, many are wondering if Her Majesty had other suitors before marrying her husband.
Many royal fans talked about whether or not Queen Elizabeth entertained suitors before Prince Philip, and this was posted via the online forum site Quora. It was believed that Her Majesty was smitten with the Duke of Edinburgh after she officially met him for the first time when she was just 13-years-old.
According to an author and social advocate Rhys Hoffman, Prince Philip was reportedly deemed "entirely unsuitable" for Queen Elizabeth back in the days. While he was born Prince of Greece and Denmark, he reportedly came from the family of exiles.
Hoffman said that Prince Philip's serious contender was Henry Herbert, who became the 7th Earl of Caernarvon later on. His family reportedly owned the Highclere Estate, which is known as the Downton Abbey. Queen Elizabeth and the Lord Porchester became good friends and even remained "lifelong friends."
Reports said that the monarch called him Porchey, which she used as affectionate nickname referring to his then-title. The two reportedly know each other when they were still young, and they quickly bonded since they share a passion for horses.
Their close friendship was shown in the royalty-focused Netflix series The Crown, wherein the then-Princess Elizabeth shown reunited with him. The events there happened when the fidelity of Prince Philip was in doubt, which makes the plot of the series even more thrilling.
Her Majesty remained close friends with Lord Porchester until his death, and she even attended his funeral, which reportedly considered breaking with the protocol.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Davies, who's a graduate from the University of Liverpool, said that Her Majesty's father - King George VI - was trying to entice his daughter away from Prince Philip, especially when she made up her mind on him even though she was still young back then.
Davies claimed that the King took Queen Elizabeth off on an extended trip to South Africa because he's hoping that the Duke of Edinburgh would wander off. However, his plan reportedly didn't work, and they eventually announced the engagement.
Furthermore, the president, owner, and founder of Avian Technologies Limited, Dan Abraham Erlich, revealed that the monarch only had her eyes for her husband. That means no one had the chance to court her, and in fact, there were no records that anyone attempted doing so.
