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dynasty showed every sign of surviving not only Hitler but the Socialists. At this party
the King led the conga, a dance in which everyone present formed a chain by holding on
to the waist of the
person in front; the chain then snaked through the Palace corridors with such riotous
enthusiasm that Princess Juliana’s tiara fell off and had to be retrieved and stuck on
again.
One of the King’s most cherished wedding presents to his daughter and future son-inlaw
was to bestow upon them his favourite Order, the Garter. Typically, he ensured his
daughter’s precedence by giving it to her a week before he gave it to Philip. At the same
time he carefully chose titles for ‘Lieutenant Mountbatten’, tactfully referring to each
part of the United Kingdom except Northern Ireland (possibly because relations with
Eire, soon to become the Republic of Ireland, were at a delicate stage). Philip
Mountbatten, RN, became a Royal Highness and, in ascending order, Baron Greenwich,
Earl of Merioneth and Duke of Edinburgh. From 21 November he was to be known as
His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and Elizabeth as Her Royal
Highness The Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh. Philip was to rank as a British
prince, signing himself ‘Philip’ and not ‘Edinburgh’. 15 The titles were only gazetted on
the morning of the wedding with the announcement of the Garter which Philip had been
given the previous day. The King’s desire to keep it all secret meant that it was too late
for the printing of the order of service for the wedding. For all his high-sounding titles,
the bridegroom’s name appeared on these simply as ‘Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten,
RN’.
Prince Philip and his best man and cousin, David Milford Haven, spent the night
before his wedding at the Kensington Palace apartments of his grandmother, the
Marchioness of Milford Haven, where his mother, Princess Alice, was also staying. ‘Their
rooms were astonishingly poor and humble – floors scrubbed boards with worn rugs,’
John Dean noted. A riotous stag-night party was held at the Dorchester Hotel. It was
very much a naval officers’ night out, masterminded with his usual efficiency by
Mountbatten (now no longer Viceroy but Governor-General of the newly independent
India), who had understandably felt unable to miss his nephew’s wedding. The occasion
was slightly marred by the first of the Prince’s run-ins with the press, although this was
handled with aplomb by Mountbatten who persuaded the photographers to hand over
their cameras for the guests to take photographs of them. The flashbulbs were then
ripped out of the cameras and smashed, effectively ending the photographers’ night out.
At 7 a.m. on the wedding morning, Dean brought Philip his tea and found him in great
form, cheerful and in no way nervous. He breakfasted as usual on toast and coffee, then
dressed in his ordinary naval uniform, his concession to his new status being the
insignia of Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter. His ceremonial sword had
belonged to his grandfather, Prince Louis of Battenberg, a touch which must have
pleased his uncle Mountbatten (and may well have been suggested by him). Philip was
ready too soon, but resisted the temptation to have a cigarette; he gave up smoking
from the day of his wedding to please Elizabeth, a non-smoker. He did, however, have a