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daughter in the terms that his own father had used about her when they had left her in
1927: ‘He is too sweet for words stumping around the room.’ She returned home on 28
December, but flew out again to join Philip on 28 March 1950. Her twenty-fourth
birthday was on 21 April 1950. Peter Howes, Mountbatten’s Flag Captain, organized a
group of young officers into an impromptu choir. At 8.45 a.m. her telephone rang.
When she answered, she heard a spirited rendering of’Happy Birthday’ accompanied by
some of the band of HMS Liverpool. According to Mountbatten who heard it from Bobo,
‘Lilibet was wildly excited and kept saying, “Oh! Thank you, thank you! That was sweet
but who are you?”’ This was followed by the second verse rendered by the Officers’ Glee
Club and a bagpipe refrain. ‘Lilibet first went white, then quite red, and ended up with
tears in her eyes.’ ‘She’s so sweet and attractive,’ he added, ‘at times I think she likes me
too but she’s too reserved to give any indication.’ 20
Elizabeth flew back to England to await the arrival of her baby. Leaving Malta on 9
May the plane had to turn back and land at Nice because of severe thunderstorms and
the royal party spent the night at the Negresco before going on to London the next day.
It was a particularly happy time for her as she told a friend:
Both Philip and I are very thrilled about the new baby and we only hope that Charles will take kindly to it.
He has only seen Fortune Euston’s baby at close quarters and he then tried to pull her toes off and poke her
eyes out, all of which she took very kindly, having a brother of 2 who presumably did the same.
Philip’s naval career was progressing; he had been told that he was to be promoted to
lieutenant commander and would get command of his own ship. ‘Philip will be
remaining in the Mediterranean for some time as he has just got command of a ship
which has been his goal ever since he returned to naval duties and not unnaturally he is
very thrilled about it,’ Elizabeth wrote.
Before taking up his command, Philip followed his wife to England, arriving on 27
July in good time for the birth at 11.50 a.m. on 15 August 1950 of Princess Anne
Elizabeth Alice Louise at Clarence House. For Prince Charles, the return of his father
closely followed by the appearance of a new baby must have been something of a shock.
A photograph of the time shows him peering into the cradle with a slightly puzzled air.
He was almost two years old and had not seen his father for nearly a year, his mother
only at intervals. Now the appearance of a new sister as the focus of everyone’s
attention must have been very confusing; only his loving grandparents and his
unchanging nursery retinue provided stability. His father left again for Malta on 1
September and in December his mother went out to join him. At Christmas Prince
Charles and his new sister went as usual with their grandparents to Sandringham.
Philip’s first command was a frigate, HMS Magpie. Reports of his effect upon Magpie’s
crew were various. Philip was fiercely competitive; his ship had to be the best at
everything, on manoeuvres and even at the annual regatta where she won six out of ten
events with the captain rowing stroke in one of the winning races. The crew called him
‘Dukey’ – presumably not to his face. Some of them liked him, or said they did: ‘He
worked us like hell, but treated us like gentlemen.’ Some did not; one said he’d rather