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Dartmouth; two of the boys had developed mumps and, therefore, Philip seems to have
been the only cadet with whom the Princesses were allowed to come into contact. He
joined them playing with a clockwork train on the nursery floor, but, not surprisingly,
soon got bored with the childish amusement and suggested going to the tennis courts
and jumping over the nets instead. ‘I thought he showed off a good deal,’ Crawfie wrote,
‘but the little girls were much impressed. Lilibet said, “How good he is, Crawfie. How
high he can jump.” She never took her eyes off him the whole time.’ Philip was quite
polite, but did not pay her any special attention, spending most of his time teasing
‘plump little Margaret’. He joined them on the yacht for lunch and again the next day
for lunch and tea, when he devoured platefuls of shrimps and a banana split before the
girls’ admiring eyes. The King, busy reliving old experiences at Dartmouth and
comparing records in the College punishment books with the Rear Admiral commanding
Yachts, seems not to have noticed anything until Philip brought himself to his attention
by being the last of the small boats to turn back as the Victoria & Albert left harbour.
‘Damn young fool!’ he is said to have roared, as the boy, rowing furiously, faded in the
yacht’s wake. Beside him on the bridge, Uncle Dickie was perhaps making a mental
note. There was, after all, only five years’ difference between his nephew and the future
Queen. Elizabeth, as her father’s official biographer was authorized by her to confirm,
had fallen in love with her future husband at their first meeting.