The first mention of Prince Philip in this newspaper came with the announcement of his engagement to the future queen on 13 July, 1947. It is a measure of the privacy that the royals then enjoyed that no gossip or rumour of their years of courtship had previously been reported (they had in fact secretly agreed their union when Philip visited Balmoral at the end of the previous summer).
The Observer editorial gave spontaneous approval to the match, suggesting it required “no cheering to order”. There was something in it for everybody. “For the friends of tradition it offers a bridegroom of royal blood,” it was suggested; for “the friends of innovation, a British citizen without title”. Here was a leading man whom all audiences might enjoy. “To the popular fancy he may be the gallant mariner of romance; to his companions Lt Philip Mountbatten is known as the most active and able naval officer.”
That piece was pointedly set alongside another leading article which appraised the desperate state of the country as it struggled to emerge from the war: “A widespread impression…
