The royals - Kitty Kelley [46]
Confiding in a friend, she said, “Believe it or not, I lie in my bath before dinner, and think, Oh, who am I going to sit by and what are they going to talk about? I’m absolutely terrified of sitting next to people in case they talk about things I have never heard of.”
A few years later Philip, too, would acknowledge his ignorance. “I regret to say that all my degrees are honorary ones,” he told students at the University of Delhi in India. Later he addressed the subject with students at the University of Wales. “My generation, although reasonably well schooled, is probably the worst educated of this age. The war cut short any chance there was of acquiring a higher education. I’m part of this lost generation trying to make up for what it missed between 1939 and 1945.”
When he and Elizabeth received honorary doctor of law degrees from London University, she, too, sounded humble. “There is one piece of fortune which we have never known,” she said. “We have never known a university from within….”
The King, a simple, uneducated man, prized his daughter’s lack of sophistication and wrote in his diary how much he would miss the charades, games, and parlor singsongs they had shared at Windsor Castle. At her wedding reception, he rose from his chair, raised his glass, and, pointedly ignoring the bridegroom, saluted his beloved daughter. “To the bride,” the King said with tears in his eyes. A few days later he sent her a touching letter:
… I was so proud of you & thrilled at having you so close to me on our long walk in Westminster Abbey, but when I handed your hand to the Archbishop I felt that I had lost something very precious. You were so calm and composed during the Service & said your words with such conviction, that I knew it was all right.
I am so glad you wrote & told Mummy that you think the long wait before your engagement & the long time before the wedding was for the best. I was rather afraid that you had thought I was being hard hearted about it. I was so anxious for you to come to South Africa as you knew.
Our family, us four, the “Royal Family,” must remain together with additions of course at suitable moments!! I have watched you grow up all these years with pride under the skilful direction of Mummy, who as you know is the most marvellous person in the world in my eyes, & I can, I know, always count on you, & now Philip, to help us in our work….
Your leaving us has left a great blank in our lives but do remember that your old home is still yours & do come back to it as much as possible. I can see that you are sublimely happy with Philip which is right but don’t forget us is the wish of
Your ever loving & devoted
Papa
SIX
A few months after their wedding Prince Philip complained that his young wife wanted sex constantly. He said he was astonished to find her insatiable. “I can’t get her out of my bed,” he said. “She’s always there. She’s driving me mad.”
Philip made these complaints during his 1948 visit to the South of France while his wife remained in England. He was traveling with his cousin David, the Marquess of Milford Haven, who was his best man and closest friend. They were staying in the Monaco apartment of an English friend, who entertained them and other visiting British nobility. Philip’s grousing shocked everyone, including his cousin, who criticized him in front of other guests for being indiscreet.
“Real swordsmen don’t discuss their fencing partners,” said Milford Haven.
“Prince Philip complained that he could not keep Princess Elizabeth out of his bed, that she was at him sexually all the time,” recalled the Duchess of Leeds, who was also vacationing in Monaco.
The Duke of Leeds reported Philip’s caddish behavior to his brother-in-law, Oliver Lyttleton, a leading Tory Member of Parliament, and strongly recommended an official sanction.
“We all thought that Philip was singularly unpleasant to discuss his wife in such an open manner,” said the Duke of Leeds. “He was a disgusting man.”
“My in-laws were stunned by Philip’s total lack of discretion,” said Nigel Dempster, the