ROYAL FAMILY NEWSQueen Elizabeth's Mother 'Preferred' She Marry an 'English Aristocrat' Over Prince Philip, Royal Expert Claims
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip married in 1947.
June 1 2026, Published 2:18 p.m. ET
Queen Elizabeth could have been married to a very different man if the Queen Mother had gotten her way.
The late monarch tied the knot with longtime love Prince Philip in 1947. However, their union created controversy at the time due to the late Duke of Edinburgh being foreign-born, his lack of financial standing and his family having German N--- ties.
Queen Elizabeth became monarch at the age of 25 in 1952.
Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told Fox News on Monday, June 1, how the Queen Mother "may well have preferred an English aristocrat" over Philip.
"The Queen Mother was very keen that [her daughter] should marry a Grenadier Guard," historian Hugo Vickers also revealed to the outlet. "And the Grenadier Guards [are] the most prestigious of all the British regiments. If you're a Grenadier Guard, you are the top."
Queen Elizabeth Was 'Contained' in Windsor Castle During World War II
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip formally met as teenagers in 1939.
Vickers explained Hugh FitzRoy, 11th Duke of Grafton, was seen as a main contender for the queen's young heart before Philip was brought into the picture.
"Queen Elizabeth and [her sister] Princess Margaret, as young girls, were contained in Windsor Castle during the war," he continued. "There were quite a number of Grenadier Guards stationed. And Princess Margaret used to say that the whole of the castle was surrounded by barbed wire, which wouldn’t have kept the Germans out, but certainly kept [them] in."
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Prince Philip's Uncle Was Instrumental in His Marriage to Queen Elizabeth
The couple was married for 73 years until Prince Philip died in 2021.
Vickers added: "With all of these Grenadier Guards around the place, the queen mother was very much hoping — she placed a number of Grenadier Guards, as it were, on Princess Elizabeth’s path. She would have loved her to marry [FitzRoy]. I think it was slightly in the cards at one point, and that could have happened."
However, it was Lord Mountbatten, Philip's uncle, who pushed FitzRoy out of the picture to make way for his nephew.
The naval officer scored FitzRoy a job as the Aide-de-Camp (also known as a secretary) to the Viceroy of India to "get him out of the way," according to Vickers.
Queen Elizabeth Ascended to the British Throne in 1952
'Prince Philip was a breath of fresh air,' royal expert Hugo Vickers said.
Philip and the queen formally met at Britannia Royal Naval College in 1939, when he was an 18-year-old cadet and she was just a 13-year-old princess.
The pair exchanged letters over the years and married once World War II concluded. The Greek-born Philip was made a consort of the queen once she ascended to the throne in 1952 after her father, King George VI, died.
"I think it was a much better choice that Queen Elizabeth married Prince Philip," Vickers noted. "Prince Philip was a breath of fresh air. He had a very good naval career during the war. He was bursting with ideas."
"They feared he would be a modernizer. They were absolutely right," he said.
