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RECENTLY DISCLOSED government documents from fifty years ago have revealed that the Queen’s marriage to Prince Philip in 1947 was queried when the legitimacy of his grand-father’s marriage, and subsequently his own parents marriage, were brought in to question. Under the 1772 Royal Marriage Act, members of the Royal family must receive the sovereign’s permission to marry, otherwise the union is regarded as illegal and invalid and the offspring illegitimate. Prince Philip’s grand-father, a German Prince, Louis of Battenberg, became a naturalized British citizen in 1868, but did not ask Queen Victoria’s permission to marry. He believed that the Royal Marriage Act did not apply to him. But Louis’s marriage and the marriage of his children (Philip’s parents) were technically illegal under the law, and Churchill and his cabinet were aware of the discrepancies. They did not want a public discussion of Philip’s situation, however, that may have led to discord that could have harmed the monarchy.

The crisis arose when a German cousin of the Queen petitioned the High Court for British citizenship, and it was thought that during the case such information could be made public. Churchill and his inner circle decided that Prince Philip was personally not at fault and the whole situation was quietly designated to a secret government file in 1955.

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich, was born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark in 1921. He renounced his foreign titles after becoming a naturalized Briton. He married the then Princess Elizabeth in November of 1947.