Before Prince Philip captured Queen Elizabeth II’s heart, another aristocratic suitor may have been in the running for the future monarch.
According to royal historian Hugo Vickers, author of “Queen Elizabeth II: A Personal History,” his research revealed that Hugh, Earl of Euston — who later became the 11th Duke of Grafton — was considered a potential match for the young princess before she ultimately fell for the man who would become the love of her life.
“The Queen Mother was very keen that [her daughter] should marry a Grenadier Guard,” Vickers told Fox News Digital.
“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 and Princess Margaret, as young girls, were contained in Windsor Castle during the war,” Vickers shared. “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.”
“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 Lord Euston. I think it was slightly in the cards at one point, and that could have happened.”
According to the book, Sir Henry “Chips” Channon, a politician whose diaries chronicled what people in royal and high-society circles were saying at the time, believed that in 1943, Hugh was “reserved for a higher destiny — the very throne itself.”
“The Queen Mother may well have preferred an English aristocrat,” royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told Fox News Digital.
In the book, Lady Brigid Guinness told Channon that while Hugh was pursuing her, she believed he would wind up with the young Princess Elizabeth because “she likes him.”
But it was Lord Mountbatten, Philip’s uncle, who reportedly helped smooth the way for his nephew while other potential suitors, like Hugh, fell out of the picture.
“My understanding is that Lord Mountbatten was instrumental in getting Earl Euston a fabulous job as ADC (Aide-de-Camp) to the Viceroy of India,” Vickers told Fox News Digital. “So Earl Euston went to India, which, of course, got him out of the way.”
The book also suggests Hugh fell out of favor because the royal family came to see him as too passive. By October 1943, Channon was writing that the royal family had encouraged the Euston romance but dropped him as “too inert and énervé.” Billy Whitaker, a Grenadier Guard at Windsor, also told Channon that he thought Hugh hadn’t been seriously considered, whereas Philip was.
“I think it was a much better choice that Queen Elizabeth married Prince Philip,” said Vickers. “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. I think the Duke of Grafton, a charming and cultured man, would not have been a modernizer or a vibrant influence on how to move the House of Windsor forward.”
In 1946, Hugh married Ann Fortune Smith, a member of the Smith banking family. She went on to become Lady of the Bedchamber from 1953 to 1966 and then Mistress of the Robes to the queen from 1967 until she died in 2021 at age 101.
British broadcaster and photographer Helena Chard told Fox News Digital she believes Philip was destined to be with the late queen, who died in 2022 at age 96.
“Thirteen-year-old Princess Elizabeth fell head over heels with 18-year-old Philip on that crucial fine weekend of July 1939,” she explained. “She was so amazed by the handsome, athletic Philip. A smitten Elizabeth kept a photograph of Philip in her bedroom.”
“Despite Princess Elizabeth’s heart set on Philip, her parents thought he was a brash, totally unsuitable match,” said Chard. “They discussed other potential suitors from high-society circles. One of these high-ranking British nobles was the Earl of Euston. But after his marriage to Fortune, she became a close friend and confidante to Elizabeth, serving the royal household for 69 years, even accompanying the queen on overseas tours.”
“Elizabeth steadfastly refused to look at anyone else. If anyone was a possible match, it was Lord Porchester, nicknamed “Porchie.” At least he had a passion for horse racing. However, their relationship was platonic.”
The future queen and Philip would go on to develop a romantic relationship, though it was largely conducted through letters and occasional meetings. During World War II, Philip served in the Royal Navy, and the pair reportedly exchanged letters. By the mid-1940s, their relationship had become more serious.
Philip would visit the royal family when he was on leave. The then-princess remained committed to him despite concerns within royal circles about his finances, foreign background and family connections.
“Determined, Princess Elizabeth eventually convinced her father to allow her to marry Philip after a royal tour of South Africa,” said Chard. “King George VI realized that ‘distance made the heart grow fonder.’ Princess Elizabeth, now 21, didn’t forget about Philip. She missed him more.”
“The king was not enamored with Philip, who he saw as a rather brash young man,” royal broadcaster Ian Pelham Turner told Fox News Digital.
“But Elizabeth became infatuated with the dashing young blond. She kept a photograph of Philip, wearing a beard, in her boudoir without her parents’ permission. When it was obvious that Elizabeth was in love with Philip, the king took Elizabeth and her sister Margaret on a royal trip as a cooling-off period, to no avail. His daughter had made up her mind.”
“Princess Elizabeth’s parents eventually gave their full blessing,” said Chard. “Their engagement was officially announced in July 1947, and their relationship of choice, not arrangement, was a huge success. Let’s face it, Philip was the most handsome of them all!”
Elizabeth and Philip married on Nov. 20, 1947. Then in 1952, the king died of cancer at age 56. Philip gave up his naval career before pledging to become the queen’s “liege man of life and limb, and of earthly worship,” The Associated Press reported.
Philip spent more than seven decades supporting his wife. Before he died in 2021 at age 99, he fulfilled more than 20,000 royal engagements to boost British interests at home and abroad. He headed hundreds of charities, founded programs that helped British schoolchildren participate in outdoor adventures and played a prominent part in raising his four children.
“What many now don’t know or realize is that Prince Philip initially wasn’t viewed as appropriate by many, particularly courtiers, who found him too foreign, too rough-edged, too ambitious and insufficiently English,” said British royals expert Hilary Fordwich.
“It was a testament of the queen’s deep feelings for him that she wouldn’t be dissuaded from him despite considerable pressure from all sides. Their relationship was based on genuine love and mutual appreciation, rather unusual for royal marriages.”
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