Why The Queen Was Warned Not To Marry Prince Philip

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip are set to celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary next year, but their courtship wasn't all smooth sailing.

Royal Courtiers were very much against their union and marriage, and had the Queen listened to them, the royal family would look very different.

While most would see a sense of humour as a positive, those advising Elizabeth II said he was too 'funny' to be her partner, often making 'gaffes', according to the Queen's Biographer A N Wilson.

"The Queen is very reserved, diligent person. He isn’t. He was a naval officer and he was also quite funny."

The pair met when Elizabeth was 13 years old and he was 18 at on a visit to Dartmouth Naval College.

They were then married on November 20, 1947 - four years before the Queen's coronation.

“When she made it quite clear from the age of about 14 that she was in love with Prince Philip, who was a beautiful German Prince with blonde hair, all the courtiers said he was entirely the wrong person to choose," Wilson continued.

"Many of his jokes are extremely funny... He has been what she has described which is a tower of strength.

"The fact that he makes all these so-called gaffes, well I don’t think they are gaffes.

"They are the kind of jokes a naval officer of a certain age might make. I think [they are] made rather wonderfully."

It's safe to say after 69 years by each others side, the Courtier's were undoubtedly wrong!