HARRY BENSON Our photographer captures Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in 1966

Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, and HRH Queen Elizabeth II in 1966.

IT SEEMS LIKE YESTERDAY

HOW MANY COUPLES can you think of whose marriage lasted 74 years? As this issue of Quest celebrates weddings, it struck me that the longest marriage I knew anything about was that of HRH Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.

The young princess first met her future husband, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, in 1934 when she was only eight years old. Thirteen years later, on November 20, 1947, they married in a resplendent ceremony at Westminster Abbey.

The Queen could not have had a better, more perfect partner…handsome and regal, he was a great asset to her majesty—always deferring to her as Queen, yet he was a real man’s man.

The photograph here of the elegant couple was taken in February 1966 during their official tour of the British Commonwealth nations in the Caribbean. They had made a whirlwind and exhausting tour of 15 British islands starting with Barbados and ending in Jamaica. Along with about ten Fleet Street journalists, I covered their tour. The royals traveled on the Royal Britannia yacht while we journalists had to fly in and out of Miami to keep up with the tour. They were feted and cheered by the locals in each country they visited, and waved as they boarded a BOAC plane while the Royal Britannia sailed home without them.

Presenting to the world a united front throughout their marriage, in keeping with the tradition of the British royalty, I salute them. u