Queen and Prince Philip's anniversary: 71 years in pictures - a look back at Royal ROMANCE
QUEEN Elizabeth II and Prince Philip are celebrating a rare milestone today: their 71st wedding anniversary. Here is a look back at their enduring romance and the last 71 happy years together in pictures.
Hidden symbols in the Queen's wedding dress revealed
The Queen was a 21-year-old princess when she married Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at Westminster Abbey on November 20, 1947. Their unfaltering relationship has latest the longest of any British sovereign. Through good times and bad, the Duke of Edinburgh has been by Her Majesty’s side. And here, Express.co.uk takes a look back at the Queen and Prince Philip's royal romance through the last 71 years of happy memories.
Prince Philip, 97, has retired from public life, retreating to the family’s home on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk.
But the Queen, 92, is still hard at work.
She has an official engagement on the morning of their anniversary, when she visits the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in London to mark its own 150th anniversary.
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But the couple are likely to be reunited in private later in the day.
Last year saw the Queen and Philip toast their milestone platinum wedding anniversary with a black-tie party for 100 family and friends in the state apartments at Windsor Castle.
This year's anniversary is expected to be more low key.
There is no traditional gift, jewel or colour associated with 71st wedding anniversaries in the UK, although in France it is the ochre anniversary.
With two royal weddings, two royal babies and one on the way, 2018 has already been a year of celebration for the Windsors.
The Queen and the Duke have also just celebrated the 70th birthday of their eldest child, the Prince of Wales.
How did the couple meet?
Rumour has it Princess Elizabeth first fell for Philip as a teenager in 1939.
The distant cousins had been at the same gatherings on a number of occasions, but had their first major meeting at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, Devon, in July 1939.
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The Queen and Prince Philip get married in Westminster Abbey
The 18-year-old Philip caught the Princess’s eye as he entertained her by jumping over tennis nets.
King George VI’s official biographer, Sir John Wheeler-Bennett, recalled: "This was the man with whom Princess Elizabeth had been in love from their first meeting."
Eight years later, Elizabeth walked down the aisle in an ivory silk Norman Hartnell gown, decorated with 10,000 seed pearls, glittering crystals and an intricate 13ft (4m) star-patterned train
Within five years, the princess had acceded to the throne.
The couple had four children: Charles, Prince of Wales; Anne, Princess Royal; Prince Andrew, Duke of York; Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex.
The steadfast couple have been through plenty of ups an downs in their 71 years.
On their golden wedding anniversary in 1997, the Queen paid a touching tribute to her husband, saying: "He has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years."
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Queen and Prince Philip release new photos to mark anniversary
Philip used the occasion to praise the Queen for her abundance of tolerance.
"I think the main lesson that we have learnt is that tolerance is the one essential ingredient of any happy marriage," he said.
The Duke added: "It may not be quite so important when things are going well, but it is absolutely vital when the going gets difficult.
"You can take it from me that the Queen has the quality of tolerance in abundance."