Young Prince Philip: His Turbulent Early Life

by PhilipEade (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2011

  $3.28

  A gripping biography of the early life of Prince Philip, published to coincide with his 90th birthday Married for more than sixty years to the most famous woman in the world, Prince Philip is the longest-serving royal consort in British history. Yet while he is still one of the most recognisable figures in public life, his origins remain curiously shrouded in obscurity. In 'Young Prince Philip', the first book to focus exclusively on his life before the coronation, biographer Philip Eade recounts the Prince's extraordinary upbringing in Greece, France, Nazi Germany and Britain, where he inhabited a notably colourful milieu yet was beset by continual turbulence and a succession of family tragedies. This revealing book examines the formative psychological effects of having a mother who was born deaf and was committed to a psychiatric clinic when Philip was nine, and a father who was so traumatised by his treatment at the hands of Greek revolutionaries that he later left his young son to be brought up by his wife's family, the Milford Havens and Mountbattens, just when Philip needed him most. Remarkably, there emerged from this unsettled background a character of singular vitality and dash - self-confident, capable, famously opinionated and devastatingly handsome. Girls fell at his feet, and the princess who would become his wife was smitten from the age of thirteen. Yet alongside the considerable charm and intelligence, the young prince was also prone to volcanic outbursts and to putting his foot in it. Detractors perceived in his behaviour emotional shortcomings, a legacy of his traumatic childhood, which would have profound consequences for his family and the future of the monarchy. Published to coincide with the Prince's ninetieth birthday and containing new material from interviews, archives and film footage, 'Young Prince Philip' is the most complete and compelling account yet of his storm-tossed early life.

• Used

  Paperback
  

  $7.70

  A revelatory and racy biography of the early life of Prince Philip. One of the most recognisable men in the United Kingdom, Prince Philip has been consort to Queen Elizabeth II since 1947. The patron of several charities and organisations he is rarely out of the public eye. Yet, very little is known about the Prince's early life. He was born Prince Philippos of Greece and Denmark on the Greek island of Corfu, to Prince Andrew and Princess Alice of Battenberg. At the time, the Greco-Turkish War was raging and in 1922, when he was just one year old, Philip and his family were forced to leave their country. Prince Philip's adolescence was a rootless one. Educated in France, England and then Germany, he had little contact with his parents; his mother was admitted to an asylum and his father moved alone to Monte Carlo. His three sisters all married Germans, one an officer in the SS. Yet, this young prince was to be married to the most eligible young woman in the world; Princess Elizabeth. Through exploring Prince Philip's early life, Philip Eade uncovers much about his past that is far from widely known; his relationship with his family, his schooldays in Nazi Germany and later, his alleged infidelities and his extraordinary correspondence with Princes Diana during her divorce from his son.