(July 21, 1947)

In the enforced secrecy of the last three months, Britain's Princess Elizabeth had grown sullen and snappish from yearning to tell the neighbors all about Philip. Last week she was smiling radiantly as garden party guests clustered near her, hoping for a glimpse of her ring. "It's like turning a page in a book," she said.

The Cousin. Lieut. Mountbatten had not always seemed so important to his royal cousin. When Elizabeth first met him at a Palace luncheon given by her grandparents, she was six. Reports say that she was not visibly moved.

Gradually, as Philip became a fixture in the family circle, his name crept into Elizabeth's tea-table talk. Her friends began to have their suspicions, and often prankish Princess Margaret would infuriate her sister by wondering out loud if Elizabeth's heart was jumping when Philip was due for a visit. Then, last fall, Philip spent several weeks with the Royal Family at Balmoral. By the time Philip's visit was over, Elizabeth's mind was made up, and she told her father all about it.

Then, last week, King George inserted a notice in the Court Circular. "It is with the greatest pleasure," it ran, "that the King and Queen announce the betrothal of their beloved daughter the Princess Elizabeth to Lieut. Philip Mountbatten."

Philip got leave and drove up from his naval station in Wiltshire to move into the Boule Room at Buckingham Palace. While London's crowds thronged before the Palace, Elizabeth and Philip appeared at last in public, their arms proudly and openly linked.