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TIME: Almanac of the 20th Century
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1994-02-27
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<text>
<title>
(1940s) Princess Elizabeth
</title>
<history>
TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1940s Highlights
PEOPLE
</history>
<article>
<source>Time Magazine</source>
<hdr>
Princess Elizabeth
</hdr>
<body>
<p>(July 21, 1947)
</p>
<p> 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.
</p>
<p> 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.
</p>
<p> 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.
</p>
<p> 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."
</p>
<p> 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.</p>
</body>
</article>
</text>