‘Life at court was very frustrating for him at first,’ explained Patricia Mountbatten’s husband, Lord Brabourne. ‘It was very stuffy. [Tommy] Lascelles [private secretary to the King] was impossible. They were bloody to him. They patronised him. They treated him as an outsider. It wasn’t much fun. He laughed it off, of course, but it must have hurt. I’m not sure Princess Elizabeth noticed it. She probably didn’t see it. In a way marriage hardly changed her life at all. She was able to carry on much as before. In getting married she didn’t sacrifice anything. His life changed completely. He gave up everything.’

The prince couldn’t escape from the royal protocol, as they even had to live with his in-laws at Buckingham Palace while Clarence House was being refurbished. The old guard at the palace found him difficult, but more than that, they worried he would not treat the princess with the sensitivity they felt she deserved and needed.

According to Rabbi Arthur Herzberg, a distinguished American writer who has spoken at length to Philip: ‘He has lost his real identity. He once told me he thinks of himself as a cosmopolitan European.’ Pamela Mountbatten confirmed that it was a problem for him: ‘He knew he was going into the lions’ den. He was very conscious of the way he’d been treated and how hard he would have to fight for his position and his independence [against the establishment]. What he didn’t know was just how fearsome it was going to be.’

To help, the couple picked a small but loyal team. Jock Colville, diplomat and former Downing Street assistant private secretary to Neville Chamberlain, Churchill and Clement Attlee between 1939 and 1945, was recommended by Lascelles and became private secretary to Princess Elizabeth until 1949. But Philip chose Australian Mike Parker as his private secretary and he also became an equerry to the couple. The comptroller and treasurer to the Edinburgh household was Sir Frederick ‘Boy’ Browning, who was married to the novelist Daphne du Maurier and was the former chief of staff to Louis Mountbatten.

At that time, the establishment was certainly able to wield great personal influence, with problems often fixed over a few large whiskies or a rubber of bridge. Problems were seldom discussed openly, but solutions would be quietly found. Establishment figures were discreet, unruffled and unobtrusively powerful. They never admitted to mistakes, never complained of one another, never resigned and were never proved wrong. Prince Philip did not fit into this world one little bit. ‘If one of the establishment aristocrats had married the Queen,’ the former Bishop of London Richard Charteris observed, ‘it would have bored everybody out of their minds. Whatever Philip might be, he was never going to be boring.’