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But by & large Philip has learned that the restraints royalty must put on itself have solider reasons than he had once supposed. His frank impatience with out moded customs is now largely confined to attempts at jolting his wife's realm out of its lethargy. "There is a school of thought," Prince Philip said in an official speech as Elizabeth's husband, "which says, 'What was good enough for my fa ther is good enough for me.' I have no quarrel with this sentiment at all, so long as it is not used as an excuse for stagnation . . . but do not forget that the great position of British industry was won when we led the world in inventive imagination and the spirit of adventure." The Queen Is Leaving. Like most young couples in the early years of their marriage, the Queen of Britain and her husband are engaged in a friendly struggle for domination in their own affairs, but Philip is no Prince Albert (who once complained, "I am only the husband, never the master in my house"). lAt parties, when she wants to leave and he doesn't, Elizabeth sometimes checkmates Philip by sending an equerry with the curt message: "The Queen is leaving." But on other occasions, as when he insisted against her wishes on wearing a plain naval uniform— instead of the trappings of a royal duke at the recent opening of Parliament, Philip's will prevails. His relatively humble upbringingt has given Elizabeth a closer touch with her peopie than her own cloistered past could have permitted.
Elizabeth's obvious happiness in Prince Philip and their children has added new softness to her character and new beauty to her face, just as becoming Queen has added a new dimension to her practical intelligence. "It never occurred to me that she could be a deep thinker," confessed one of Elizabeth's elder advisers recently, "but every now and then, just lately, I catch her reflecting in a way she never used to ... groping for a glimpse, a blurred glimpse of the workings of destiny."
No Lunch for Gromyko. Like many another working couple in their realm, Elizabeth and Philip begin their day by listening to the 8 o'clock BBC newscast. Half an hour later, they discuss it over a breakfast of tea, toast and kippers,'and soon they are lost in a cloud of newspapers. Elizabeth pores through three papers each morning, not overlooking the sports pages, and like most women, she shudders slightly when she sees her own picture. Newspictures have seldom done her justice.
At around 9:15 Nurse Helen Lightbody ("Nana") ushers in the children, accompanied by the Queen's two corgies, Susan and Sugar, for half an hour of play.
Charles, Duke of Cornwall, 4, is eager and always curious. Wide-eyed Princess Anne, 2, always tumbles flat when she curtseys. By 10 a.m. Elizabeth's working day has begun at a Chippendale desk: letters to be read and written, documents to be signed, social schedules to be agreed upon. "She gets to the point with frightening speed and accuracy," says one of her aides.