‘The Crown:’ Why Queen Elizabeth Let Prince Philip Drink And Party Hard

One episode of “The Crown” featured Prince Philip heavily drinking at Thursday Club while dealing with his own teething problems within the royal household. According to a royal biographer, this event actually happened, and Queen Elizabeth had a good reason for forgiving him for drinking and partying late.

The debut season of “The Crown” kicked off with the royal wedding of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. Throughout its first two seasons, the series chronicled the highs and lows of their marriage, including the hardships that Prince Philip had to go through as he adjusted to royal life.

In “The Crown,” viewers learned how Prince Philip gave up his budding career in the military so he could be a full-time royal. The turning point of his life was when Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne in 1952 soon after her mother’s death.

The struggles of Prince Philip in finding his place in royal life were real, and it took him a while to settle. According to royal biographer Ingrid Seward, the Duke of Edinburgh had a hard time dealing with the changes, so he made regular trips to the Thursday Club to drink and party late with his friends.

“The Crown” showed how Queen Elizabeth turned a blind eye to Prince Philip’s partying and how easy it was for her to forgive him. “She was very conscious of the fact that he had to walk two steps behind her, and I think as a result she was very forgiving of any of his little misdemeanors,” explained Seward.

Queen Elizabeth reportedly understood how her position as Queen emasculated her husband, considering he’s an alpha male when she first met him. She also tried to understand Prince Philip because she knew how much he had to sacrifice just to marry her and be a dutiful husband to her.

Queen Elizabeth also pitied her husband when they started to have children and he was not allowed to pass on his name to them. According to the Queen, stopping him from passing on his surname to his progeny was too huge a blow for Prince Philip, but he accepted all that because of her.

In her book “My Husband And I: The Inside Story Of 70 Years Of The Royal Marriage,” Seward revealed how emasculated Prince Philip felt when he learned that his children could not bear his name. “I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his children,” he said. “I’m nothing but a bloody amoeba.”