Did Prince Philip cheat on Queen? 'The Crown' fans wonder how accurate show is about him being 'ladies' man'
The British royal family is subject to controversies almost on a daily basis, and thanks to Netflix's 'The Crown', viewers feel they are bonafide experts on everything that goes on behind the scenes at Buckingham Palace. Among claims about the royals' genealogy, their favorite drinks, the type of vacations they like to take, a big question among fans of the show is whether Prince Philip had ever cheated on Queen Elizabeth II in real life.
Despite being heavily researched, TV shows tend to take creative liberties when it comes to the construction of narratives both inside and outside the show. So did the Duke of Edinburgh really cheat on the Queen of England? It hasn't been confirmed.
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Prince Philip passed away on April 9, 2021, at age 99. It might seem a little sordid to speculate about his fidelity following his recent demise, but many royal observers are curious nonetheless.
In Season II of 'The Crown', Prince Philip is depicted as a known Lothario despite being married. He's shown to be hitting on other women while his wife is off taking care of her royal duties and engagements. The showrunners wanted people to think that Philip was more than just friends with some of these women, one of them being the dancer Galina Ulanova.
It's worth noting that Philip had developed a reputation for being somewhat of a "ladies' man" in real life, and producers of the show have alluded to the same on multiple occasions. One scene shows him visibly excited at the chance to meet Jackie Onassis, the late John F Kennedy's wife, when she visited Buckingham Palace.
According to DIstractify, there were rumors that he was romantically linked to Pat Kirkwood, a British stage actress whose legs were described as "the eighth wonder of the world" by drama critic Kenneth Tynan. Unfortunately, the rumors proved to be disastrous to Kirkwood's reputation, according to the Daily Beast, as the palace did nothing to "quell" them. The actress's work was defined for years by the gossip, but letters exchanged between the two that surfaced decades later did not contain any language to suggest they were more than friends, per the outlet.
"Short of starting libel proceedings, there is absolutely nothing to be done. Invasion of privacy, invention, and false quotations are the bane of our existence," Philip reportedly said of the matter, per Distractify. But it seems Kirkwood did not appreciate Philip's reticence on the issue.
"A lady is not normally expected to defend her honor. It is the gentleman who should do that," she said. "I would have had a happier and easier life if Prince Philip, instead of coming uninvited to my dressing room, had gone home to his pregnant wife on the night in question."
Having said that, there isn't any definitive evidence that Prince Philip ever cheated on Queen Elizabeth II. Philip's longtime private secretary Mike Parker insisted that he "has been one hundred percent faithful to the queen. No ifs, no buts."
Philip himself responded to a female journalist to who once broached the subject. "Good God, woman. Have you ever stopped to think that for years, I have never moved anywhere without a policeman accompanying me? So how the hell could I get away with anything like that?" he said, according to The Independent.