Queen Elizabeth Left a Final Letter For Prince Philip at His Funeral

Because of COVID-19 restrictions, Queen Elizabeth could not sit close to all of her children and grandchildren at Prince Philip's funeral, but the pandemic didn't keep the long-reigning monarch from honoring her husband of 73 years. She left a hand-written letter on top of Philip's coffin, which was visible alongside a wreath.

As Entertainment Tonight noted, the couple famously wrote letters to each other over the course of their relationship and marriage. In a letter she wrote to author Betty Shew in 1947, ahead of the royal wedding between Elizabeth and Philip, the 21-year-old Elizabeth shared the details of the first time she remembers meeting her then-fiancé.

She reportedly wrote, in part, about how Philip enjoys driving fast and taking road trips: "Philip enjoys driving and does it fast! He has his own tiny M.G. which he is very proud of – he has taken me about in it, once up to London, which was great fun, only it was like sitting on the road, and the wheels are almost as high as one’s head. On that one and only occasion we were chased by a photographer which was disappointing."

The two first met at a wedding in 1934 when Elizabeth was only 8, but they reconnected when she was 13 and Philip was 18. They began exchanging letters. In 1946, when Elizabeth was 20, Philip proposed.

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