Was prince philip gay

How Prince Philip Was Connected to the Profumo Affair—and How Anthony Blunt May Have Covered For Him

Catching up on previous seasons of The Crown before diving into season five? If you're curious about the Profumo Affair, and how Prince Philip was connected to it, read on:

It was one of the 20th century's biggest political scandals on the other side of the pond, but many Americans have never heard of the infamous Profumo Affair.

The Crown, however, is doing its part to remedy that—first by displaying the Affair's impact at the finish of season two, and in season three, having the Queen's art curator, Anthony Blunt, blackmail Prince Philip with some related artworks.

Here's what you should know about the Profumo Affair, and how Prince Philip is (tangentially) linked to it.

The scandal is named for John Profumo, the U.K.'s onetime secretary of declare for war.

Profumo had a five-month affair with Christine Keeler, a sex worker and sometimes model, in 1961. This somewhat passé event—a married politician having a fling—would eventually cause the downfall of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.

(Although, according to MI5 documents declassified in 2017, Profumo had a so

Did Prince Philip Really Have an Affair?

If you aren't all caught up on The Crown,proceed with caution, light spoilers ahead.

Infidelity is a prominent theme in The Crown. In early seasons, Jackie laments JFK's straying eye; Eileen Parker sues her husband Mike, Prince Philip's private secretary, for divorce of the grounds of adultery; and Prime Minister Harold Macmillan is cuckolded over and over again. Later on, both Prince Charles and Princess Diana's affairs are key plot points. But throughout the show, the lynchpin of the motif is Prince Philip himself.

Writer and maker Peter Morgan tip-toes around the issue onscreen, never outright displaying the royal cheating, though certainly alluding to extramarital relations. And Morgan himself is fairly reveal about where he stands on the question: "Doesn't everyone in Britain know he had an affair?" Morgan asked during a press event.

But did Philip really cheat on the Queen?

There's no proof he's ever been unfaithful, but over the course of the royal couples' 70+ year partnership, the Duke of Edinburgh has been labeled a ladies man, and linked to numerous women, perhaps most notably stage actress Pat Kirkwo

Revealed: Prince Philip's married uncle was emotionally attached in an incestuous relationship with his OWN uncle - as remarkable details of family admire triangle emerge writes royal author CHRISTOPHER WILSON

She'd never even kissed her husband properly before they married. And so on her wedding night, Princess Marie Bonaparte was shocked by what occurred in the bedroom.

'You took me that night in a short, brutal gesture, as if forcing yourself,' she later wrote to her spouse, Prince George of Greece. 'Then you apologised – "I hate it as much as you do. But we must carry out it if we are to hold children".'

So began the bizarre marriage of Prince Philip's aunt and uncle, in whose life he was entangled for the first ten years of his life.

Princess Marie, colossally wealthy, was Philip's benefactor and saviour. It was her money which place a roof over his head when his parents were kicked out of Greece in 1922, and her cash which paid for his private schooling.

Philip, his sisters and their parents, Prince and Princess Andrew of Greece, took refuge in a house on Marie's estate in Saint-Cloud, a suburb of Paris. And as he grew up, across the shaved lawns came whispered words of the strange sexual

Update, 4/9:Prince Philip has passed away at 99. "It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen announces the death of her beloved husband," the palace said in a statement.

Elizabeth may be Queen and all, but Prince Philip was still the patriarch of the royal family with huge sway. And perhaps nothing has done more to highlight that in recent years than Netflix's The Crown. Doctor Who alum Matt Smith played Philip in the series' first two seasons, Tobias Menzies took over the role for seasons three and four, and Jonathan Pryce will step in as the Duke of Edinburgh for the show's terminal two seasons. Here's what The Crown got right—and wrong—about the royal.

Wrong: Prince Philip didn't want to kneel to Queen Elizabeth.

Although it makes for a deliciously dramatic moment in the series, because Philip came from royalty himself, it’s considered very unlikely he would have actually had a problem kneeling to Elizabeth—it's an established sign of respect for the monarch.