Before Prince Philip captured Queen Elizabeth II's heart, another aristocratic suitor may have been in the running for the future monarch.According to royal historian Hugo Vickers, author of "Queen Elizabeth II: A Personal History," his research revealed that Hugh, Earl of Euston — who later became the 11th Duke of Grafton — was considered a potential match for the young princess before she ultimately fell for the man who would become the love of her life."The Queen Mother was very keen that [her daughter] should marry a Grenadier Guard," Vickers told Fox News Digital.PRINCE PHILIP’S NOTORIOUS STRAIGHT TALK AND UNFILTERED OPINIONS WERE FEARED BY PALACE STAFF: ROYAL BUTLERQueen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, revisit Broadlands in Hampshire to mark their Diamond Wedding Anniversary on Nov.20, 2007.
(Tim Graham/Getty Images)"And the Grenadier Guards [are] the most prestigious of all the British regiments.If you're a Grenadier Guard, you are the top.""Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, as young girls, were contained in Windsor Castle during the war," Vickers shared.
"There were quite a number of Grenadier Guards stationed.And Princess Margaret used to say that the whole of the castle was surrounded by barbed wire, which wouldn’t have kept the Germans out, but certainly kept [them] in.""Queen Elizabeth II: A Personal History" by Hugo Vickers is out now.
(Hodder & Stoughton)"With all of these Grenadier Guards around the place, the queen mother was very much hoping — she placed a number of Grenadier Guards, as it were, on Princess Elizabeth’s path.She would have loved her to marry Lord Euston.
I think it was slightly in the cards at one point, and that could have happened."WATCH: WHY QUEEN ELIZABETH REJECTED HER MOTHER'S PREFERRED MATCH: AUTHORAccording to the book, Sir Henry "Chips" Channon, a politician whose diaries chronicled what people in royal and high-society circles were saying at the time, believed that in 1943, Hug...