Prince Philip Made 'Awkward,' 'Inappropriate' Comment During Queen Elizabeth's Coronation, Biographer Says

Prince Philip made an inappropriate comment during Queen Elizabeth II's coronation.

According to Matthew Kirkham, a journalist for Express, the Duke of Edinburgh was determined to make a mark for the Queen's coronation after he was made the chair of Her Majesty's coronation commission in 1953. The event was marked by the premiere of Benjamin Britten's Gloriana, an opera commissioned in honor of the occasion.

The opera depicts the the public and private trials of Elizabeth I at the end of her reign. It also featured her relationship with the Earl of Essex, Robert Devereux. The opera was deemed as inappropriate because of the context of its composition.

According to British conductor Malcolm Sargent, the 97-year-old royal left the Royal Box after the show and remarked "Lucky I didn’t marry the first Queen Elizabeth otherwise Britten would now be in the Tower awaiting execution."

A number agreed that the show was insulting to confront the second Queen Elizabeth with the warts-and-all presentation of her Tudor namesake. Queen Elizabeth II reportedly watched the first performance at Covent Garden six days after her coronation and wasn't impressed by the opera.

In related news, Prince Philip and Princess Margaret reportedly had a rift. The latter was "ill with rage" after the former tried to block the peerage of her second husband.

"October 11, 1961: On the subject of Tony Armstrong-Jones’s peerage, Strutt [Sir Austin Strutt, Deputy Under-Secretary at the Home Office] tells me that Prince Philip was against it," Lord Snowdon wrote on his diary.

"Princess Margaret not only insisted, but made herself quite ill with rage when she learned that the peerage patent would not be ready in time for Tony to carry out an official engagement in Glasgow as Earl of Snowdon," he added.

Although Princess Margaret had a beef with Prince Philip, the duke has always maintained a great relationship with his royal wife. In fact, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip share the same opinion about their son Prince Charles' as the future monarch.

The two reportedly doubt the Prince of Wales suitability as the next king. In fact, they regarded Prince Charles as "loose cannon."