Netflix's The Crown explores the relationship between Prince Phillip and Penny Knatchbull, Countess Mountbatten of Burma.
Series five of The Crown dug up an array of controversial moments from the royal archives including Princess Diana's television interview and her tell-all biography. With the new era comes several new faces, including a close relation of the late Prince Phillip not everyone will be familiar with.
Countess Mountbatten of Burma Penny Knatchbull, played by Natascha McElhone, first met the prince back in the 1970s and remained a close companion right up until his death in 2021. She was familiar with the royal family's close inner circles but The Crown is suggesting the pair enjoyed more than a platonic relationship.
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Penny is the only daughter of the late Marian and Reginald Eastwood and is understood to have met the late Prince Philip when she was 20 years old and the royal was 52. The Duke of Edinburgh was the godfather of Norton Knatchbull, now 3rd Earl Mountbatten of Burma, who Penny was dating at the time.
Prince Phillip would go on to become Norton's best man at his and Penny's wedding, allowing a close relationship to form with the Countess. Despite her Mountbatten title suggesting so, he and Penny are not actually related by blood.
The late Duke of Edinburgh chose to use his grandparents’ surname Mountbatten when he became a British subject and married the Queen. The pair would go on to become close friends with each other, sharing a keen interest in the outdoors and horses.
Their relationship was widely known but the new series of The Crown is suggesting there may have been a romance between the two. Despite their close nature, an affair was never confirmed as Prince Phillip even denied the claims on several occasions.
Shutting a journalist at the time down for questioning their relationship, the Duke said: "Have you ever stopped to think that, for the last 40 years, I have never moved anywhere without a policeman accompanying me? So how the h*** could I get away with anything like that?"
The two were at each other's side through difficult moments in their lives, including the death of Penny's daughter, Lenora, who passed away at age five from kidney cancer. It is understood she also coached the Duke through his breakup with Diana.
Though covid restrictions were in place at the time of the Duke's funeral in 2021, Penny was still one of the few family members invited to his funeral. Alongside his and the Queen’s children and grandchildren were members of the extended royal family, including Penny Knatchbull.
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