The Crown season 2: Did Prince Philip really have an affair with ballerina Galina Ulanova?
THE CROWN season 2 has finally dropped on Netflix and kicks off with a crisis in the royal marriage after it appears Prince Philip is having an affair with ballerina Galina Ulanova. But did he really cheat on the Queen?
In the first episode of The Crown season two, Queen Elizabeth II (played by Claire Foy) discovers a miniature portrait of the Russian dancer among Prince Philip’s (Matt Smith) belongings.
The monarch found the picture while she was trying to stow away some gifts in his suitcase before he departed on a five-month tour of the Commonwealth.
She was left shocked by the photo but could only put it back and remind her husband in a poignant note that he still had a family waiting for him at home.
The Queen later went to the Royal Ballet to see the performer in Giselle, where Galina took on the title role.
However, when asked whether she would like to meet the ballerina afterwards, Elizabeth frostily declined and left.
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Who is ballerina Galina Ulanova?
Galina Ulanova was considered to be one of the greatest ballerinas of all time.
Born in 1910 in St Petersburg, Russia to an artist father and a dancer mother, it seemed her destiny to pursue a career in the performing arts.
She trained under Agrippina Vaganova and her own mother Maria Romanova, who was a ballerina in the Imperial Russian Ballet.
Her skill brought her to the attention of Joseph Stalin, who had her transferred to the Bolshoi where she was the prima ballerina assoluta for 16 years.
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Throughout her career she was highly commended and was awarded the Stalin Prize and Medal and the Lenin Prize in 1957.
The ballerina is known for her roles in ballet productions of Romeo and Juliet, Giselle and Swan Lake.
Her fame took her to the Far East by the 1950s and she toured China to great critical acclaim.
In 1956 she arrived in London and performed at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden to sold-out audiences.
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During her time in the UK, she performed in three of her most famous roles: Giselle, Juliet and Maria.
Queues of people are said to have lain in the streets of Covent Garden, camped out in the hopes of getting hold of a ticket.
The final tour of her career came in 1961 when she visited Egypt and Hungary.
Ulanova died in 1998 following her prolific ballet career.
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Did Prince Philip have an affair with ballerina Galina Ulanova?
The ballerina was known to have a highly-guarded private life and reportedly had a number of husbands during her lifetime.
Among her spouses, designer Vadim Rindin was said to have been the longest and her final one.
According to The Independent’s obituary of the star: “She ended up with a female companion who guarded her and served her needs.”
Given the closed nature of her personal life, it is uncertain whether she had an affair with Prince Philip.
It seems unlikely that the ballerina would have had time to see the duke, who was in Britain while she would have been busy touring and performing.
The only thing that seems to be rooted in reality is the Queen’s attendance at the Royal Opera House to watch Ulanova dance in Giselle.
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Did Prince Philip have an affair with anyone else?
In both seasons one and two of The Crown, there have been suggestions that the Duke of Edinburgh was unfaithful to his wife.
He was seen lunching at the infamous gentleman’s society the Thursday Club, even paying particular attention to one of the waitresses.
Season two took this a step further with the photo of Ulavnova and lewd letters written by his close friend Mike Parker (Daniel Ings) discussing the women they’d bedded while on the Commonwealth tour.
There have been many rumours over the years of Prince Philip having affairs and cheating on the Queen. However, they have been met with denials and are unsubstantiated.
Perhaps the most famous rumours involved actresses Patricia Kirkwood and Helene Foufounis.
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Fuel was added to the fire when Foufounis asked the royal to be godfather to her children, whose paternity she kept secret and whom she’d had had after divorcing her husband.
However, author Ingrid Seward in her book - My Husband And I: The Inside Story Of 70 Years Of Royal Marriage - said of the alleged affairs: “Through most of the Queen and Prince Philip’s 70-year marriage, rumours of his alleged affairs have been rife.
“Even now, people wonder how he could have left his wife and two young children — Charles and Anne — for a jaunt round far-flung outposts of the Commonwealth in late 1956.
Seward goes on to say: “The jury is out, but it hardly seems credible that anything untoward could have taken place without the knowledge of at least some of the royal yacht Britannia’s crew of 220 men and 20 officers.”
But Seward also writes about others who seem less convinced about the prince’s fidelity, saying that only one royal biographer believed in the affairs.
Biographer Sarah Bradford said in 2004: “There is no doubt in my mind at all. The Duke of Edinburgh has had affairs — yes, full-blown affairs and more than one.
“Not with Pat Kirkwood or Merle Oberon or any of those people. All that was nonsense, complete nonsense. I don’t think there was ever anything in any of that.
“But he has affairs. And the Queen accepts it. I think she thinks that’s how men are.”
She also claimed to have spoken to women who had confirmed the affairs.
The Palace has never commented on the reports and most other historians have found no evidence that the prince was unfaithful.
The Crown season 2 is available to watch on Netflix now.
