The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will embark on a poignant holiday to celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary in November, returning to the Mediterranean island where they spent some of their happiest days as a young couple.

The pair will stop off in Malta on their way to a Commonwealth engagement. The couple enjoyed carefree days on the island in the early days of their marriage, before the Queen’s accession, when Prince Philip was posted there on naval service. It is the only place outside Britain that they have lived together.

While the royal couple rarely take holidays outside Britain, they plan to enjoy a “short, private” visit to the island in what has been described as a second honeymoon.

The Queen, 81, and her husband, 86, are due to arrive at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Uganda on November 21. Their 60th anniversary is on the previous day. Buckingham Palace officials would say only that their holiday was a private stay at the invitation of the Maltese Government, confirming that there were no scheduled official engagements during the period.

The Queen has spoken of her deep affection for the country that she once called home. The couple spent several periods there from 1949 while Prince Philip served on HMS Chequers with the Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet.

Their Maltese house was named Villa Guardamangia, and Princess Elizabeth divided her time between England – where a young Prince Charles remained with his grandparents – and Malta, leaving in 1950 to give birth to Princess Anne.

The island was also where the Queen had her first – and probably only – brush with road rage. Driving alone to the shops in her MG, Princess Elizabeth found the lane blocked by a man on a donkey-drawn cart coming the other way. Both stood their ground until the man made it obscenely clear that he wasn’t budging. The Princess reversed.

The royal couple last visited Malta in 2005 for a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting summit, where the Queen was welcomed by a 1,000-strong crowd who lined the narrow medieval streets of its capital, Valletta.

The Queen said at the time: “We both retain a deep affection for your country and the outgoing, generous Maltese people who have always offered us the hand of friendship.” The pair were able to spend much of their time in Malta away from the media, although Prince Philip did become exasperated on one occasion. He posed briefly with his wife before snapping at the photographer: “Haven’t you had enough?” only for the Princess to chide: “Now, Philip, they are only doing their job. Now that you have married me, you will have to lump it.”

Malta even claims her first “walk-about”, said to have been in November 1967, when as Queen of a then independent Malta, she mixed with the crowds on Kingsway.

Home from home

— The Queen usually spends Christmas at Sandringham, Norfolk

— Easter and her birthday on April 21 are usually spent at home. On three occasions during the 1980s she visited Kentucky to stay with William Farish, a horse breeder

— August usually means Balmoral Castle. Until the Royal Yacht Britannia was decommissioned in 1997 she often cruised the Western Isles during the summer

Source: Times database

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