The news that Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh are to spend a “short private visit” here immediately caught the imagination of the British media about a second honeymoon for the octogenarian couple who celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in November.

The Royal couple, a symbol of British institutionalism, have never gone on holiday anywhere away from the UK, apart from three visits to Kentucky horse breeder William Farish in the 1980s. They spend Christmases at Sandringham, Easter and birthdays are spent at home in London, and August is spent at Balmoral Castle in Scotland and cruising the Western Isles – hiring a commercial motor yacht following the decommissioning of the royal yacht Britannia 1997.

Malta is the only other country the Mountbatten-Windsors have ever called home, although the queen considers Canada a “home away from home”.

The then Princess Elizabeth fell in love with the dashing Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark when she was just 13 and began a correspondence with him. This was deemed a dynastic match and was greatly encouraged by the Prince’s uncle, Earl Louis Mountbatten of Burma, who was also King George VI’s cousin. In fact, the couple are second cousins once removed, as well as third cousins, and are both great-great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria.

Their wedding was celebrated on 20 November 1947.

Between 1949 and 1951, the Duke served on the destroyer HMS Chequers with the Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet and was stationed in Malta. For several periods during this time, the couple lived at Villa Gwardamangia, bought by Lord Mountbatten in 1929, and the queen was able to experience something approaching a “normal” life.

The couple used to go to dances and to the cinema, while Princess Elizabeth also drove around the island in her MG. This “normal” life was helped by the then absence of paparazzi. However in 1952, both the duke’s naval career and the couple’s normal life came to an end when, on a state visit to Kenya, they learned that King George VI had died and Elizabeth was queen.

Could this second honeymoon, taken en route for the Uganda CHOGM, mean that the royal couple are relaxing more in their busy schedule in favour of the increasingly-aging Charles?

One thing’s for certain, they will not be retiring in Malta, as many Brits are keen on doing!