When he was a suitor for the then Princess Elizabeth, much was made of Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark’s ‘foreign’-ness. Despite growing up in England and being schooled in Scotland at Gordonstoun, Philip was still seen as an outsider in some circles, leading to the decision to naturalise him as a British citizen ahead of the Royal Wedding, removing his Greek and Danish titles. Yet as well as his Danish heritage (his family had inherited the Greek throne but were not actually Greeks), he was also German through his mother’s side, as Princess Alice of Battenberg was a Hessian Princess.
It is perhaps unsurprising then that all four of Philip’s elder sisters married into German royal and aristocratic families, particularly as they had all moved there following the family’s exile from Greece. This was to have tragic consequences for the Duke, as it not only meant that he was to fight against his brothers-in-law during World War II on the opposite side, but that none of his siblings were invited to his wedding in 1947 to Princess Elizabeth. » | Rebecca Cope | Monday, April 12, 2021
