From Russia to Britain, Philip’s royal ties spanned Europe

From Russia to Britain, Philip’s royal ties spanned Europe

TATOI, Greece (AP) “” Prince Philip's life spanned a century of European history. His family ties were just as broad, with Britain's longest-serving consort linked by blood and marriage to most of the continent's royal houses.

"If Queen Victoria is considered the grandmother of Europe, Prince Philip is the uncle of Europe,“ said Vassilis Koutsavlis, president of the Tatoi Royal Estate Friends Association.

It's in that densely wooded estate at the foot of a mountain north of Athens that Philip's father, Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, lies buried. The Tatoi estate housed the royal summer residence and the royal cemetery, dotted with the tombs of Philip's relatives: kings and queens of Greece, princes and princesses of Denmark, grand duchesses of Russia and even a distant relative of Napoleon Bonaparte.

“At that time, it was very common to marry others in royal families. And (Denmark's King) Christian IX was very good at it,“ royalty expert Lars Hovbakke Soerensen said. "He was instrumental in getting his children married into other royal houses in Europe.“

Christian also sent one of his sons to become the monarch of Greece. The relatively new state had won its independence a few decades earlier from the Ottoman Empire, with the