Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh — royal consort with roots in the Russian Empire
Prince Philip was born on 10 June 1921 at Mon Repos on Corfu, the only son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg. He belonged to the Greek royal house by birth, and the Russian imperial family was part of his inheritance on both sides: he was related to the Romanovs through all four of his grandparents.
The closest link was his father's mother. Queen Olga of Greece was born Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna at Pavlovsk Palace outside Saint Petersburg on 3 September 1851, the elder daughter of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich and a granddaughter of Emperor Nicholas I. She married King George I of Greece in 1867 and remained Orthodox and Russian in her loyalties; her youngest son, Christopher, was born at Pavlovsk in 1888. She stood godmother to Philip at his christening in Corfu, and died in 1926.
On his mother's side the connection ran through the house of Hesse. His maternal grandmother, Victoria, was the eldest sister of Alix of Hesse, who became Empress Alexandra Feodorovna as the wife of Nicholas II, and of Elizabeth, who as Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna founded a convent in Moscow and was killed at Alapayevsk in 1918. When Philip's mother died in 1969, she asked to be buried near her aunt Elizabeth; in 1988 her remains were moved to the Russian Orthodox Church of Saint Mary Magdalene on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, where Elizabeth lies.
The family's Russian ties were confirmed in an unexpected way. Nicholas II, Alexandra and their children were killed at Yekaterinburg in July 1918. When remains believed to be theirs were examined in the early 1990s, scientists compared mitochondrial DNA, which passes down the female line, with living relatives on Alexandra's side. Philip, her great-nephew through his mother and grandmother, provided a sample, and in 1993 the match helped confirm the identification.
The family left Greece in 1922, when Philip was an infant. He was educated in France, Germany and Britain, served in the Royal Navy through the Second World War, and in 1947 married Princess Elizabeth. As consort from 1952 he undertook more than twenty thousand solo engagements and founded the Duke of Edinburgh's Award in 1956. He died at Windsor Castle on 9 April 2021, aged ninety-nine. Through him the descent from a grand duchess born at Pavlovsk passes to his son, King Charles III, and his grandson, Prince William.
Tracing the roots — Pavlovsk (Saint Petersburg)
His paternal grandmother, Queen Olga of Greece, was born a Russian grand duchess at Pavlovsk Palace in 1851; his maternal grandmother was a sister of the last Empress, Alexandra. In 1993 his DNA was used to identify the remains of the imperial family.
Grandson of Queen Olga of Greece, born Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna at Pavlovsk Palace in 1851, a granddaughter of Nicholas I. His maternal grandmother, Victoria of Hesse, was a sister of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.
.svg?width=900)
Pavlovsk (Saint Petersburg). At the time, this region lay within the Russian Empire, which spanned from Poland to the Pacific.