Prince Philip: Buckingham Palace announce funeral details

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The Duke, who has died aged 99, Sofia and Juan Carlos were all, like the Queen, great-great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria, “the grandmother of Europe” who reigned from 1837 to 1901. In addition to the British branch, the Duke of Edinburgh, had his roots in the Greek royal family, hence his relationship with Doña Sofía.

George I was the grandfather of Philip, the prince of Greece and Denmark until he married Elizabeth II, and he was also Sofía’s great-grandfather.

Similarly, they were related by the maternal Prussian branch, since Emperor Wilhelm II was the great-grandfather of Sofía and grandfather of Prince Philip.

At the same time, his mother, Alicia de Battenberg, was the first cousin of Victoria Eugenia, the wife of Alfonso XIII and the grandmother of Juan Carlos I.

These intertwined blood ties led the two royal couples to establish a close relationship and show cordiality in the mutual visits they carried out.

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In 1986, Don Juan Carlos and Doña Sofía starred in the first official visit of a Spanish king to the UK in more than a century.

The Queen focused on many details to receive her “Spanish cousins”, whom she lodged in Windsor Castle, and presented Juan Carlos with a necklace once owned by Queen Victoria.

In gratitude for a dinner hosted by the Elizabeth, the Juan Carlos and Sofia said goodbye with a reception at the residence of the Spanish ambassador in London.

At the event he told Spanish journalists: “Come, I’ll introduce you to my cousin Lilibeth.”

Two years later, Elizabeth accepted the invitation to be the first British queen to officially visit Spain.

Her hosts accompanied them on a tour of Barcelona, Palma and Seville, where the four cousins enjoyed a flamenco show in the Reales Alcázares in which Prince Philip dared to try castanets while his wife clapped her hands.

In Barcelona, they had tea at the private residence of the parents of King Juan Carlos in a meeting in which they reviewed moments and memories of the two families.

The culmination was a tour of Majorca for the two couples, with Don Juan Carlos at the wheel and “Lilibeth” as co-pilot.

That year, Don Juan Carlos and Doña Sofía returned to London to be awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Cambridge at the request of the Duke of Edinburgh.

Since then, other official and private visits took place that confirmed the close bonds between the two couples.

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In 1989, Juan Carlos I received the Order of the Garter granted by the Queen; in 1997, they attended the celebrations for the Queen and Duke’s 50th wedding anniversary and five years later were invited to London for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.

The last time that Prince Philip had contact with the Spanish royal family was on the occasion of the state visit of Felipe VI and Queen Letizia to the UK in July 2017.

Among the images left by the trip, one of the highlights was the carriage ride along The Mall in which Philip, then 96-years-old, shared a horse-drawn carriage with Letizia.

(Additional reporting by Maria Ortega)

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