Prince Philip's Former Greek Citizenship and Greek and Danish Titles

[akbarsprincess]

Why did Prince Philip have to relinquish his Greek Citizenship and title of Prince?

Why did he have to do this before being allowed to marry the Queen. Many royal alliances were formed through marriages of different reigning houses and they were not required to relinquish any existing title first. When the Battenberg prince Hnery married Victoria's daughter Beatrice, she became Princess Henry of Battenberg. He wasn't required to relinquish his title until later when all royals with German titles were forced to give them up due to anti German sentinment during the war.

 

[Thena]

When Prince Henry and Princess Beatrice married, it was a totally different political climate. After two world wars, there was a strong sentiment that the heir to the throne should marry a British citizen. No one really wanted to form an alliance with a foreign house so soon after WWII.

I'm sure relinquishing his title wasn't a requirement, but Philip chose to do it and change his name to Mountbatten in order to make himself more acceptable to the British people.

 

[Iluvbertie]

He didn't have to but was advised to do so to identify with his British relatives more in the public consciousness - e.g. Lord Mountbatten had been Supreme Commander South East Asia command during WWII and thus the name was a highly respected one immediately after the war. It would also lessen the connections to his sisters who were married to German officers.

As it turned out the British courts ruled, in the early 1950s, that as he was a descendent of the Electress Sophia he was a British citizen from birth anyway (interestingly that means that the Kaiser was a British citizen during WWI). It wasn't Philip that launched that challenge but I can't quite remember who it was.

 

[akbarsprincess]

Yes that seems more accurate.

As regarding descent from the Electress Sophia, that's a long way back to claim British citizenship. Must be differnet rules for royals. I know you can claim citizenship in the UK if you have a British Grandparent but don't think you can claim it with a relative further back than this.

I get quite irritated when people keep refering to the current royal family as German. When you look at it, there isn't much German blood there now. The last direct ancester of the Queen who was German was Albert and of course Victorias mother was German also. I'm not counting Queen Mary, formally of Teck, as I believe she was born and raised in England and was always viewed as a British Princess. Princess Michael of Kent nee Christien Von Reibnitz was formally a German Baroness so their children would be half German. There's a lot of Scottish blood there through the late Queen Mother and of course Phillip is Greek/Danish by birth.

 

[Iluvbertie]

The Sophia Naturalization Act meant that all her protestant descendents were British citizens from birth. It is no longer the case as the court case revealed a situation that people had forgotten about and the law was amended but certainly all her descendents born before the court case in the 1950s were British citizens simply by virtue of descent from her and thus Philip was born a British citizen. The fact that his mother (Princess Andrew of Greece), grandmother (1st Marchioness of Milford Haven), great-grandmother (Princess Alice of the UK), great-great-grandmother (Queen Victoria), great-great-great-grandfather (Duke of Kent) and great-great-great-great grandfather (George III) had all been born in Britain and in places like mother and grandmother at Windsor Castle should have counted for something.

A search revealed that it was Ernst of Hanover (father of the present Ernst) who initiated the litigation and won the case. Sophia Naturalization Act 1705 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

One of my favourite Philip anecdotes relate to shortly after the Queen's Accession they were down at Windsor and one of the courtiers said to Philip 'Sir I am sure you will like living here as it is a real castle' and Philip's reply 'I know my mother was born here!'

 

[auntie]

Why did he have to do this before being allowed to marry the Queen. Many royal alliances were formed through marriages of different reigning houses and they were not required to relinquish any existing title first. When the Battenberg prince Hnery married Victoria's daughter Beatrice, she became Princess Henry of Battenberg. He wasn't required to relinquish his title until later when all royals with German titles were forced to give them up due to anti German sentinment during the war.

I don't know what the hu ha is?! the Danish princesses all had to give up their citizenships and relegions to marry their princes...I'm sure that would be the case if any other crown princes marry foriegn girls.

He wasn't marying just any princess of the realm, he was marrying THE princess of the realm, the soon to be Queen

 

[fandesacs2003]

Correct! Prince Philip of Greece had very strong and close rights to the Greek throne! It was non compatible to keep these rights and marry the future Queen of the British Emprire.
Centuries ago, when this kind of marriage took place, it was followed by annexations of territories and strategic alliances! In order to avoid these scenarios the only way for Prince Philip of Greece and Danemark was to renounce to ALL.

 

[Iluvbertie]

However in early generations that hadn't happened e.g. the Princess Royal didn't renounce her claims to the British throne when she married the Crown Prince of Prussia (and her descendents are still in the line of succession). She was 5th in line at the time of her marriage.

Had the ages been somewhat different e.g. both born 10 years earlier or later than they were I wonder if it would have been necessary at all.

By the way - can you provide a link that proves that Philip actually renounced his claims to the Greek and/Danish thrones such as a letter, the legislation passed in either country etc. I ask this because I have seen a publication dated to the early 1950s that has both Philip and Charles listed in the line of succession to the Danish throne based on their descent from George I of the Hellenes. My mother was working at the British High Commission (non-Commonwealth countries have Embassies while Commonwealth countries have High Commissions) in the early 1950s and it was a document that was put out about Philip for the information of the employees. Unfortunately, it and all the rest of the memories Mum had from her time in Canberra were lost in one of two fires we had at home in the 1970s but that is another story.

 

[Lumutqueen]

By the way - can you provide a link that proves that Philip actually renounced his claims to the Greek and/Danish thrones such as a letter, the legislation passed in either country etc.

From what I know Lord Mountbatten asked Philip to renounce his Greek and Danish royal titles, as well as his allegiance to the Greek crown, convert from Greek Orthodoxy to the Church of England, and become a naturalised British subject. He could claim naturalisation because he was a descendant of Electress Sophia. I don't have any proof that he actually did this, but he doesn't look like he is in line to the Danish Throne at least.
I know the Danish Succesion is limited to the those descended from King Christian X and checking the line of Succesion it only list's 9 people.

 

[Thena]

One of my favourite Philip anecdotes relate to shortly after the Queen's Accession they were down at Windsor and one of the courtiers said to Philip 'Sir I am sure you will like living here as it is a real castle' and Philip's reply 'I know my mother was born here!'

There was a variation on this anecdote in Philip and Elizabeth: Portrait of a Royal Marriage. Somewhere around his engagement to Elizabeth, Philip visited the royal family at Windsor. A courtier greeted him and started giving him the whole history of the castle. Philip cut him off by saying, "Yes, I know. My mother was born here!" So was his grandmother, for that matter. But that epitomized how the courtiers thought of him as a foreigner. Even the Queen Mother referred to him as "The Hun" in the early days. The book was excellent, by the way. I never realized that Philip had his own issues getting along with Elizabeth's mother and how that influence his relationship with Charles, who adored his grandmother.

On a similar note, I seem to recall that when Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark married King Constantine II of Greece, she was required to renounce her place in line of succession to the Danish throne.

 

[Iluvbertie]

He lost his place in line to the Danish throne after the 1953 referendum that allowed women to inherit the throne. That referendum also restricted the line to the descendents of Christian X and he, like Elizabeth, is a descendent of Christian IX. Until the 1953 referendum he was listed, along with Charles, as being in line in a document that my mother had from the early 1950s which would suggest that he never renounced his claim, or if he did that the Danish government didn't accept that renounciation and pass the necessary legislation. The Greek government seems to have been the same, no legislation passed to accept any renounciation.

When he became a British citizen he, like everyone else, wasn't aware that he was a British citizen from birth due to his descent from Sophia because the court case that established that fact didn't take place until after the Queen's accession.

 

[branchg]

I get quite irritated when people keep refering to the current royal family as German. When you look at it, there isn't much German blood there now. The last direct ancester of the Queen who was German was Albert and of course Victorias mother was German also. I'm not counting Queen Mary, formally of Teck, as I believe she was born and raised in England and was always viewed as a British Princess.

The Queen is half-Scottish through her mother, but her royal blood is almost exclusively German. The Hanovers married mostly German princes and princesses until Edward, Prince of Wales, married Princess Alexandra of Denmark. She too had a lot of German blood as a Schleswig-Holstein on her father's side.

Queen Mary was the daughter of a morganatic Wuttermberg prince and the grandaughter of George III, so she was thoroughly German. Her children married British/Scottish aristocrats, with the exception of Prince George, who married Princess Marina of Greece.

Philip is mainly German/Danish, with some Russian thrown in (the Romanovs are bascially German as well).

Once William has children and becomes King, the royal family will become much more British and Scottish in blood.

 

[Vasillisos Markos]

Is it true that one can claim British citizenship if one's grandparent was born there? If so, both Prince Phillip and I can make such a claim. Wasn't his grandmother and mother even born in the same bed at Windsor Castle?

 

[wbenson]

I believe that now it has to come from a parent, and that in the 1940s, it could only come from the father. His mother had British citizenship by being born in the UK, but she couldn't pass that on to a child (although technically, as noted above, all of her children were British citizens automatically).

 

[MAfan]

The Queen is half-Scottish through her mother, but her royal blood is almost exclusively German. The Hanovers married mostly German princes and princesses until Edward, Prince of Wales, married Princess Alexandra of Denmark. She too had a lot of German blood as a Schleswig-Holstein on her father's side.

And Queen Alexandra was daughter of a German Princess of Hesse and of a German Prince of Schleswig Holstein, who later became King of Denmark; so, she had mainly German blood as well.

 

[akbarsprincess]

Is it true that one can claim British citizenship if one's grandparent was born there? If so, both Prince Phillip and I can make such a claim. Wasn't his grandmother and mother even born in the same bed at Windsor Castle?

I mention this is a post above. Yes it is mostly through a parent now but if your a sporting fan, you may notice occasional references to sports men and women playing for a country other than the one they were born in. Greg Rusedski (Canadian tennis player) players for Britain through a British Grandmother.

 

[akbarsprincess]

The Queen is half-Scottish through her mother...

Then she's as British as the rest of us We are a very mixed, cosmopolitan bunch in Britain, not just nowdays but throughout history. Immigration and foreign blood has always played a part in what constitutes British/English. The invasions of the Anglo-Saxons in the fifth century (some of which would of course have been Germanic) is where we get the name 'England' of course. Ethnically I am half Jamaican and half English, married to a Persian so my children are an English/Persian/Jamaican mix. Nevertheless we are all British, my husband also through naturalisation, and that is how I have always viewed myself.

 

[KittyAtlanta]

How interesting. Thanks for sharing this information.

 

[akbarsprincess]

The Sophia Naturalization Act meant that all her protestant descendents were British citizens from birth. It is no longer the case as the court case revealed a situation that people had forgotten about and the law was amended but certainly all her descendents born before the court case in the 1950s were British citizens simply by virtue of descent from her and thus Philip was born a British citizen.

Does that mean anyone, royal or otherwise, who can prove their descent from Sophia can claim British citizenship no matter where they are born or is this the situation people had forgotton about you were refering to. Considering a high proportian of the present day populatipn are descended from royalty, I could be born in lets say Germany to German parents and grandparents, do some digging, find proof of descent from Sophia and claim citizenship. I wonder how I would go about it and what the UK Border Agency would say

 

[wbenson]

The Sophia Naturalization Act was repealed in 1948. Only descendants born before then have any claim to British nationality under it.

 

[Iluvbertie]

The Sophia Naturalization Act was repealed in 1948. Only descendants born before then have any claim to British nationality under it.

If they hadn't repealed the act then Ernst wouldn't have realised that he was able to claim British citizenship as it brought to light the very fact that he was a British citizen. At least that is what I have read.

 

[akbarsprincess]

Yes I read that in your original post.

 

[agogo]

Isn't this the tradition for anyone that marries a future monarch? Queen Sophia of Greece become a catholic and left her Greek orthodox faith, Greek citizenship.

 

[Iluvbertie]

Isn't this the tradition for anyone that marries a future monarch? Queen Sophia of Greece become a catholic and left her Greek orthodox faith, Greek citizenship.

No - in past years the spouse has been able to keep their nationality and religious beliefs so long as they are compatible - Sophia's Greek Orthodox faith isn't compatible with Roman Catholicism but say a German Princess married into the British Royal Family there would be no need to change from Lutheranism although most did do so some didn't.

 

[Charlotte1]

Philip didn't have to relinquish anything, he chose to give up his Greek citizenship and by becoming British he also lost his title of prince. No British citizen can hold a foreign title, this is something that was brought in as part of the 1917 changes to the Royal Family by George V.

Philip wanted a career in the Royal Navy, as a foreign subject he could only rise to a certain rank. Even before he and the Princess Elizabeth were an 'item' he let King George II of Greece know that he wanted to give up his Greek citizenship and George II allowed him to do so. (This was in 1943) With the war going on though all British Naturalisations were put on hold, so Philip had to wait. After the war ended King George II of Greece asked Philip to wait until the referendum in Greece on the monarchy being reinstated be held before Philip became a British citizen. (It wouldn't look all that good for the monarchist cause in Greece if one of its members wanted to give up their title!) The referendum in Greece was held in November 1946, the monarchy was reinstated and Philip became a British citizen in February 1947.

As a British citizen he no longer had a title and needed a surname so took that of his uncle Lord Mountbatten.

The court case that Ernst August of Hanover brought in the 1950s brought out the information that any descendent of Sophia the Electress was a British citizen, so Philip didn't really have to apply for citizenship. But it was a law that had long been forgotten by pretty much everyone until Ernst August used it to try and get his British citizenship.

British citizens cannot hold foreign royal titles so Philip's cousin Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark when she married a British man would have been plain Mrs Richard Branham, but she asked King George VI to be given the style and title of the daughter of an Earl. So she became Lady Katherine Branham. Outside of the UK she was still Princess Katherine and was buried in Greece as Princess Katherine, Lady Branham.

Princess Marina became The Duchess of Kent when she married, she was no longer a princess in her own right, she was Princess George of Kent. After her son got married she asked the Queen if she could be called Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, the Queen agreed just like she agreed that the widowed Duchess of Gloucester could be Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester. (Alice had never been a princess) They were not actually princesses in their own right, but allowed to use the title as a courtesy.

Philip also never renounced Greek Orthodoxism, he was baptised Greek Orthodox but raised Anglican. He attended British boarding schools and that was the religion practised there. He was confirmed Anglican and so became a member of the Anglican church. He did this as a teenager, again long before he began his relationship with Princess Elizabeth.

 

[Warren]

... Philip's cousin Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark when she married a British man would have been plain Mrs Richard Branham, but she asked King George VI to be given the style and title of the daughter of an Earl. So she became Lady Katherine Branham.

Typo: should read Lady Katherine Brandram.

 

[branchg]

Princess Katherine dropped her Greek royal title when she married Major Brandram and became a British subject. George VI granted her the precedence and style of the daughter of a Duke and she became Lady Katherine Brandram in her own right.

 

[snowflower]

Princess Katherine dropped her Greek royal title when she married Major Brandram and became a British subject. George VI granted her the precedence and style of the daughter of a Duke and she became Lady Katherine Brandram in her own right.

Just to know, did Princess Katherine became automatically British due to her marriage to a British man (did the UK laws at that time permitted it) or she had to apply for a citizenship?
When it comes to Prince Philip renouncing his citizenship and title of Prince I find it logical to a certain point. If he had renounced his succesion rights, then Charles at birth would have been in the line of succession for three different crowns. It doesn't seem too right for a future British King I guess. Not to mention that he was raised mostly in Britain and Germany and had few things to connect him to Greece apart from his title andreligion. Anyway, I find it very interesting that until King Constantine was born he was practically very close to the Greek Crown: after Paul (whose daughter Sophia was not so high in the succession line then) came the old Prince George, his son Peter who never fathered children, Andrew and then Philip. No wonder King George II didn't want him to reliquish him his title before the referendum since ,after Peter's unsuitable marriage and the deaths of Andrew and Christopher, he was the only adult in line to the throne except for Paul.

 

[Esmerelda]

Also, I believe there was a civil war in Greece at the time and marrying a Greek Prince would have been seen as 'taking sides'. Though I'm not sure how much that had to do with Philip's decision.

There's quite a lot of information in this documentary:
YouTube - Elizabeth & Philip: A Royal Romance (1/5)
YouTube - Elizabeth & Philip: A Royal Romance (2/5)
YouTube - Elizabeth & Philip: A Royal Romance (3/5)
YouTube - Elizabeth & Philip: A Royal Romance (4/5)
YouTube - Elizabeth & Philip: A Royal Romance (5/5)

 

[Viv]

Prince Philip was never in the Danish line of succession

He lost his place in line to the Danish throne after the 1953 referendum that allowed women to inherit the throne.
.

My comment is overdue, but I hope that someone will 'pass by' these pages and pick up an essential fact:

Prince Philip was never in the Danish line of succession! King Georgios I, formerly Prince Vilhelm of Denmark renounced his succession rights after accepting the offer of the Greek throne in 1863, and it goes without saying that he renounced for his descendants as well!

I understand why some get confused about the ' of Greece and Denmark' title, and as things are these days the title ought to be abolished.
Originally the ' ...of Denmark' -part of the title was insisted upon by Vilhelm's father, King Christian IX. King Otto had just been booted out of Greece, and king Christian deemed that Vilhelm and his descendants should be entitled to a Danish passport should the Greek family be dethroned at some stage. The 'of Denmark'-title is basically a legal-dynastic technicality ensuring the connection to the Danish royal family.
Several Danish diplomatic passports have been issued tp Greek royalty since then!

Another technicality is the use of the Danish prepositions til (to) and af (of) in this respect:
All Danish princes/princesses in the line of succession are princes/princesses TIL Danmark. Those not in line of succession are princes/princesses AF Denmark.

This difference is not reflected in the English language, so that's why many believe that Philip was a Danish prince with succession right.

Now you know that he wasn't .. and why!

Viv