ROYAL BLOOD

Were The Queen and Prince Philip cousins?

QUEEN Elizabeth II was married to Prince Philip for more than seven decades.

The royal couple, who tied the knot in 1947, had four children together - Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.

Were Prince Philip and The Queen related?

The Queen, 96, and Prince Philip, 99, were distant cousins.

Both were directly related to Queen Victoria, the two share the same bloodline.

Through their respective links to Queen Victoria, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were third cousins.

Through her father's lineage, the Queen was a direct descendent of Queen Victoria.

Their eldest son, Prince Edward, was born in 1841 and ascended the throne in 1901 following Queen Victoria's death.

His second-eldest son, George - the Queen's grandfather - succeeded Edward VII in 1910.

King George V's reign lasted until 1936 when his eldest son succeeded him, becoming Edward VIII.

But Edward abdicated in December 1936 after being told he could not marry divorcee Wallis Simpson if he was King.

His younger brother, the Queen's father King George VI, ascended the throne.

This means Queen Elizabeth was the paternal great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

While the Queen is related to Queen Victoria via her father, Prince Philip's links were through his mother's side of the family.

Queen Victoria's second daughter, Princess Alice, was born in 1843 and went on to marry Ludwig IV - the Grand Duke of Hesse.

The couple had seven children, with their eldest being Victoria, who married her father's first cousin, Prince Louis of Battenburg, in 1884.

A year after, Victoria gave birth to their first child, Princess Alice of Battenburg - Prince Philip's mother.

She tied the knot with Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark in 1903 and they went on to have five children.

Their youngest, Prince Philip, was born in 1921.