War, murder, revolution, madness and a comedy of errors that included a distinguished religious figure being unceremoniously shown the door by a royal flunky. When the Duke of Cambridge visits the grave of his great-grandmother during his trip to Jerusalem this week it will be the latest footnote in a remarkable royal saga.
It is also one that raises several questions, including: why is Princess Alice of Battenberg buried in a Russian Orthodox church on the Mount of Olives? Why is she honoured by Israel? And why did the Duke of Edinburgh, her only son, not attend her burial there?
William’s visit to pay his respects at Alice’s tomb comes two days after he is due to see Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Their meeting became more diplomatically fraught last week after the Prime Minister’s wife, Sara, was indicted for fraud for allegedly using public funds to pay for private family meals.
Read the article by Valentine Low in The Australian (from The Times).