In today's video journey, we discuss why Queen Elizabeth has never visited Greece during her entire reign as queen of England.
Queen Elizabeth II is probably the most well-travelled monarch ever. She has been to 116 countries on official state visits as Queen, but not Greece. Why?
The Queen has travelled from the tiny island nation of Tuvalu in the Pacific, to Russia, China, Chile, Ghana, Australia and almost everywhere in between. So it may seem surprising that she has never made the relatively short hop over to the birthplace of her husband, Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. Prince Philip is a "Greek prince," says royal historian Hugo Vickers, so it is an "interesting" omission. The reason, he believes, is because of the fraught history of the monarchy in Greece, which affected Prince Philip's immediate family.
"Prince Philip doesn't like Greece, because they put his father, Prince Andrew, on trial, and he might have been executed," says Vickers. "In 1922, they all had to flee." Prince Philip was a baby at the time and rarely returned.
It is not completely true that the Queen has never been to Greece - she did go there at the invitation of King Paul, Prince Philip's cousin, in 1950, but that was before she became Queen.
In 1963 King Paul also came to Britain on a state visit but it was "hugely controversial" says Vickers, because Greece held a number of political prisoners at the time.
Soon after that visit, King Paul died. His successor, King Constantine - Prince Philip's first cousin once removed - was ousted when the monarchy was abolished in 1973.
He lived in London until his death, and always considered himself king., and had a close personal relationship with Queen Elizabeth.
All of this has "made things difficult" says Vickers. But he also suspects the Queen may have never been invited by the Greek president to make a state visit.
Prince Philip did go to Athens to visit his mother before she moved to London in the 1960s - but he would travel on his own, says Vickers.
In many ways, the map of the Queen's state visits reflects the state of British diplomatic relations with the rest of the world.
It is unfortunate that these circumstances have created a situation where a royal would avoid one of the most beautiful countries in the world, but alas, that seemed to be the case for Queen Elizabeth.
What are your thoughts? Is the queen justified in her avoidance of Greece? Or should she have been open to visit this wonderful land?