CREECE IS GREEK TO THE QUEEN

 WHY GREECE IS A FORBIDDEN LAND FOR BRITISH MONARCH?

* Queen Elizabeth-II is probably the most well traveled monarch ever. 

* She has been to 116 countries on official state visits as Queen. * But she has not gone to Greece. Why?

* The Queen has traveled 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," according to  royal historian Hugo Vickers, so it is an "interesting" omission.

* The reason he believes, is because Prince Philip doesn't like Greece, because they put his father [Prince Andrew] on trial, and he might have been executed.

 * 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 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. 

Former Greek King Constantine attended the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton

He lives in London, still considers himself king, and has a close personal relationship with the Queen.

* All of this has made things difficult. Perhaps the Queen has 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, not as a state representative.

* Israel is another notable omission from the Queen's list of state visits.

* Security is a major factor in this case due to diplomatic sensitivity over visiting Jerusalem. Israel regards Jerusalem as the capital, but it is not recognized as such by Western nations, who base their embassies in Tel Aviv instead.

* Egypt is a surprise omission from the Queen's travel itinerary, he adds, given its influence in the region, and its potential for business with Britain.

* The Queen has made it to every single nation in the Commonwealth, except two of the more recent entrants, Rwanda and Cameroon.