Entertaining cousin Nicky

First it was McMafia. After which it was the Skripals. Then the World Cup. Come the end of the year even Buckingham Palace is getting in on the act with a new exhibition, Russia: Royalty & the Romanovs (‘Through war, alliance and dynastic marriage the relationships between Britain and Russia and their royal families are explored from Peter the Great’s visit to London in 1698 through to Nicholas II’).This is the year we were all reminded of our close relationship with the Russians. Some of us, of course, are more closely related than others. Lest we forget: Queen Victoria was the grandmother of Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia, and of King George V, the present Queen’s grand-father and founder of the House of Windsor; Prince Philip is the grandnephew of Alexandra and great-great-grandson of Nicholas I. Still with me? Basically, it means that William and Harry have more than a touch of the Romanovs about them: this surely explains Harry’s beard.