Because I don't think - although I'm not an expert on EU politics by any means - that Germany's familial ties with the House of Hanover Windsor give us any real leverage with them.

Since the close blood ties between the German and British monarchies (the Kaiser was King Edward's nephew) didn't stop, or even slow, WWI, I think that's a safe bet.

Since the close blood ties between the German and British monarchies (the Kaiser was King Edward's nephew) didn't stop, or even slow, WWI, I think that's a safe bet.

Also failed to save Nicholas II. FWIW.

OTOH - and, really, this is totally OT, but it's just where my train of thought went - I am always utterly gobsmacked whenever I remember that Prince Phillip, he of the truly innovative approaches to diplomacy*, is Greek. Y'all can probably set me straight on this, actually - is the Greek Royal Family actually imported from somewhere else? Because as far as being sexy and Mediterranean looking - well, he ain't all that and the proverbial bag of chips.

* "Don't Stay In China Too Long, You'll Get Slitty Eyes" etc etc

Fay, have you ever heard Eddie Izzard on Prince Philip? Completely hilarious.

"Your problem is you're all bastards! . . . Well, that went well didn't you think? What do you mean? Which part?"

How to feel really, really ignorant:

I filled in most of the middle east, the north coast of Africa, and a couple of the -stans before I had to hunt and peck my way through the rest of it.

I am a big geography geek.

I didn't do so badly -- those little Gulf countries were a pain -- but I couldn't for the life of me remember the name of Libya until I had cleared out enough countries that I found it by process of elimination. I knew all the names it wasn't but that was embarrassing.

I could only fill in the blanks by thinking of who has invaded whom. Precision is not really my forte. In fact, I have to seriously think to map out all the provinces in Canada. Is there a name for this kind of stupidity? I also find it impossible to remember game rules.

The Greek royal family is German, FayJay. Imported for the purpose.

Oops, got it wrong. The Greeks imported a son of the Danish king. King George I of the Hellenes was the son of King Christian IX of Denmark.

Then they married lots and lots of Germans, so it all came to the same thing in the end. In particular, George I married Kaiser Bill's sister.

The breakup of the Soviet Union cost Montessori schools a *fortune* in maps. (They have kids trace around little wooden countries and put them together into paper maps. They used to have one big USSR block. Now, not so much.)

Give the little suckers some markers! Sheesh!

Greeks can get really cheesed off by "the Greek Royal Family". The NYTimes gets nasty letters whenever they describe someone as Greek royalty.