May 28 2022 - It's coming next week - the Platinum Jubilee

 

It is coming next week - the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.  June 2, 2022.   It goes from Thursday 2nd to Sunday 5th.  Every week on the royal.uk website is a "Royal Week."  There's a picture highlighting each week and it is all part of "The Platinum Jubilee Image Countdown."  How many people does the Queen meet on a weekly basis?  I don't see anything on that, but one can find out her typical daily schedule.  It is divided into mornings, afternoons and evenings.   It never gives any number of people or events.  The number of letters is said to be 300 letters each day.  I expect more than one lady-in-waiting handles the ones she doesn't respond to. She doesn't just wake up:  "The Queen wakes from her slumber each morning at 7:30 am. She stays in bed for a few minutes, listening to the "Today" program on BBC Radio 4." What next?   "The Queen receives assistance from her long-serving personal assistant, Angela Kelly, who draws the Queen's bath, ensuring that it's the correct temperature using a wood-cased thermometer. The bathwater will be precisely seven inches deep." She does two hours of "paperwork" in the morning, and then meets with dignitaries for two hours.  And how about her lunch at 1:30pm? "The Queen enjoys light meals with impeccable presentation. Apparently, all vegetables on her plate must be of equal size." Reading through that summary, it seems to me that the Queen might be alone a fair amount of time, or that what is left out is all the people that she is with and does meet.  When the article was written Prince Phillip was alive, and it says he didn't live at the Palace.  So she would have been busy with a lot of people, it seems to me. You can read that schedule HERE.  It is similar to others that are published.   Haven't you wondered why the Queen looks younger in pictures than one would expect?  I found this picture of her on the royal website.  That seems to me to be closer to what one would expect.   I am waiting for my Itoh peony to bloom.  What is this? This is sa cross between tree peonies and herbaceous peonies.  They share qualities of both parents, strong stems like tree peonies, resistant to blight, and can get a second set of blooms. They come back in spring from the ground.  For now, here's the view at Royal Botanical Gardens. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Dec 14 2021 - Charles the King

 

Everyone held their breath in England when Queen Elizabeth went into hospital a few weeks ago.  Under common law, Prince Charles will automatically become King the moment the Queen dies. Prince William could only become King if Prince Charles chose to abdicate. That would require legislation, as happened with the Declaration of Abdication Act 1936.  While there are "reports" he considers the job a very difficult one and not one that he wants, there are also "reports" that he's waited so long - he will take up the role. I wondered what were the circumstances that the current Queen is only the second Elizabeth?  I assume it is because if a monarch had sons, they took precedence over daughters.  That was changed with the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 along with removing the disqualification arising from a marriage to a Roman Catholic.  The history of the monarchy in Britain is so complicated, that I stopped looking.  I hadn't realize that there was controversy over her being the second Elizabeth:  Rather than choose a regnal name; she chose to remain Elizabeth, "of course"; thus she was called Elizabeth II.  This annoyed many Scots, as she was the first Elizabeth to rule in Scotland.   So much tradition:  What number in the succession stops being important and becomes just a number? Is there a top 10 or 20 that count more than the others - Wikipedia goes to 63.  I realized it would be those directly related to the Queen - the first twenty-four.   Below is the top twenty - this comes from the official British monarchy website. It is https://www.royal.uk   So the succession of the Monarchy is importance to us today. This is a time when one can find out their ancestry and get a sense of their family tree. I expect the British Monarchy to stay around for a while given our intense curiosity about our own ancestors.  And there are exciting times ahead with the countdown to the year-long Queen's Platinum Jubilee 2022 celebration. Here's an elegant Christmas tree from a few years ago at the Fantasy of Trees.

Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca