The Unofficial British Royal Family Pages

Sunday 9 July 2006

Some Miscellanies and Errata

It's July, and both the special events of Queen Elizabeth's 80^th birthday celebrations, and the regular great occasions of the royal season (Trooping the Color, the Garter Service, and Royal Ascot) have come and gone. The annual Scottish Week when the court is at Holyrood has just occurred, and the round of Garden Parties at Buckingham Palace should be commencing. It seems like a good moment for some miscellaneous observations, and for the correction of some wee mistakes that have crept into my columns from time to time over the last months. (As any student who's written a history essay remembers, it's always advisable to review even the facts you "know.")

The thanksgiving service at St. Paul's Cathedral for the Queen's 80^th was a truly grand occasion. It is somewhat sad, nonetheless, to see the lesser royals being bussed about these days rather than having the grand cavalcades of carriages of former days. Security, economy, and convenience, I suppose. But, "Hmmph!"

It was interesting to catch a rare glimpse of the extremely private Lord Nicholas Windsor, second son of the Duke of Kent, at the thanksgiving service.

The Duke of York and Earl of Wessex looked quite good in their new Garter robes. It would be great to have a family portrait of the six royals - the Queen, her husband, and the four children - all bedecked in their robes. Perhaps one was taken and I missed it. (I have been off and away of late, and not where I could keep up with the postings on our wonderful Current Royal News website.) Hopefully before too long the Garter will also be given to Prince William, as befits the heir's heir. I would also hope that the Queen would hand out a few more Thistles in the family. Equal time for Scotland, you know.

Much was made of the Duchess of York being invited to the Garter Service, but being seated away from the royals. It is an odd arrangement, to be sure, the non-marriage of Prince Andrew and his beloved ex-wife. Behind the scenes the Queen appears to be comfortable enough having Fergie around. I've seen pictures of the Duchess present with the Queen in the Royal Box during polo matches at Smith's Lawn, and she will be in attendance at the upcoming birthday ball for Princess Beatrice at Windsor Castle.

There is a rather fun picture of the Queen at the children's party at Buckingham Palace. It shows her sitting in a tartan covered seat, with a rather grim face... probably caused by squinting into the brighter daylight beyond her shaded box. Rupert Grint (Harry Potter's Ron Weasley) and Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) are sitting directly in front of her. Royals and wizards, oh my!

The estate sale of Princess Margaret's effects succeeded beyond all expectations, and some missteps in the lead-in were corrected as Viscount Linley re-purchased his mother's portrait, some architectural bits were returned to Kensington Palace, and some lots including diplomatic gifts had their proceeds given to charity. The most surprising sales to me were some of the personal items that belonged to King George VI, and to a lesser extent some of the bits that came from Queen Mary. I rather fancied the silver coffee and tea service from Queen Mary, but would have needed a winning lottery ticket to compete in the bids. I do wonder if any of the items were purchased by other royals, anonymously.

Although H.M. the Queen is the temporal head of the Church of England, the mother province of the Anglican Communion, the election of a woman as the new Presiding Bishop (i.e. Primate) of the Episcopal Church USA is causing consternation among church Traditionalists worldwide. Others - including a certain Presbyterian columnist - are jubilant. The first woman Primate in the history of Anglicanism is a major thing, for sure. But poor Rowan Williams must occasionally wonder if he is destined to be the Humpty Dumpty of Canterbury.

The U.S. Independence Day celebrations regularly remind those who actually take the time to re-read the Declaration of Independence of the set of charges leveled by Thomas Jefferson against George III. Rather unfair, really, since they were much more the policies of the Prime Minister and the government of the day. Great amusement is drawn from the fact that George III's diary for July 4, 1776 notes that "nothing important happened today." Oh the bliss of the era when communications took weeks to cross the Atlantic! Some of those old charges, by the way, make interesting reading in the current world situation.

The Royal Family will soon embark on their chartered cruise around through the Isles of Scotland. It will soon be nine years since Britannia was retired, and it is undoubtedly a mark of how much the Queen misses it that this upcoming cruise is her particular self-indulgence for her 80^th birthday. I recently ran across a lovely story of a young Scottish family picnicking on holiday, some years back, on a small uninhabited Hebridean island. While wandering they ran into a nice lady and some companions walking on the beach, and remarked that they'd seen the royal yacht anchored nearby. The nice lady just chatted along, not showing her hand, until one of the children suddenly looked at her and said, "Wait a minute! Are you the Queen?" Laughter, and a unique holiday snapshot, followed.

Now for those corrections:

1. In my column on the House of Hanover some months ago I mistakenly identified William IV as the second son of George III, while in fact he was the third son. The second son was Frederick, the Duke of York who died in 1827 without issue. Imagine a British King Frederick!

2. In my column two months ago, I mis-remembered the arrangements around the marriage of the Earl and Countess of Wessex. The Countess is, indeed, Her Royal Highness. She just downplayed that while she was still in the business world, going by the name of Sophie Wessex professionally. Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor, however, is not a Princess or HRH, according to the wishes of her parents.

3. Last month I remembered the right distinction, but was mistaken on the correct spelling for Oldenburg. "Burg" denotes a castle, while "berg" denotes a mountain. I transposed the two in my mind when I wrote the column. The Danish royal family's name is the castle version.

Thanks to various correspondents who pointed out these errors at the time.

Yours Aye,

- Ken Cuthbertson