Queen Elizabeth

I have been running, a completion for a 6 word story with the prompt Wedding. I will be hosting this completion again week beginning 2^ndJune. The next two weeks, the post will be hosted by Kirsty on kirstwrites.

My attempt was:

Two become one. Forever always happy.

Sheryl also went for a fairytale finsh, with:

Vows sealed with a loving kiss.

Everyone else was a little more cynical…

jvprawn

Happily ever after. Only in tales.

kirstwrites

Her bump was obvious. Inlaws glared.

Vaibhav

She refused. I married her sister.

Piyalis

Gamble-roll your dice and pray.

ellenbest24

He gazed and said
“You’ll do”

Grace Middlemas

Damn the divorce will cost lots.

trE

Arranged marriage–their parents scored big.

Peter’s ponderings

Harried, parried, tarried, carried, married!

Anand

But the wedding pictures reflected otherwise…

NicholeS

Show me to the singles table.

A few posts from other blogs related to the wedding:

A post about the invitation:

♔By Royal Invitation

A post that is about Queen Victoria walking two of her daughters down the aisle after her husband albert’s death. I definatley like the term walking down the aisle more than ‘Giving away’ as that sounds like a woman is a possession to be passed from one man to another.

http://people.com/royals/queen-victoria-walked-daughters-down-aisle-royal-wedding-meghan-markle/

Blonerella’s preparation for the wedding

https://theblonderella.com/how-to-prepare-for-the-royal-wedding/

The wedding of Henry and Rachel

Harry is actually a nickname. His actual name is Henry Charles Albert.

Meghan goes by her middle name. She is actually Rachel Meghan.

Royal wedding tiaras

It is the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan tomorrow. Here is some wedding tiaras. Which do you like best?

https://www.townandcountrymag.com/the-scene/weddings/g17805394/royal-wedding-tiaras-throughout-history/

Queen Elizabeth II is the current Queen of the UK. At birth it was not expected that she would be Queen. Her Grandfather George V was King. The Quen’s Father was King George V second son. In 1936 King George V died and his eldest son became Edward VIII. However, within the year, he abdicated, due to the controversy over his wish to marry the divorcee Wallis Simpson. As Edward had no children the crown passed to Queen Elizabeth’s Father who became George VI.

Queen Elizabeth was named after her mother Elizabeth. Her second name is Alexandra after her Great Grandmother (George V’s Mother). She was named Mary after her Grandmother, George V’s wife.

Queen Elizabeth married Prince Philip in 1947. Their first child Prince Charles was born in 1948 and their second Anne in 1950. In 1952 Elizabeth became Queen upon the death of her Father. Her coronation took place in 1953. She had a third child Andrew in 1960 and her final child Edward in 1964.

Queen Elizabeth now has 8 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren, with another due to her granddaughter Zara later this year.

Queen Elizabeth 11 Drop Scones; recipe from Letters of Note compiled by Shaun Usher

The Queen’s wedding

The Queen’s Mother wedding

Will the new Royal baby ever be King?

The new royal baby is now 5^thin line to the English throne and will move up places in line of succession, on deaths or abdication of any or all of the following:

The Queen

Prince Charles

Prince William

Prince George

Princess Charlotte

Therefore theoretically, the new baby could become king. However it is very unlikely as a third child to become king. The last third child to be King was William IV who ruled 1830-1837. Conversely, could the fact, that the new babies, siblings, share their names with William IVs parents be a sign of the new babies destiny? William IV parents were George III and Queen Charlotte.

With everybody, living longer then it is unlikely everyone listed above would die before Prince George and Princess Charlotte have children. If and when Prince George or Princess charlotte has children their children push the new baby, down the order of succession.

Given there are rules about too many heirs to the throne travelling together; it is unlikely that all the heirs would die at the same time. Unless god forbid, someone plants a bomb in Windsor Castle 19^thMay when it is the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and that kills all of above. But the new baby does not go to the wedding being too young. All very far fetched as the security at the wedding will be intense and the baby will probably be in attendance.

Royal Family Engagement Rings

Queen Mother and Camilla

Camilla’s ring originally belonged to the Queen’s Mother.

Queen’s engagement ring

Diana and Kate’s engagement ring

Kate’s engagement ring was originally her late Mother in laws. It is a sapphire surrounded by diamonds.

Princess Anne Engagement rings

Both Princess Anne’s engagement rings are sapphires surrounded by diamonds. Top is from first marriage and bottom from second marriage.

Sarah Fergusson and Eugene Engagement Rings

Sarah Fegusson’s ring was burmese ruby surrounded by diamonds. Her daughter’s is a similar ring but adparadscha sapphire surrounded by diamonds.

Eugene’s is on the left and Sarah’s on the right.

Sophie’s Engagement ring

Autumn’s ring

Zara’s ring

Meghan Markles Rings

First Engagement ring from marriage to Trevor Englesman.

Ring for engagement to Harry.

I like the rings with coloured stones, what do you like best?

The Royal Family and me

I was not born when Charles and Diana married. I’m not old enough to remember Prince Andrew’s and Sarah’s wedding, I can not remember there being much fuss about Prince Edward and Sophie’s wedding. I can remember newspaper coverage the next day of Philip and Zara’s wedding. I can remember newspaper coverage around Charles and Camilla’s wedding. The Queen Mother died about a week before Charles wedding. I heard about the Queen’s Mother’s death on the radio whilst I was at the petrol station at Asda Scunthorpe. The BBC suspended it’s schedule for the night and instead showed programmes in tribute.

I can vividly remember Diana’s death.

Wonderwall: Summer 1997; 20 years ago.

There was a public holiday for Prince William’s wedding so that in it memorable. However I barely saw any tv coverage live as I was in the car on the way up to the Lakes for the weekend. I wish could have started Day in final destination of Keswick as there was a screen in front of Moot Hall; I think the atmosphere would have been good. In retrospect I feel, I missed out; therefore I would like to watch Prince Harry’s forthcoming wedding to Meghan Markle on 19th May 2018.

I have seen the changing of the guards at Buckingham palace, a few times. I have been inside Buckingham palace once. Buckingham palace only opens to the public during August; I highly recommend a visit.

I have seen the Queen twice. The first time during her jubilee year, I saw her and Prince Philip when they visited Scunthorpe. The second time was unplanned; I stumbled on the Queen presenting awards in Trafalger square.

I always watch the Queen’s speech on Christmas Day. I recently saw an interesting documentary called the Coronation to mark 65 years since the coronation. I recommend trying to find it on BBC iPlayer. The Queen appeared in it. It was the most informal conversation I have seen her in; the Christmas address is very formal and when she is on public engagements you never really hear what she says. The programme included her talking about wearing the crowns and looking at the heavily jewelled crowns. At one point she was asked, what her children at the time Charles and Anne did on the day and she said ‘I have no idea. I was not with them’.

Some think the monarchy is archaic and should be abolished. I’m currently in the middle of a book by Sue Townsend; called Queen Camilla which imagines the monarchy has been abolished. I like having the monarchy; it represents so much history. Tax payers money does fund the family but the Royal Family rarely gets raises in money received so they are budgeting. I think they must draw millions of tourists to the UK. I think they are beneficial in terms of relationships with other countries.

What do you think of the UKs 🇬🇧 monarchy?

Links to my posts on what brides, bridesmaids and the Queen have worn at royal weddings.

The Queen’s Mother wedding

The Queen’s wedding

Charles and Camilla Wedding

Princess Anne and Mark Phillip’s Wedding

Princess Anne and Timothy Lawerence Wedding

Princess Andrew and Sarah Fergusson Wedding

Princess and Edward and Sophie’s Wedding

Philip and Autumn Wedding

Prince William and Kate’s wedding

Zara and Mike’s wedding

2 royal weddings in 2018 both at the same location: Harry and Meghan and Eugene and Jack

Queen Elizabeth 11 Drop Scones; recipe from Letters of Note compiled by Shaun Usher

One of the major selling points of this book was it contained a letter from Queen Elizabeth to Presidents Eisenhower, written in 1960. Which included a recipe for drop scones that she had served him.

The book includes clear photos of the original letters and also a transcript of the letters, in case any of the handwriting is difficult to read. Additionally there is a paragraph giving the background to the letter.

Queen Elizabeth’s book is the first proper letter in the book (technically the first is a letter from Shaun Usher). It is amazing to see the Queen’s handwriting on Buckingham palace headed notepaper; I thought it would be fun to try to replicate her recipe. At first when I saw scones, I was thinking the type of scones you have with jam and cream. But another name for drop scones is scotch pancakes. They are denser than what , I would class as an English Shrove Tuesday pancake. More towards an American pancake hence why they may have appealed to the American president.

The recipe does not contain much method; it is mainly a list of ingredients, so google had to come in play for some of the method. Also google was needed because ‘our Liz’, did not seem to use scales. Instead in the recipe; ingredients are measured in tea cups. I do not own a tea cup. I have interpreted a tea cup as about 130g and therefore where a quarter of a tea cup was listed for sugar, I used 30g. For the milk where 2 teacups were required I used 350ml. The recipe also called for two tablespoons of butter, so I faithfully tried to scrape butter up from block with a spoon; my first attempt was more like a half spoon, so then had to scrape another half spoon. Probably just cutting about 2cm in from a block of butter along short side would have been about right.

When working out the quantities; I should have realised that the recipe was for 16 people. I’m afraid to say there was lots of waste. As there was no method I first tried, putting batter over whole pan like a normal pancake; that was a complete mess burnt in places despite not cooking in the middle as was so thick. I then read should be just a tablespoon for each scone ‘dropped’ in; clue may have been in the title! Even then I had issues getting middles cooked without burning the top and bottom. I was cooking in butter in a pan; some methods called for a griddle pan, so maybe that would help.

When cooked the drops scones should be quite spongy. I did not have cream of tartar, so I put in 3 teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda instead of 2. The bitternessc of the bicarbonate of soda was overpowering; I would say do not put more than a teaspoon of it in! I ended up adding more sugar to the batter to try and compensate. I then smothered in golden syrup – is that a British item or do you get it else where?

Not all the letters; give rise to such projects but, it is a good coffee table book to dip into; which gives glimpses into history. For example there is a letter from Queen Mary of Scotland, written in French their her brother the night before she was executed, a letter from Mark Chapman trying to sell the album John Lennon signed before later in the day Chapman shot him, a letter from Mick Jagger to Andy Warhol as regards as album design and many more!