#scott windsor castle

[scottkeygen]

[thepastisalreadywritten]

[dopescissorscashwagon]

Sir Bill Beaumont, Sir Ridley Scott, Peter Shilton and Mary Earps receive honours from the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle.

[jamesscottharryjohn]

[jamesleonardpaulscott]

[aimeedaisies]

The Princess Royals Official Engagements in April 2025

01/04 Received Lieutenant General Richard Cripwell (Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Bailiwick of Guernsey). 🇬🇬

02/04 As Patron of Farms for City Children, visited Lower Treginnis Farm in St David’s, Haverfordwest. 🧑‍🌾

03/04 As President of Racing Welfare, attended the Charity Luncheon at Aintree Racecourse. 🐎

04/04 As Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Canadian Medical Service, held a Meeting via video link with Major General Scott Malcolm (Surgeon General). 🇨🇦🩺

07/04 As President of the UK Fashion and Textile Association, visited Toray Textiles Europe Limited in Mansfield. 🧵

As Patron of the Eric Liddell Community, opened an Exhibition at 15 Morningside Road in Edinburgh.🥇

As Patron of the Haig Housing Trust, visited Veterans Housing in Edinburgh. 🏡

08/04 Visited Aden Country Park in Peterhead. 🌲

Visited MACBI Community Hub in Peterhead. 🤝

Visited Peterhead Prison Museum. ⛓️

As President of World Horse Welfare, visited a Rescue and Rehoming Centre and attended a Reception at Belwade Farm, Aboyne, Aberdeenshire. 🐴

09/04 Visited Three Kings Cullen Association at the Cullen Community and Residential Centre in Cullen, Buckie. 🤝🐴

Visited Cullen, Deskford and Portknockie Heritage Group at 11 the Square in Cullen. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Visited Gray Composting Services in Banff. ♻️

Visited Banffshire Partnership Limited at the Boyndie Visitor Centre. 🤝

10/04 Opened BAE Systems Naval Ships’ Applied Shipbuilding Academy in Scotstoun. ⚓️

As Patron of Sense Scotland, afterwards visited TouchBase Glasgow. 🧡💜

As Patron of the Friends of TS Queen Mary, attended a Reception at the Glasgow Science Centre. 🛥️

Visited the Traumatic Brain Injury Unit at the Briar Centre in Stonehouse. 🧠🤕

As Patron of Columba 1400, held a Twenty Fifth Anniversary Dinner at the Palace of Holyroodhouse. 🍽️

11/04 As Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, officially opened Edinburgh Futures Institute. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🎓

Opened Nautilus Welfare Fund’s Nautilus House in Wallasey. 🏡

14/04 As Guardian of Give Them A Sporting Chance, held a Management Team Meeting. ⚽️

As Guardian of the Chaffinch Trust, held a Management Team Meeting. 💼

15/04 As President of the Royal Yachting Association, attended the Youth National Championships at Plas Heli Cyf in Pwllheli.

As President of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Commonwealth Study Conferences, held a Dinner at Windsor Castle for the Commonwealth Study Conferences Canada’s As President’s Council and the Caribbean-Canada Leaders’ Dialogue. 🇨🇦🏝️

16/04 On behalf of The King, held an Investitures at Windsor Castle. 🎖️

22/04 As Former President of the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers, presented the Princess Royal Award and the Royal Dairy Innovation Award. 🥛🐄

24/04 With Sir Tim Attended the Commemoration Service of Turkey at Çanakkale Martyrs’ Memorial, Gallipoli. 🇹🇷

With Sir Tim Attended the Commemoration Service of France at Morto Bay Cemetery, Gallipoli. 🇫🇷

With Sir Tim As President of Commonwealth War Graves Commission, afterwards visited the Seddel-Bahr Military Grave of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Doughty-Wylie at Seddulbahir, Gallipoli. 🪦

With Sir Tim Attended the Commemoration Service of the United Kingdom, Commonwealth and Ireland at Helles Memorial, Gallipoli. 🇬🇧🌍🇮🇪

With Sir Tim Visited Seddülbahir Castle, Gallipoli. 🏰

With Sir Tim Attended a Commanders’ Reception at the Kolin Hotel, Çanakkale, given by His Majesty’s Ambassador to the Republic of Turkey (Her Excellency Ms Jill Morris). 🥂

25/04 With Sir Tim Attended a “Spirit of Place” Ceremony and Dawn Memorial Service at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli. 🌅

With Sir Tim Attended a Reception at the Bengodi Hotel, Eceabat, Gallipoli Peninsula, given by the Australian Ambassador to the Republic of Turkey (His Excellency Mr Miles Armitage) and the New Zealand Ambassador to the Republic of Turkey (His Excellency Mr Gregory Lewis). 🇹🇷🥂

With Sir Tim Received the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia (Her Excellency the Hon Samantha Mostyn) and Mr Simeon Beckett at the Bengodi Hotel. 🇦🇺

With Sir Tim Received the Rt Hon Christopher Luxon MP (Prime Minister of New Zealand) and Mr Mark Talbot (Senior Foreign Political Advisor) at the Bengodi Hotel. 🇳🇿

With Sir Tim Attended the Australian National Service at Lone Pine Cemetery, Gallipoli. 🇦🇺

With Sir Tim Visited Walker’s Ridge Cemetery, Gallipoli. 🇦🇺

With Sir Tim Attended the New Zealand Memorial Service at Chunuk Bair Cemetery, Gallipoli. 🇳🇿

28/04 As Patron of Sense, attended the Charity’s Seventieth Anniversary at Sense Touchbase Pears in Selly Oak, Birmingham. 💜🧡

As Chancellor of the University of London, attended a Graduation Ceremony at the Barbican Centre. 🎓

29/04 Visited Youth Court Solutions Service operating from Wellingborough Magistrates Court. ⚖️

As Patron of the Horse Trust, visited the Weigh to Win Programme at Slad Lane in Princes Risborough. 🐎

As Patron of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, held a Centenary Reception at Buckingham Palace. 🦋🐾🐍

As Patron of the Forces Employment Charity held a Dinner at St James’s Palace to mark the One Hundred and Fortieth Anniversary of the Charity. 🫡💼

30/04 As Patron of the English Rural Housing Association, Attended a Housing Conference at The Queen Elizabeth II Centre. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏡

As President of the City and Guilds of London Institute, attended the Tenth Anniversary of the Princess Royal Training Awards at Goldsmiths’ Hall. 🏆

As Royal Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, attended a Reception at 41 Portland Place. 🩺🏥

With Sir Tim As Patron of the Whitley Fund for Nature, attended the Annual Awards Ceremony at the Royal Geographical Society. 🦋🧡

Total official engagements for Anne in April: 52

2025 total: 149

Total official engagements accompanied/represented by Tim in April: 14

2025 total: 18

[world-of-wales]

THE PRINCE DIARIES ♔

8 MAY 2024 || INVESTITURE CEREMONY, WINDSOR CASTLE

The Prince of Wales hosted an Investiture at Windsor Castle. He presented honors to a range of people from across the UK and in varied fields. Among those honored were Sir Ridley Scott (GBE), Sir Bill Beaumont (GBE), Peter Shilton (OBE), Howard Wilkinson (OBE), Vinaichandra Venkatesham (OBE), Claire van Straubenzee (MBE) and Mary Earps (MBE) among others.

[thebibliomancer]

Universe X #5

We’ve got some Micronauts. I’m still surprised and alarmed that they’re part of Universe X’s big picture.

Although, here they are called the Ant Men.

Huh. Weren’t Scott Lang and his daughter stowed away in Tony’s refurbished Red Ronin armor? I guess they died when he tried to fight the Celestials. That’s depressing.

So red guy is Ant Man, son of Marionette and Arcturus Rann. I guess he named the team after himself.

Bug is the green one. Fun fact: the 616 version was in the Guardians of the Galaxy. Marionette is glowy, golden light woman. Neutron is the one who has the tall, conical head. Proton is the egg shaped one. Spartak is orange and has the crested helmet. And Spidra is upside down woman with all the hair.

Did you need to know their names? No and neither did I.

You’re welcome.

We’re following up from the Cap Special here so we start with Captain America’s funeral, held in the ruins of Washington DC and the grave of American democracy.

Wyatt Wingfoot, Cap’s former partner Redwing, gives the eulogy, calling Steve an unknown soldier, not really understood by the people he spent his life protecting.

So things are grim.

Not helped by funeral drama.

Redwing blows up at Lil Mar-Vell when various heroes offer to take up Cap’s role in guarding him on his quest. As far as Wyatt is concerned, Mar-Vell caused Cap’s death. By dragging him around on some weird quest and not being able to save him despite saying he has cosmic consciousness.

Also, Unpersoned Loki tries to start off on a new page with Thor but of all approaches chooses a flirty one.

I kind of want to roll up a newspaper and give Loki a smack.

The Tong of Creel attacks Windsor Castle to claim another piece of Absorbing Man.

King Captain Britain has impressive forces to throw at the problem. Himself, riding a Dragon Man. The Union Jacks. The Iron Avengers. Medusa. The new Black Widow, on loan from Russia. The new Black Knight/Prince of the Inhumans.

King Britain is more than equipped to kick the Tong of Creel’s ass in a straightforward fight. But while he’s doing one of those, someone sneaks behind the lines and just swipes the chest of Absorbing Man.

Dammit but that’s embarrassing. You know these guys are after the pieces. You know that they tend to swipe them in the chaos of battle. You should have prepared a better place for it than a glass display case! Throw it into the Sun!

Meanwhile, Mar-Vell and new protectors Venom, Thor, the circus X-Men, gorilla Hulk and child Bruce, and half-on-fire Namor go to HELL.

The Human Engineering Life Laboratory.

Acronyms are fun.

Home to the Prometheus Pit, once the entrance to the Microverse or Subatomica.

Mar-Vell needed to come here to get Psycho-Man’s Emotio-Caster. And he finds that the Prometheus Pit is clogged with some weird, organic matter.

The Ant Men are finally relevant to the story because they pop up to exposit everything. Well, Nighthawk got the opening exposition dump about Microverse stuff, too.

In the far off future, Prince Wayfinder finds a sentient sword embedded in a star that leads him to Earth of the distant past and created the subatomic world for him and his people to live on. The sword also imbued him with the Enigma Force, making him the first Captain Universe.

When Wayfinder died, the Enigma Force passed down to his descendant Arcturus Rann. But when Psycho-Man got tired of the Fantastic Four kicking his ass, he conquered his own home the Microverse, using his Emotio-Caster to fill people with fear, doubt, and hate. He even influenced Marionette to kill her own husband Rann.

The Enigma Force that was in him passed into the Realm of Death instead of choosing a new, living host and chose Dead Mar-Vell.

That’s the big inciting event for Mar-Vell’s side of the plot. That’s why he’s suddenly making moves despite having been dead for a long while.

When all hope was lost to save the Microverse from Psycho-Man, Ant Man and his Ant Men chose scorched earth. They evacuated through the Prometheus Pit and then had Man-Thing clog it up so nobody else could escape. Literally scorched. All who know fear burn at the Man-Thing’s touch.

The Microverse was on borrowed time. It was created and sustained by the Enigma Force. When that Force died with Rann, the world it created began falling apart.

The last of the Enigma Force that had been in the Microverse then went back in time and empowered the last survivor of the previous universe.

Yes, that’s right. In Universe X, Galactus and the Microverse share the same origin.

It gets betterworse, depending on your tolerance for this arc welding. Aaron Stack, the new Watcher, speculates that it wasn’t the sword that gave Wayfinder power and created a world for him, it was the star the sword was stuck into. And Galactus’ ultimate fate was to be turned into a star. Therefore, we have a bootstrap paradox time loopy.

The Enigma Force creates Galactus who gets turned into a star which creates the Enigma Force and the Microverse, which eventually collapses and sends its last energy back in time to create Galactus.

I don’t have to like it but I do have to respect Earth X and its sequels conspiracy board with yarn between various things “it’s all connected!” approach.

Neutron yanks the Emotio-Caster out of the mess for Mar-Vell, which finally collapses whatever remained of Subatomica and Man-Thing.

Venom asks what Mar-Vell needs the emotion controlling device for and he says he wants to make people happy.

Nobody seems to find this alarming or ominous!

Maybe because he bolded happy. I feel that given the device in question the emphasis should have been on “make people happy.”

So much of this quest is Mar-Vell gathering up dangerous items and going “just trust me, bro” and people do!

Also, Mr S (Cyclops) realizes that he can communicate with Phoenix in the Realm of the Dead through their psychic rapport.

In perhaps the only significant characterization that the new X-Men have gotten so far, Charmer is upset about that because she has a crush on Scott.

And while pondering the Galactus-Enigma Force ouroboros, Aaron Stack goes and digs up the Supreme Intelligence from beneath the surface of the Moon, like he’s been talking about doing for a while, and sits on him.

Five issues, an issue 0, and three specials in. And still not a really concrete idea of where we’re going with this.

Aaron at least decides to go talk to Nighthawk soon. I’m glad for him. Going out and talking to new people instead of pondering the multiverse and letting Uatu yell at him.

[goalhofer]

2024 olympics Great Britain roster

Archery

Conor Hall (Belfast)

Tom Hall (London)

Alex Wise (Newcastle Upon Tyne)

Megan Havers (Markfield)

Penny Healey (Telford)

Bryony Pitman (Shoreham-By-Sea)

Athletics

Jeremiah Azu (Cardiff)

Louie Hinchliffe (Crosspool)

Zharnel Hughes (The Valley, Anguilla)

Charlie Dobson (Colchester)

Matthew Hudson-Smith (Wolverhampton)

Max Burgin (Halifax)

Elliot Giles (Birmingham)

Ben Pattison (Frimley)

Neil Gourley (Glasgow)

Josh Kerr (Edinburgh)

George Mills (Harrogate)

Sam Atkin (Grimsby)

Patrick Dever (Preston)

Tade Ojora (London)

Alastair Chalmers (Guernsey, Channel Islands)

Richard Kilty (Middlesborough)

Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake (London)

Lewis Davey (Grantham)

Toby Harries (Brighton)

Alex Haydock-Wilson (London)

Sam Reardon (Beckenham)

Emile Cairess (Saltaire)

Mahamed Mahamed (Southampton)

Philip Sesemann (Bromley)

Callum Wilkinson (Moulton)

Jacob Fincham-Dukes (Harrogate)

Scott Lincoln (Northallerton)

Lawrence Okoye (London)

Nick Percy (Glasgow)

Dina Asher-Smith (London)

Imani-Lara Lansiquot (London)

Daryll Neita (London)

Bianca Williams (London)

Amber Anning (Hove)

Laviai Nielsen (London)

Lina Nielsen (London)

Victoria Ohuruogu (London)

Phoebe Gill (St. Albans)

Keely Hodgkinson (Atherton)

Jemma Reekie (Beith)

Georgia Bell (London)

Laura Muir (Milnathort)

Revée Walcott-Nolan (Luton)

Megan Keith (Inverness)

Eilish McColgan (Dundee)

Cynthia Sember (Ypsilanti, Michigan)

Jessie Knight (Epsom)

Lizzie Bird (St. Albans)

Aimee Pratt (Stockport)

Desirèe Henry (London)

Amy Hunt (Nottingham)

Yemi John (London)

Hannah Kelly (Bury)

Jodie Williams (Welwyn Garden City)

Nicole Yeargin (Bowie, Maryland)

Clara Evans (Hereford)

Rose Harvey (London)

Calli Yauger-Thackeray (Flagstaff, Arizona)

Morgan Lake (Reading)

Holly Bradshaw (Preston)

Molly Caudery (Truro)

Katharina Johnson-Thompson (Liverpool)

Jade O'Dowda (Oxford)

Badminton

Ben Lane (Milton Keynes)

Sean Vendy (Milton Keynes)

Kirsty Gilmour (Glasgow)

Boxing

Lewis Richardson (Colchester)

Patrick Brown (Sale)

Delicious Orie (Wolverhampton)

Charley Davison (Lowestoft)

Rosie Eccles (Newport)

Chantelle Reid (Allenton)

Canoeing

Adam Burgess (Stoke-On-Trent)

Joe Clarke (Stoke-On-Trent)

Mallory Franklin (Windsor)

Kimberley Woods (Rugby)

Climbing

Hamish McArthur (York)

Toby Roberts (Elstead)

Erin McNeice (Rodmersham)

Molly Thompson-Smith (London)

Cycling

Tom Pidcock (Leeds)

Josh Tarling (Aberaeron)

Stephen Williams (Aberysthwyth)

Fred Wright (Manchester)

Jack Carlin (Paisley)

Ed Lowe (Stamford)

William Turnbull (Morpeth)

Joe Truman (Petersfield)

Dan Bigham (Newcastle-Under-Lyme)

Ethan Hayter (London)

Ethan Vernon (Bedford)

Oli Wood (Wakefield)

Charlie Tanfield (Great Ayton)

Mark Stewart (Dundee)

Charlie Aldridge (Crieff)

Kieran Reilly (Newcastle Upon Tyne)

Kye Whyte (London)

Ross Cullen (Preston)

Lizzie Deignan (Otley)

Pfeiffer Georgi (Castle Combe)

Anna Henderson (Edlesborough)

Anna Morris (Cardiff)

Sophie Capewell (Lichfield)

Emma Finucane (Carmarthen)

Katy Marchant (Manchester)

Lowri Thomas (Abergavenny)

Elinor Barker (Cardiff)

Neah Evans (Langbank)

Josie Knight (Dingle, Ireland)

Jess Roberts (Carmarthen)

Ella MacLean-Howell (Llantrisant)

Evie Richards (Malvern)

Charlotte Worthington (Chorlton-Cum-Hardy)

Beth Shriever (Braintree)

Emily Hutt (London)

Diving

Jack Laugher (Ripon)

Jordan Houldon (Sheffield)

Noah Williams (London)

Kyle Kothari (London)

Anthony Harding (Ashton-Under-Lyne)

Tom Daley (Plymouth)

Yasmin Harper (Sheffield)

Grace Reid (Edinburgh)

Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix (London)

Lois Toulson (Cleckheaton)

Scarlett Mew-Jensen (London)

Equestrian

Carl Hester (Sark, Channel Islands)

Tom McEwen (London)

Scott Brash (Peebles)

Harry Charles (Alton)

Ben Maher (London)

Lottie Fry (Den Hout, The Netherlands)

Becky Moody (Gunthwaite)

Ros Canter (Louth)

Laura Collett (Royal Leamington Spa)

Field hockey

Tim Nurse (London)

Nick Park (Reading)

Jack Waller (London)

David Ames (Cookstown)

Jacob Draper (Cwmbran)

Zachary Wallace (Kingston-Upon-Thames)

Rupert Shipperley (London)

Sam Ward (Leicester)

James Albery (Cambridge)

Phil Roper (Chester)

David Goodfield (Shrewsbury)

Ollie Payne (Totnes)

Liam Sanford (Wegberg, Germany)

Lee Morton (Glasgow)

Thomas Sorsby (Sheffield)

Conor Williamson (London)

Will Calnan (London)

Gareth Furlong (London)

Laura Unsworth (Sutton Coldfield)

Anna Toman (Derby)

Hannah French (Ipswich)

Sarah Jones (Cardiff)

Amy Costello (Edinburgh)

Sarah Robertson (Melrose)

Charlotte Watson (Dundee)

Tessa Howard (Durham)

Isabelle Petter (Loughborough)

Giselle Ansley (Brixham)

Hollie Pearne-Webb (Duffield)

Fiona Crackles (Kirkby Lonsdale)

Sophie Hamilton (Bruton)

Lily Owsley (Bristol)

Flora Peel (Cheltenham)

Miriam Pritchard (Loughborough)

Golf

Matt Fitzpatrick (Sheffield)

Tommy Fleetwood (Dubai, U.A.E.)

Charley Hull (Kettering)

Georgia Hall (Bournemouth)

Gymnastics

Joe Fraser (Birmingham)

Harry Hepworth (Leeds)

Jake Jarman (Peterborough)

Luke Whitehouse (Halifax)

Max Whitlock (Hemel Hempstead)

Zak Perzamanos (Liverpool)

Becky Downie (Nottingham)

Ruby Evans (Cardiff)

Georgia-Mae Fenton (Gravesend)

Alice Kinsella (Sutton Coldfield)

Abi Martin (Paignton)

Bryony Page (Sheffield)

Isabelle Songhurst (Poole)

Judo

Chelsie Giles (Coventry)

Lele Naire (Weston-Super-Mare)

Lucy Renshall (St. Helens)

Katie-Jemima Yeats-Brown (Pembury)

Emma Reid (Royston)

Pentathlon

Charlie Brown (Kidderminster)

Joe Choong (London)

Kerenza Bryson (Plymouth)

Kate French (Chapmanslade)

Rowing

James Robson (Oundle)

Ollie Wynne-Griffith (Guildford)

Tom George (Cheltenham)

Oli Wilkes (Matlock)

David Ambler (London)

Matt Aldridge (Christchurch)

Freddie Davidson (London)

Tom Barras (Staines-Upon-Thames)

Callum Dixon (London)

Matt Haywood (Burton Upon Trent)

Graeme Thomas (Burton)

Sholto Carnegie (Oxford)

Rory Gibbs (Street)

Morgan Bolding (Weybridge)

Jacob Dawson (Portsmouth)

Charlie Elwes (Radley)

Tom Digby (Henley-On-Thames)

James Rudkin (Northampton)

Tom Ford (Holmes Chapel)

Harry Brightmore (Chester)

Henry Fieldman (Barnes)

Liv Bates (Nottingham)

Chloe Brew (Plymouth)

Rebecca Edwards (Aughnacloy)

Becky Wilde (Taunton)

Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne (London)

Emily Craig (Pembury)

Imogen Grant (Cambridge)

Helen Backshall (Truro)

Esme Booth (Stratford-Apon-Avon)

Samantha Redgrave (Frinton)

Rebecca Shorten (Belfast)

Lauren Henry (Lutterworth)

Hannah Scott (Coleraine)

Lola Anderson (London)

Georgina Brayshaw (Leeds)

Heidi Long (London)

Rowan McKellar (Glasgow)

Holly Dunford (Tadworth)

Emily Ford (Holmes Chapel)

Lauren Irwin (Peterlee)

Eve Stewart (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

Harriet Taylor (Chertsey)

Annie Campbell-Orde (Wells)

Lucy Glover (Warrington)

Rugby

Abi Burton (Wakefield)

Kayleigh Powell (Llantrisant)

Amy Wilson-Hardy (Poole)

Ellie Boatman (Camberley)

Ellie KIldunne (Keighley)

Emma Uren (London)

Grace Crompton (Epsom)

Heather Cowell (Isleworth)

Isla Norman-Bell (Gillingham)

Jade Shekells (Hartpury)

Jasmine Joyce-Butchers (St. Davids)

Lauren Torley (Flackwell Heath)

Lisa Thomson (Hawick)

Megan Jones (Cardiff)

Sailing

Connor Bainbridge (Halifax)

James Peters (Tunbridge Wells)

Fynn Sterritt (Inverness)

Sam Sills (Launceston)

Micky Beckett (Solva)

Chris Grube (Chester)

John Grimson (Leicester)

Emma Wilson (Christchurch)

Ellie Aldridge (Parkstone)

Hannah Snellgrove (Lymington)

Freya Black (Redhill)

Saskia Tidey (Dublin, Ireland)

Vita Heathcote (Southampton)

Anna Burnet (London)

Shooting

Mike Bargeron (Bromley)

Matthew Coward-Holley (Chelmsford)

Nathan Hales (Chatham)

Seonaid McIntosh (Edinburgh)

Lucy Hall (York)

Amber Rutter (Windsor)

Skateboarding

Andy Macdonald (Newton, Massachusetts)

Sky Brown (Takanabe, Japan)

Lola Tambling (Saltash)

Swimming

Ben Proud (London)

Alex Cahoon (Fairford)

Matt Richards (Droitwich Spa)

Jacob Whittle (Alfreton)

Duncan Scott (Glasgow)

Kieran Bird (Street)

Daniel Jervis (Resolven)

Oliver Morgan (Bishops Castle)

Jonathon Marshall (Southend-On-Sea)

Luke Greenbank (Crewe)

Adam Peaty (Uttoxeter)

James Wilby (Glasgow)

Jimmy Guy (Timperley)

Tom Dean (Maidenhead)

Max Litchfield (Chesterfield)

Joe Litchfield (Chesterfield)

Jack McMillan (Belfast)

Hector Pardoe (Wrexham)

Toby Robinson (Wolverhampton)

Kate Shortman (Clifton)

Isabelle Thorpe (Clifton)

Anna Hopkin (Chorley)

Kathleen Dawson (Kirkcaldy)

Medi Harris (Porthmadog)

Honey Osrin (Portsmouth)

Katie Shanahan (Glasgow)

Angharad Evans (Cambridge)

Keanna Macinnes (Edinburgh)

Laura Stephens (London)

Abbie Wood (Buxton)

Freya Colbert (Grantham)

Eva Okaro (Sevenoaks)

Lucy Hope (Melrose)

Freya Anderson (Birkenhead)

Leah Crisp (Wakefield)

Table tennis

Liam Pitchford (Chesterfield)

Anna Hursey (Tianjin, China)

Taekwondo

Bradly Sinden (Doncaster)

Caden Cunningham (Huddersfield)

Jade Jones (Bodelwyddan)

Rebecca McGowan (Dumbarton)

Tennis

Jack Draper (London)

Dan Evans (Dubai, U.A.E.)

Joe Salisbury (London)

Neal Skupski (Liverpool)

Sir Andy Murray (Leatherhead)

Katie Boulter (Woodhouse Eaves)

Heather Watson (St. Peter Port, Channel Islands)

Triathlon

Sam Dickinson (York)

Alex Yee (London)

Beth Potter (Bearsden)

Georgia Taylor-Brown (Leeds)

Kate Waugh (Newcastle Upon Tyne)

Weightlifting

Emily Campbell (Bulwell)

[grandmaster-anne]

Court Circular | 29th March 2023

Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin

The King and The Queen Consort left Royal Air Force Brize Norton this morning for the State Visit to Germany. Their Majesties were received at the Airport by the Lord Parker of Minsmere (Lord Chamberlain) and His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Oxfordshire (Mrs Marjorie Glasgow). The King and The Queen Consort this afternoon arrived at Berlin-Brandenburg Government Airport and were received by His Majesty’s Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany (Her Excellency Mrs Jill Gallard), the Ambassador from the Federal Republic of Germany to the Court of St James’s (Mr Miguel Berger), Mrs Dörte Dinger (State Secretary of the Federal President’s Office) and Mr Till Knorn (Chief of Protocol of the Federal Foreign Office). The King and The Queen Consort drove to the Brandenburg Gate and were received by The President of the Federal Republic of Germany and Mrs Büdenbender. His Majesty inspected the Guard of Honour. The King and The Queen Consort, with The President of the Federal Republic of Germany and Mrs. Büdenbender, subsequently walked through Pariser Platz before departing by car for Bellevue Palace, Berlin. The King later attended a Sustainability Reception at Bellevue Palace and planted a tree for The Queen’s Green Canopy in the Palace Garden. The King and The Queen Consort were entertained this evening at a State Banquet given by The President of the Federal Republic of Germany and Mrs Büdenbender at Bellevue Palace. The following are in attendance: the Rt Hon James Cleverly MP (Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs), the Rt Hon Sir Clive Alderton, Mr Christopher Fitzgerald, Mrs Jennifer Jordan-Saifi, Mr Tobyn Andreae, Professor Charles Deakin, Dr Douglas Glass, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Thompson and Mrs Sophia Densham.

St James’s Palace

The Princess Royal this morning visited Adnams Brewery, Sole Bay Brewery, East Green, Southwold, to mark its One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary and was received by Mr Robert Rous (Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Suffolk). Her Royal Highness later opened the Centre for the Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science’s new Headquarters, Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, and was received by His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Suffolk (Clare, Countess of Euston). The Princess Royal, Patron, Friends of Happisburgh Lighthouse, this afternoon visited Happisburgh Lighthouse, Lighthouse Lane, Happisburgh, and was received by Major General Sir William Cubitt (Deputy Lieutenant of Norfolk). Her Royal Highness later visited Elm House Temporary Accommodation, 55 Elm Road, Thetford, and was received by Mrs Melinda Raker (Deputy Lieutenant of Norfolk).

Kensington Palace

The Duke of Gloucester, Patron, Heritage of London Trust, this afternoon received Mr James Cayzer-Colvin upon relinquishing his appointment as Chairman. The Duke of Gloucester, Patron, Richard III Society, and The Duchess of Gloucester this evening attended a screening of “the Lost King’” at Windsor Castle. The Duchess of Gloucester, Honorary President, the Lawn Tennis Association, this morning received Ms Sandra Procter (President) and Mr Scott Lloyd (Chief Executive Officer).

St James’s Palace

The Duke of Kent, Patron, this evening held a Concert and Dinner at St. James’s Palace to commemorate the Ninetieth Anniversary of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

[cambridgeconvert]

This is just wonderful.

The Queen took care of my children when cancer struck my wife, reveals royal piper

Pipe Major who played for Her Majesty every morning tells how Royal family came to his family’s aid during a time of crisis

By Hannah Furness, Royal Correspondent13 September 2021 • 4:27pm

The Queen’s personal piper has told how the Royal family stepped in to help when his wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer, giving his children a home at Balmoral and sending care packages to the hospital.

Pipe Major Scott Methven, who held the role of Piper to the Sovereign from 2015 to 2019, said the Queen told him he must put his family first after receiving news of his wife’s illness, with the royal nannies and equerry entertaining his own two children so he could care for her.

Arranging for a basket of strawberries and muffins to be sent for the nurses, the Queen assured him he must leave his duties whenever he needed to, Mr Methven said, instructing him to tell anyone who queried him that “I told you so”.

His children, then five and 12 years old, stayed in a cottage at Balmoral and later at Windsor Castle, playing tractors with Prince George and chatting to the Duke of Edinburgh as they fed the red squirrels.

Mr Methven, who grew up in a council house in Stirling, Scotland, and served in the Army for 25 years, played the bagpipes outside the Queen’s window for 15 minutes each morning at 9am, travelling with her from Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle and Balmoral and performing on special occasions.

He also escorted the Queen daily, saying they would “always have a wee chat” in which the Queen would ask after his family.

Mrs Methven was diagnosed with cancer during a stay with their two children, Fearghas, now eight, and Lilly-Grace, now 15, at Balmoral.

After being told she urgently needed to travel to hospital, a distressed Mr Methven asked an equerry “who will look after the kids?” before being told: “Just go. I will talk to the Queen. That’s what we’re here for.”

“It just so happened that the [royal] nannies were there,” he said. “They all mucked in and helped out. They [the children] stayed up at Balmoral Castle while I was away.”

His son, he said, was able to “run about” with young Prince George, joking: “Kids are kids. They would maybe have a wee argument over a toy tractor, which was quite funny.”

“It was nice,” he added of his treatment. “One morning when I went to the hospital, the Queen had arranged for strawberries and muffins to be made up in a basket for the nurses. She said ‘make sure they get that’.

“That’s what it’s about, isn’t it?

“People on the military side were conscious about me getting back to work but the Queen said ‘absolutely not, it’s family first, you have as much time as you need to look after your wife’.”

Mr Methven said the Queen later allowed the children to stay at Windsor Castle, with family trips to Buckingham Palace.

“My son would bump into the Duke of Edinburgh at the back of the cottage in Balmoral,” he said. “I remember coming round the back and seeing Fearghas standing with his head bowed, like I’d taught him, and the Duke standing with his stick saying ‘Who’s this? Who does he belong to?’

“I told him he was my son and he said: ‘You’ve got him bloody well trained.’ We were there laughing.”

Fearghas, then five, made a point of searching out the Duke whenever he visited, sharing his love of red squirrels.

Mr Methvan served with the Army in Northern Ireland and on two tours of Afghanistan before finishing in 2019 as a Sergeant Major (WO1) with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He now teaches bagpipes.

“I was the Queen’s escort and we would always have a wee chat. She was so understanding.

“She’d say ‘If you get a phone call in the middle of the night, you don’t need to ask anybody, just go. If anybody says anything, tell them I told you so’. And if I don’t hear you in the morning, I’ll know why’.”

He told BBC Scotland: “People genuinely think what you will about the Royal family or the Queen, but they pulled it out of the bag for me.”

His wife, Morven, was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer on their wedding anniversary in 2017, after the Queen’s doctor took a blood test and, upon seeing the results, booked an ambulance to take her to hospital. She lived for another year.

[blackswaneuroparedux]

I feel a sort of reverence in going over these scenes in this most beautiful country, which I am proud to call my own, where there was such devoted loyalty to the family of my ancestors – for Stuart blood is in my veins.

- Queen Victoria on Scotland

For a British monarch, Queen Victoria was extremely quick off the mark in making her first visit to Scotland in 1842, only five years after her coronation as Queen. Hooked on the stories of Sir Walter Scott, Queen Victoria toured the country with Prince Albert, spending several days in the capital at Edinburgh.

Then in September 1844 she returned to Scotland with Prince Albert and her young daughter Vicky at her side. This time she visited Blair Castle in Perthshire. They all enjoyed not only Scottish oatmeal porridge but its spectacular fresh landscapes, especially the Highlands, which captivated them both and inspired a rich new adoption of ideas. Later, they took on Highland life in the fullness of its tastes and traditions, something which was recorded in a wealth of artwork, not least in the Queen’s watercolours.

Victoria and Albert loved Scotland so much they inspired a trend for tartan and tweed across the kingdom. They returned over and over again, and after taking possession of Balmoral in 1848 they actually built a castle of their own.

Queen Victoria was a keen diarist and kept detailed records of her stays in Scotland, writing exhaustively about what happened each day: whether Albert’s hunting trips had been successful, who they dined with, her thoughts on the landscape, Highland pony riding, plans for scenes to sketch, details of the people she met, whether she liked them or not.

One of the most common urband legends of Victoria’s time in Scotland is that she and Albert got lost in the Highlands and sought shelter and hospitality in a poor family’s cottage.

Queen Victoria certainly never mentioned getting lost in the forest alone with Prince Albert on horseback, as depicted in the recent British drama series Victoria.

Queen Victoria never mentioned being forced to seek shelter with a kindly poor couple who cooked delicious trout over an open fire and let them stay the night, and there’s no record of her hiding her identity as Queen and learning to darn a sock like a “normal” person.

Still – you can see where this fanciful storyline came from. What we do see in her journal is that, for her, the wild Scottish Highlands were an escape from reality.

“After the constant trying publicity we are accustomed to, it is so pleasant & refreshing, to be able, amidst such beautiful surrounding, to enjoying such complete privacy & such a simple life,” she wrote in her diary.

And while and Albert avoided getting lost, they did have an idyllic pony ride accompanied by only one servant – as close to privacy as the monarch could really get.

“When I awoke the sun was shining brightly & it lit up the mountains so beautifully,” she wrote. “At 9, we set off, both, on ponies, attended only by Lord Glenlyon’s excellent servant, Sandy McAra, in his Highland dress, to go up one of the hills.

“We went through a ford, Sandy leading my pony, and Albert following closely, and then went up the hill of Tulloch straight over a very steep cabbage field, afterwards going round zigzag to the very top, the ponies scrambling up over stones & heather, & never once making a false step. The view all round was splendid & so beautifully lit up. From the top it was quite like a panorama.

“We could see the Falls of Bruar, the Pass of Killiecrankie, Ben y Gloe, and the whole range of hills behind, in the direction of Tay mouth. The house itself & the houses in the village looked like toys, from the height at which we were. It was very wonderful. We got off once or twice, & walked about. There was not a house or creature near us, only pretty Highland, black faced sheep.”

She added: “It was the most delightful, and most romantic ride and walk, I had ever had.”

Another time they cut it fine on a pony ride, with the Queen suddenly becoming worried about nightfall – “Got alarmed at seeing the sun sinking, for fear of our being benighted, & we called anxiously for Sandy to give a signal to Albert to come back. At length we got on the move, skirting the hill & the ponies went as safely & securely as possible.”

But they made it home just in time: “A long day indeed, but one which I shall not easily forget.”

And as for visiting a couple of unsuspecting-yet-kindly Highlanders at their cottage?

The only mentions of a “cottage” make clear this is no poor man’s house: “We got out at the Cottage, which is pretty & beautifully situated. There are some good Landseers in the room we went into.” With paintings by Sir Edwin Henry Landseer on the walls this is not exactly a poor man’s hut…

As she prepared to leave at the end of September, Victoria reflected on her time in Scotland: “I am so sad at thinking of leaving this charming place, & the quiet, liberty, & the pure air we have enjoyed. The action life we have been leading, peculiar in its way, has been so delightful.”

Having already lost her beloved husband Albert, Victoria found solace in Scotland and its people. John Brown was famously associated with Queen Victoria.

The Queen first mentioned Brown in her Journal on 11 September 1849, and from 1851 John Brown, at Albert's suggestion, took on the role of leading Queen Victoria's pony. In 1858, Brown became the personal ghillie (shooting guide and gun-loader) of Prince Albert.

After Prince Albert died in 1861, Queen Victoria went into deep mourning, becoming almost a recluse. In 1864, her daughter, Princess Alice, noted that the Queen had always been happy at Balmoral, especially when taking a ride in her pony cart. Why couldn't pony cart rides be made available at Windsor and at Osborne (the Queen's home on the Isle of Wight), with the Queen in the care of the man who so effectively led her pony at Balmoral? The Queen agreed and in December 1864 John Brown became a full-time servant. He was, as Queen Victoria put it in her journal, "indefatigable in his attendance and care".

By 1866 gossip about the relationship between the Queen and her extremely informal servant had started. Brown was the only person around Victoria prepared to "tell it like it was", and he often proved abrasive with members of the Royal Household: even, it is said, on at least one occasion giving the Prince of Wales the rough edge of his tongue. Rumours soon spread more widely, and Brown was featured in the satirical magazine Punch on 30 June 1866, and Queen Victoria came to be referred to by some members of her household (behind her back) as "Mrs Brown".

Speculation about Queen Victoria's 20 year relationship with Brown, following the early death of her husband Albert in 1861, started in court circles almost as soon as the unlikely friendship itself did when the queen was in her mid-forties.

Victoria's daughters joked about "Mama's lover", and the then Duke of Edinburgh (the queen's second son) claimed he had been evicted from Buckingham Palace because he refused to shake the servant's hand.

The news of 1866 carried a piece in the Gazette de Lausanne, a Swiss paper, that read, “On dit…that with Brown and by him she consoles herself for Prince Albert, and they go even further. They add that she is in an interesting condition, and that if she was not present for the Volunteers Review, and at the inauguration of the monument to Prince Albert, it was only in order to hide her pregnancy. I hasten to add that the Queen has been morganatically married to her attendant for a long time, which diminishes the gravity of the thing.” Most assuredly, no British paper carried such a tale, but once the word spread of the Queen’s supposed affair, there was no reining it back in.

In the United Kingdom it was Alexander Robertson’s pamphlet “John Brown: A Correspondence with the Lord Chancellor, Regarding a Charge of Fraud and Embezzlement Preferred Against His Grace the Duke of Atholl K. T. of 1873” that first openly suggested that Queen Victoria and John Brown had married morganatically - this being related to, or being a marriage between a member of a royal or noble family and a person of inferior rank in which the rank of the inferior partner remains unchanged and the children of the marriage do not succeed to the titles, fiefs, or entailed property of the parent of higher rank.

Citing one Charles Christie, ‘House Servant to the Dowager Duchess of Athole at Dunkeld House,’ Robertson claimed that John Brown was regularly noted as entering Queen Victoria’s bedroom when the rest of the household was asleep. Robert purported that Victoria married Brown at Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1868, with Duchess Anne standing as witness. The Duchess of Atholl vehemently denied Robertson’s allegations. Robertson went on to make other incendiary allegations without any proof including that Brown and Queen Victoria had a love child which as given up for adoption in Vaux, Switzerland.

Meanwhile, in our more recent times  various newspaper revelations went as far as suggesting that the two had actually married based on newly unocvered letters from Victoria’s courtiers. Indeed a film was even made: "Mrs Brown" became the title of a 1997 film about the relationship, starring Dame Judi Dench as Queen Victoria and Billy Connolly as John Brown.

In 1872 John Brown knocked down a would-be assassin in what was the fifth attempt on Victoria's life. John died at Windsor Castle on 27 March 1883, aged 56, by some accounts because he was too devoted to Victoria. It is suggested that had he taken to his sick bed at the first sign of a chill, he would have survived, but his sense of duty was such that he carried on working until it was too late. He was buried at Crathie.

Were Queen Victoria and John Brown married? Historians are divided over this contentious claim. Those that have believe it have based their views on four pieces of information, none of which is in itself conclusive. But they believe that, when taken together, help swing the balance of probability in favour of a wedding having taken place:

After Victoria's death, two sets of mementos were placed in her coffin, at her request. On one side was placed one of Prince Albert's dressing gowns, while on the other was placed a lock of Brown's hair, along with a picture of him and a ring worn by Brown's mother and given to Victoria by Brown.

The published diary of the Liberal MP, the 1st Viscount Harcourt, for 17 February 1885 related a second-hand story told to his father, the then Home Secretary, by a renowned gossip, that on his deathbed in 1872 the Revd Dr Norman Macleod, the chaplain to Queen Victoria,stated that he had conducted a marriage ceremony between John Brown and Queen Victoria.

The Daily Mail on 2 September 2006 reported a similarly second-hand story in which a late senior member of the Royal Family had said that documents confirming a marriage had many years earlier turned up in the Royal archives at Windsor, and been destroyed.

After Victoria's death (a full 18 years after John Brown's own death), Edward VII tried to destroy everything connected with Brown, including busts and photographs. A life-size statue of Brown at Balmoral, commissioned by Queen Victoria after his death, was only saved by being moved to an obscure part of the estate where Edward was unlikely to find it.

My own view is that it’s a much ado about nothing. Although much of the gossip about John Brown and Queen Victoria was seen as ridiculous steps were taken to suppress information, for instance, when Queen Victoria died her daughter Princess Beatrice removed pages from the queen’s journal ‘that might cause pain” in her own words. People have msiread the intent behind such actions. The Royal family down the ages have always doused more petrol on the fire by simply trying to quell any rumours of impropriety that it invites unfounded wilder speculative tittle tattle.

It is clear, despite public gossip, there was nothing immoral in Queen Victoria’s relationship with John Brown. Queen Victoria would never have contemplated sex with a servant. People forget how rigid social roles really were and how seriously people viewed them in Victoria’s age despite the hypocrisy we have come to see them with.

Furthermore, she was never alone to carry out an affair having court ladies always within shouting distance. That was the whole point of having a royal court and doting ladies in waiting about the place.

The significance of Queen Victoria’s attraction to John Brown was that he - at worst - made a career out of her. He never married, had few holidays and devoted his life to the queen, and he was a walking encyclopedia of her like, dislikes, moods and needs. As a downright selfish person this greatly appealed to the queen. She liked him because she needed to be fussed, cosseted and spoiled. He told her the truth, spoke boldly to her and importantly too; unlike her family and senior courtiers, he was not afraid of her. Above all, when Prince Albert died Queen Victoria needed a male friend — she never really made close friendships with women — and someone to lean on. John Brown supplied all that.

Victoria’s visited Balmoral in her beloved Scottish Highlands in the late autumn of 1900. The Queen could not know it, but it was the last time that she would see the new castle which Prince Albert had erected in her words as his ‘own work… as at Osborne’ and which had become a box of intensely personal memories.

So deeply did the Queen feel her first visit to Balmoral after Prince Albert’s death in May 1862 (in pouring rain) that she wrote with painful dread to her eldest daughter, the Crown Princess of Prussia of the strange reality of everything: ‘Oh! Darling child… the stag’s heads – the rooms – blessed, darling Papa’s room – then his coats – his caps – kilts – all, all convulsed my poor shattered frame!’ (cit., Delia Millar, Queen Victoria’s Life in the Scottish Highlands, 101). Even the Queen’s lonely pursuit of spinning wool, which later became synonymous with her early widowhood, had been a vigorously traditional Highland activity (Ibid, 76). Now her widowhood of waiting was drawing to an end, forty years later, with the Queen’s approaching death.

The Queen’s unknowing leave-taking of Scotland took place gradually, over these last days at Balmoral. Touchingly, she was still referring to ‘tea’ – although by now, it consisted only of arrowroot and milk  – drinking it at her secluded Highland retreat of Alt-na-giubhsaich. Queen Victoria’s last day included luncheon in Prince Albert’s rooms with her youngest daughter, Princess Beatrice and her Battenberg children. She left Balmoral fittingly, with the weather ‘wretchedly gloomy & dark’ whilst with her, she had a wreath to take back to Windsor, to place on the tomb of the Prince Consort at Frogmore; possibly it also contained the Balmoral heather she loved so much. Perhaps there may have been a presentiment, within the sentimental.

The Queen’s trusted doctor, Sir James Reid was with her at Osborne when she died, so presumably, the Queen would have had the comfort of a Scottish voice at her side, in between her lingering states of consciousness.

After her death, the Prince of Wales spoke a moving sentence of gratitude for Reid’s devoted service: ‘You are an honest straightforward Scotchman… I shall never forget all you did for the Queen’ (read Christopher Hibbert, Queen Victoria: A Personal History, pg. 494).

Significantly, the Queen instructed amongst the many sentimental items to be put in her coffin ‘some of which none of her family were to see’, a photograph of her devoted Highland servant, John Brown, which she ordered to be placed in her left and, with a lock of his hair. These were both tactfully hidden inside a silken case, the handiwork of the Queen’s late wardrobe maid Annie MacDonald, wrapped in tissue paper.

Afterwards, the Queen’s left hand was covered with Queen Alexandra’s flowers. Also put into the Queen’s coffin was a simple sprig of Balmoral heather, which Sir James Reid covered with a quilted cushion – made especially to fit the coffin – to preserve the Queen’s privacy in death.

Scotland was at her funeral, in the form of her Highland ghillies, as the Queen’s German grandson, Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse, wrote in his private memoirs: ‘[The moment] when her coffin was lowered in the mausoleum at Frogmore, remains unforgettable to me… I remained a moment there alone. When I looked about me, there were kneeling near me all of her ghillies [Highland servants] from Scotland, all strong, sturdy men, who were weeping there uncontrollably like sons for their mother…’ For her funeral, the Funeral March by Handel was substituted as per the Queen’s instructions, for music by Chopin and Beethoven and importantly, Highland dirges.

The sarcophagus or tomb chest was hewn from a flawless block of grey Aberdeen granite from the quarries at Cairngall in Scotland. Three attempts were made before this one was successfully carved out and it is purportedly the largest of its kind ever to have been hewn for such a use.

It was an appropriate Scotch bed for the Queen’s final sleep. Upon this sarcophagus, the effigies of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria lie still, a more sublime rendering of their marriage bed, staring into the beyond. Touchingly though, the head of Queen Victoria’s effigy is half-turned towards that of Prince Albert, as if it somehow suggesting that he died before she did. As in life, she is leaning, straining after the beloved husband that she mourned for half of her life.

The fact that their sarcophagus was quarried in Scotland is an appropriate choice for a royal couple who loved that country so much, becoming a little more Scotch with every visit. Appropriately for the Queen, parts of Eastern Central Scotland still celebrate Victoria Day, the last Monday before or on 24 May, Queen Victoria’s birthday.

Scotland was indeed with them, in the end. And continues to be with the House of Windsor.

[drosera-nepenthes]

The Marriage of Princess Helena

The marriage of her Royal highness Princess Helena to Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein took place on Thursday, in the presence of her Majesty the Queen, their Majesties the King and Queen of the Belgians, the members of the English Royal family and a select congregation of the aristocracy, in the private chapel of Windsor Castle.

Princess Helena Augusta Victoria, fifth child of Queen Victoria and of the lamented Prince Consort, was born on the 25th of May, 1846, and is therefore in her twenty-first year. It has been mentioned in Parliament by one of her Majesty's Ministers, and it may therefore, without impropriety, be recorded here, that the widowed Queen has experienced, in the tender and dutiful attentions of this daughter, one of the greatest sources of consolation during her late bereavement.

Prince Frederick Christian Charles Augustus is a younger son of the late Duke Christian Charles Frederick Augustus of Schleswig-Holstein (who ceded his duchy to Denmark) and brother to Prince Frederick Christian Augustus the eldest son, whose claims to the sovereignty of the duchy, as against, the King of Denmark, were made the pretext, for the late war on the part of the German Powers. Prince Christian, as the younger son is usually called, was born on the 22nd of January, 1831, his mother being Louisa Sophia, Countess Danneskiold-Samsøe, a Danish lady married, in 1828, to the late Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, and its lineage is collateral with that of the reigning families of Denmark and Russia. Prince Christian has held commission in the Prussian army. By the express offer of her Majesty, he will henceforth be addressed with the style of Royal Highness.

The small private chapel of Windsor Castle is situated almost in the centre of the Queen's private apartments. Its limited dimensions were, under the direction of the Lord Chamberlain and the Hon. Spencer Ponsonby, made the most of. The seats of pews in the centre were removed, chairs placed on each side, and temporary gallery erected for the commendation of the invited guests. A rich Wilton carpet covered the aisle leading up to the altar.

Soon after eleven o'clock the King and Queen of the Belgians, the Duchess of Cambridge, the Prince and Princess Leiningen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Arthur, and other relatives of the Royal family, were, upon leaving their different apartments conducted to the state drawing-room, which is also called the Zuccarelli Room. From its containing a number of paintings by that artist. The ceiling oof this magnificent room is a richly embellished stucco. In the centre of the cove are elaborately emblazoned shields containing the arms of England and Saxe-Meiningen, the whole being surmounted by the Royal crown, which with other shields scrolls, and wreaths of flowers, complete the decoration. The Prince and Princess of Wales soon afterwards joined this distinguished assemblage where they remained till summoned to the chapel. In the Red Drawingroom, or Rubens' Room, in which the body of George IV lay in state , was assembled the Diplomatic Body; while the general visitors assembled in what is known as the White Drawing-room. Her Majesty's private band played in the Red Drawing-room. About twelve o'clock the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of London and Winchester, and the Very Rev. the Dean of Windsor arrived.

In the course of the ceremony several pieces of music were performed by the choir of St. George's Chapel, led by Dr. Elvey, and including Messrs. Adams, Dyson, Baraby, Tolley, Bridgewater, Knowles, Mitchell, Hurst, Marriott, Bransome, and Briggs, with the choir of the private chapel.

The following is a list of the bridesmaids whore were in attendance on the Princess: – Lady Caroline Gordon Lennox, Lady Margaret Scott, Lady Albertha Hamilton, Lady Laura Phipps, Lady Alexandrina Murray, Lady Mary Fitzwilliam, Lady Ernestine Edgecombe, and Lady Muriel Campbell. These ladies are the daughters of Dukes, Marquises, or Earls.

Her Majesty – who was dressed in black, relieved with silver trimmings, and who wore a coronet – gave the Princess away. After the ceremony the Princess, who appeared nearly moved to tears, turned round and affectionately embraced her mother. The ceremony terminated exactly at a quarter past one.

The Illustrated London News July 7, 1866

[crownedlegend]

New!

On June 15, 2021, Queen Elizabeth II received Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison during an audience in the Oak Room at Windsor Castle in Windsor

[royal-hair]

Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain at an audience with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison at Windsor Castle - 15.06.21