Tag: Prince Philip

All That Pomp: King Felipe & Queen Letizia’s First Day in the UK

On By RSBIn Royal NewsLeave a comment

42404A3700000578-4688062-image-a-132_1499863040215.jpg

What a day! I had hoped to be able to dash off a quick mid-point update, but unfortunately work precluded that lofty plan. I will say that it was exciting to see the new engagements hit the news as I sneaked glances at my phone in-between meetings. A state visit, particularly a royal one, might be even more fun than a tour, but who’s to say? (Well, we can after next week, I suppose.)

Anyway, I’m going to break the day’s events up into two posts, saving the state banquet for a little later this evening, so check back to see Kate in all her tiara and lace glory. For now, we’re going to focus on King Felipe & Queen Letizia’s formal welcome by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, including that fantastic procession down the Mall and the hilariously awkward greeting with the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.

Continue reading “All That Pomp: King Felipe & Queen Letizia’s First Day in the UK” →

Holyrood Week 2017

On By RSBIn Royal NewsLeave a comment

Embed from Getty Images

Let’s segue from the Princess Royal’s tour of China to what the Queen has been up to: Holyrood Week, or as it’s known in Scotland, “Royal Week.” Each summer, the Queen spends one week in residence at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, the primary residence of kings and queens of Scotland since the 16th century.

Continue reading “Holyrood Week 2017” →

Philip’s Grandmother: Victoria of Hesse, Marchioness of Milford Haven

On By RSBIn The House of WindsorLeave a comment

dcf66329058f92c9a6ac95bda2457747.jpg

There was consternation when Princess Elizabeth announced her engagement to Prince Philip in 1947 due to his German relations. All of his sisters were married to German men, three of whom had Nazi connections, while his father was a member of the Greek royal family which had been ousted between the world wars. In short, he was foreign, but he also had strong ties to the British Royal Family. His mother was Princess Alice of Battenberg, who had been born at Windsor Castle, named for her grandmother, Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse, third child of Queen Victoria.

When the first Princess Alice died in 1878 – the first of the Queen’s children to do so – Victoria took up the mantle of offering her grandchildren motherly guidance. They spent considerable time in England and Scotland in their youths, and while two of the siblings would marry Russians, three of them married cousins from the extended BRF. The eldest, Victoria, who would become Philip’s grandmother, was one such sibling.

Continue reading “Philip’s Grandmother: Victoria of Hesse, Marchioness of Milford Haven” →

What Prince Philip’s Retirement Means for Everyone Else

On By RSBIn The House of WindsorLeave a comment

af7dd261b8544372_GettyImages-539065436.jpg

This past week Buckingham Palace announced that Prince Philip will be retiring from public duties at the end of August. While he will remain patron of his 700+ charities, he will not carry out engagements unless he so chooses and he has left the door open for the organizations to choose a successor – a member of the Royal Family or not – if they wish. The Queen, the Palace stressed, will continue working as usual, though in the past few years she has scaled back certain duties by relying more heavily on her eldest son, the Prince of Wales, and curtailing overseas travel.

Continue reading “What Prince Philip’s Retirement Means for Everyone Else” →

Prince Philip to Officially Retire From Royal Duties

On By RSBIn Royal NewsLeave a comment

11_6_2011_2123958i

There was a bit of a furor last night when news came out that staff had been summoned to Buckingham Palace for an unexpected meeting. Speculation ran the gamut of a death to an abdication notice to the decision that the Queen and Prince Philip would decamp to Windsor or Balmoral Castles full-time. A few international news outlets even went so far as to publish news of Prince Philip’s death, posts which have been subsequently taken down since the truth is that he will be retiring from royal duties this fall.

Continue reading “Prince Philip to Officially Retire From Royal Duties” →

The Sapphire Jubilee: 65 Years Ago Today, Elizabeth II Ascended the Throne

On By RSBIn The House of Windsor1 Comment

Today marks the Blue Sapphire Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, commemorating her 65 years on the throne. Of course, there has never been a Sapphire Jubilee before, with the Queen surpassing the record of 63 years held by her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, in September 2015. So how will the Queen be celebrating? She won’t be. Instead she will spend the day quietly at Sandringham and neither she nor the Duke of Edinburgh will undertake any public engagements.

Indeed, this is how the Queen usually marks February 6th, which to her is not only the anniversary of ascending the throne, but the day she lost her much-beloved father, George VI. Thus the passage of 65 years is not only a milestone of her own career, but a reminder that its length is due to his premature death. For similar reasons she declined to make hay out of breaking Queen Victoria’s record to avoid the awkwardness of essentially celebrating a relative’s death.

Recently, Netflix debuted “The Crown,” following the early years of Queen Elizabeth’s marriage and reign. The series dramatized the reality of a young wife and mother shedding whatever semblance of domesticity or privacy she had been able to cultivate for the endless duty and isolation of the throne. The heart of that story is well-captured by the series, but today it’s worth examining the real figures and events behind the story.

Continue reading “The Sapphire Jubilee: 65 Years Ago Today, Elizabeth II Ascended the Throne” →