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Monday, June 4, 2012

BBC's Lamentable Coverage of the Queen's Jubilee

People in the UK are united in celebration of The Queen's leadership...but they also seem quite in unison regarding the "lamentable" coverage of the event by the BBC. In fact, in an online poll carried by the Telegraph in London, 92% of readers condemn the public television system's lackluster coverage the various events surrounding the Jubilee.

One wonders what little Socialist anti-monarchist minion at the BBC is responsible for this!



"Seems we all agree on terrible BBC coverage. Low grade, celebrity driven drivel. How did Beeb get it so wrong" he wrote.

Despite the poor coverage those who turned out for event enjoyed the day in spite of torrential downpours.

The Queen smiled on through the cold and wet, resisting the joint temptations of an indoor berth and a hot cup of tea to wave non-stop from the windswept deck of the royal barge from start to finish of the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant.

“It was absolutely worth waiting for,” said a shivering Joanne Revitt, 48, who watched the procession from the Embankment near the tower of Big Ben (or the Queen Elizabeth Tower, as MPs want to rename it).

“The Queen looked stunning and I am quite convinced she waved at me as she went past,” she added.

Countless thousands of others no doubt went home with the same belief, and they would have gone home happy as a result.

 
Thank you for voting!
 
 
 
 
 
Total Votes: 7,242
  

It was, the Duke of Cambridge told one guest, a “very emotional” day for his grandmother and at times it showed as she seemed slightly overwhelmed by the scale of the public’s response.

The BBC defended its coverage. A spokesman said: "We're very proud of the quality and breadth of the BBC's coverage of this extraordinary event."

But those watching at home were less than complimentary.

One posted: "BBC's coverage of the jubilee is awful! Bad camera angles and bad presenting. Sky much better."

Another said: "Are the BBC trying to be quaint and 'British' with their p*** awful coverage?"
Another damning posting from the politician read: "Which is worse, the heavy rain falling on the flotilla along the Thames or the BBC's dreadful coverage of this Royal Jubilee event?"
Austin Mitchell, Labour MP for Great Grimsby, summed up the coverage in similarly disparaging terms.

"One hated Thames Armada. No Navy left so hordes of tatty boats. Queen freezing, BBC 5Live and TV commentary pathetic. A disgrace," he

An estimated 1.2million people, a bigger turnout than for last year’s royal wedding, lined 14 miles of riverbank, turning it into an unbroken chain of red, white and blue.

For the artists on the Millennium Bridge who had been invited to paint the 21st century’s “Canaletto Moment”, however, the colour palette was overwhelmingly grey.

No one would have blamed the Queen if she had turned out in oilskins, but instead she wowed the crowds in an ivory coloured bouclé dress and coat, braided with silk ribbon and with a silk organza frill, which included a clever nod to her three big jubilees.

Made by the Queen’s dresser Angela Kelly, it was embroidered with gold and silver spots and embellished with crystals to represent diamonds. Was it coincidence that it seemed to borrow from the Ditchley portrait of Elizabeth I wearing a similarly opulent spotted dress?
The day had begun with six million people around the country attending 10,000 street parties from Devon to Dumfriesshire, almost all of which had gone ahead despite the weather. The one notable exception was Downing Street, where David and Samantha Cameron decided to move their party indoors to escape a drenching.

At 2.10pm, as the trifles and chocolate fingers were being polished off around the country (triggering a mass retreat to the comfort of a dry sofa and a television set), the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh made their entrance. Waiting for them at Chelsea Pier were the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, together with an honour guard of 22 Chelsea Pensioners.

Over her wrist, the Queen had brought what at first glance appeared to be a small towel (which would have been sensible enough) but later proved to be a shawl — her only concession to the drizzle — which she reluctantly deployed an hour later when even her stoicism began to be tested.

The tender from the royal yacht Britannia took her downstream to the royal barge, Spirit of Chartwell, a Thames pleasure cruiser that had been transformed into a handsome ship of state with gilded carvings, Royal Watermen in scarlet ceremonial dress and a royal coat of arms made from half a million gold buttons.

Already on board were the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, the only other members of the Royal family given the honour of travelling with the Queen, who wants her Jubilee to focus on the direct line of succession.

“Spectacular!” the Queen told the Duke of Edinburgh as she surveyed the scene. “So nice, so impressive.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/the_queens_diamond_jubilee/9310251/Diamond-Jubilee-criticism-grows-of-BBCs-lamentable-coverage.html

Jubilee Baby – A new grandchild for The Duke of Gloucester

 

Lady Davina delivers Diamond Jubilee baby
 
The Duke of Cambridge said last week that he was “very keen” to have children. Happily, the Queen already has the birth of a Diamond Jubilee baby to celebrate.

Mandrake hears that Lady Davina Lewis, the Duke of Gloucester’s daughter, has given birth to her second child. “It’s a boy, but we don’t know his name yet,” says one of her friends.

Lady Davina, 34, whose father is the Queen’s first cousin, has a 23-month-old daughter, Senna, by her husband, Gary Lewis, a Maori carpenter, whom she married in Kensington Palace in 2004.


Sunday, June 3, 2012

The Queen leads a flotilla down the Thames

LONDON (AP) — The River Thames became a royal highway Sunday, as Queen Elizabeth II led a motley but majestic flotilla of more than 1,000 vessels in a waterborne pageant to mark her Diamond Jubilee.

In a colorful salute to the island nation's maritime past, an armada of skiffs and sailboats, rowboats and paddle steamers joined a flower-festooned royal barge down a 7-mile (11-kilometer) stretch of London's river.

With a crowd of rain-soaked spectators estimated by organizers at 1.25 million cheering from the riverbanks, the pageant was the largest public event in four days of celebrations of the monarch's 60 years on the throne. On Monday, the queen will join thousands of revelers at an outdoor concert beside Buckingham Palace, headlined by pop royalty including Paul McCartney and Elton John.

With any luck, the weather will improve. Sunday was dismal and damp, with rain scuttling plans for a ceremonial fly past, but that didn't stop Union Jack-waving spectators forming a red, white and blue wave along the pageant route.

"It would have been wonderful if it had been sunny like last Sunday but we have come prepared," said 57-year-old Christine Steele. "We have got blankets, brollies (umbrellas), flags and bunting. We even got our glittery Union Jack hats and wigs, and the Champagne is on ice."

The 86-year-old queen wore a silver and white dress and matching coat — embroidered with gold, silver and ivory spots and embellished with Swarovski crystals to evoke the river — for her trip aboard the barge Spirit of Chartwell, decorated for the occasion in regal red, gold and purple velvet.

The queen's grandson, Prince William, and his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge — he in his Royal Air Force uniform, she in a red Alexander McQueen dress — and William's brother, Prince Harry, were among senior royals who joined the queen and her husband, Prince Philip.

After a celebratory peal of bells from a special belfry barge, the royal boat sailed downstream at a stately 4 knots (4.6 mph, 7.4 kph), accompanied by tugs, pleasure craft, narrow boats, kayaks, gondolas, dragon boats and even a replica Viking longboat.

Also in the flotilla were more than three dozen "Dunkirk Little Ships," private boats that rescued thousands of British soldiers from the beaches of France after the German invasion in 1940 — a defeat that became a major victory for wartime morale.

Continue reading...http://news.yahoo.com/photos/world-events-slideshow/royal-barge-transporting-royal-family-approaches-chelsea-bridge-photo-174210898.html


New Book Launch – Crown Princess Margarita of Romania's Biography

Talented Romanian royal historian, Diana Mandache, has launched her newest book, a biography of Crown Princess Margarita of Romania.

Kudos!


Anhalt – Happy 800th Birthday!

To celebrate the 800th anniversary of the creation of Anhalt as an independent state, Prince Eduard of Anhalt and his family hosted a birthday party at Schloß Oranienbaum.

The Anhalts are one of Germany's oldest dynasties. The last male, Prince Eduard, has three daughters. The continuation of the ancient family name was solved by his daughter Juschka having her children by husband Marc Bernath registered legally as "Prinz von Anhalt."

This is an innovative way to guarantee that one's last name will not disappear...and in keeping with the times, if absolute primogeniture is adopted in  in nearly all European monarchies, then it ought to work in cases where some former ruling dynasties are facing male extinction, as is the case in Anhalt, Saxony and Romania.

 DESSAU, GERMANY - JUNE 02: Eduard Prinz von Anhalt (C) poses with daughters (L to R) Juschka, Eilika, Felicitas and his wife Corinna von Anhalt at the gala dinner celebrating the 800th anniversary of the German region of Anhalt at Oranienbaum Castle on June 2, 2012 in Oranienbaum, near Dessau, Germany. Anhalt, formerly a sovereign county, was developed in the year 1212 from the lineage of the House of Ascania and is now part of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. (Photo by Adam Berry/Getty Images) 


DESSAU, GERMANY - JUNE 02: (L to R) Juschka von Anhalt, Marc Bernhardt, Eilika von Anhalt and Fabien Harte arrive for the gala dinner celebrating the 800th anniversary of the German region of Anhalt at Oranienbaum Castle on June 2, 2012 in Oranienbaum, near Dessau, Germany. Anhalt, formerly a sovereign county, was developed in the year 1212 from the lineage of the House of Ascania and is now part of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. (Photo by Adam Berry/Getty Images)

Crowds brave rain for Queen Elizabeth's giant jubilee armada

LONDON (Reuters) - Queen Elizabeth joined a spectacular armada of 1,000 vessels on Sunday for the most dazzling display of British pageantry seen on London's River Thames for 350 years, watched by cheering crowds celebrating her 60th year on the throne.

Pealing bells greeted the flotilla as the queen's gilded royal barge sailed alongside a colorful and eclectic array of boats from leisure cruisers and yachts to a Hawaiian war canoe and Venetian gondolas.

Typically inclement British weather failed to dampen enthusiasm, with hundreds of thousands of onlookers, waving "Union Jack" flags, massed on the riverbanks to catch a glimpse of the procession along the seven mile (11 km route).

The queen, wearing a silver and white dress with a matching coat, smiled broadly and waved to the crowds from the royal barge, "The Spirit of Chartwell", alongside her 90-year-old husband Prince Philip.

They were accompanied on the barge by heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, his eldest son Prince William and new wife Kate, a global fashion trendsetter who wore a vivid red Alexander McQueen dress and matching hat.

Up and down the country, organizers said millions of people attended diamond jubilee street parties in honor of the 86-year-old sovereign, the only British monarch after Queen Victoria to have sat on the throne for 60 years.

"We're English, we know what the weather is like. We really don't care if we get wet you know - it's the jubilee, it's the queen, so it's nice to come up and celebrate it," said Jackie, a 39-year-old sales consultant who travelled across southern England to watch the Thames pageant.

From New Zealand Maoris who paddled their canoe wearing traditional cloaks to sailors and people dressed as pirates, the flotilla boasted a colorful array of participants from every corner of the planet.
There were even vessels from the 1940 evacuation of British and Allied troops from Dunkirk in northern France - a famous rescue performed by crafts of all shapes and sizes and a celebrated piece of British history.

Organizers said Sunday's river pageant, reminiscent of a Canaletto canvas from the 18th century, was the largest of its kind since a similar spectacle was held for King Charles II and his consort Catherine of Braganza in 1662.










©Reuters/Pool Photos

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Aristocratic Tragedy – Qatar's Mall Fire Takes the Lives of Three Grandchildren of the Spanish Duke of Nájera



On May 28 a fire consumed large sections of the elegant Villagio Shopping Mall in Doha, Qatar. Nineteen people lost their lives, among them three siblings:  Almudena, Camilo and Alfonso de Travesedo y Fernández de Casadevante.

The children lived in Doha with their parents,  Camilo and Elena de Travesedo. Don Camilo happens to be the son of the late Duke de Nájera, don Juan de Travesedo y Colón de Carvajal, who passed away in 2003. Duke Juan is a descendant of Christopher Columbus, as is the present Duke of Veragua and the entire Beéche clan.

It is indeed a sad tragedy for the family. Only one of their children survived because she was at home!

I have been to the Villagio Mall several times when visiting family in Qatar. My brother, Juan Carlos, is an Airbus pilot for Qatar Airways and has lived in Doha for several years.

Our deepest sympathies to the Travesedo family...May God Give Them Strength!

 http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ducado_de_N%C3%A1jera

http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2012/05/28/actualidad/1338222514_724477.html

Queen's Jubilee Celebrations Begin

EPSOM (Reuters) - A beaming Queen Elizabeth arrived at the races on Saturday to indulge a lifelong passion for horses and launch four days of nationwide Diamond Jubilee celebrations marking her 60 years on the British throne.

Wearing a blue coat and matching hat on a chilly summer's day, the 86-year-old was greeted by tens of thousands of flag-waving well-wishers at the Epsom Derby in southern England to watch one of the racing calendar's richest events.

Welsh opera singer Katherine Jenkins led the crowd in singing the national anthem as the queen and husband Prince Philip looked on, reflecting a mood of patriotism that has swept the country as the queen reaches a rare milestone.

Only one monarch has celebrated a diamond jubilee before - Queen Elizabeth's great-great-grandmother Victoria in 1897.

"I would have stood there in the pouring rain to have sung that, it was such an honor," said Jenkins.
"This is definitely a day I will never forget. There's such a sense of celebration in the air, everybody's really proud and happy and, I think, inspired by this."

Continue reading... http://news.yahoo.com/queen-elizabeths-60th-anniversary-party-gets-under-way-010610434.html
Her Majesty arriving at Epson race course.


Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice of York and Princess Michael of Kent.
(©AFP)

Friday, June 1, 2012

Queen's home movies shared with the nation by the Prince of Wales in Diamond Jubilee TV tribute


The cine film, shot on Holkham Beach near the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk in 1957, shows an instantly recognisable Prince Charles at the age of eight, though his six-year-old sister, with curly blonde hair and milk teeth, has yet to develop the Windsor family traits.
The Prince of Wales has included several family holiday films in his own personal television tribute to his mother, in which he also describes seeing her practising wearing her crown for the Coronation while he was in the bath.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have long been known as keen amateur film-makers, with the Queen in particular spending hours shooting footage aboard Britannia and during private family holidays.
The Prince’s BBC One documentary, A Jubilee Tribute to The Queen, also includes clips from a behind-the-scenes film of the Coronation, commissioned by the Queen as her own personal record, and showing how she kept her children under control whilst wearing her crown.
Recalling the Coronation, the Prince says: “I remember Mama coming up when we were being bathed as children, wearing the crown. It was quite funny – practising.”

Continue reading...http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/the_queens_diamond_jubilee/9303446/Queens-home-movies-shared-with-the-nation-by-the-Prince-of-Wales-in-Diamond-Jubilee-TV-tribute.html


Ten People Who Have Shaped The Queen

Sir Winston Churchill
The Queen’s first prime minister (of 12) was sunk in gloom at the death of George VI and did not relish working with a girl he hardly knew. “She is but a child,” he said. But the old man was soon captivated by the new Queen’s youth, beauty and precocious authority – and impressed by how much she knew. “All the film people in the world,” he said, “if they had scoured the globe, could not have found anyone so suited for the part.”
To her, he was Britain’s wartime saviour and hero. “She enjoyed his reminiscences and jokes,” wrote Nigel Nicolson in The Queen and Us, “and he her youthful response. He was fun, the embodiment of everything that made Great Britain great; she was his old-age romance.” At his weekly audiences with her, they would sit together alone for up to an hour. When Churchill was asked what they talked about, he bluffed: “Oh, mostly racing.”
King George VI
Deeply shy and aghast to find himself King, George VI was torn between wanting to shelter his eldest daughter from the realities of what lay ahead and preparing her for the succession. He tried to protect “us four”, the cosy family unit thrust into the public arena by an accident of history. She adored him and he was her example, his diligence and commitment to duty providing her with a lifelong template of monarchy. It was said that the war and Churchill “made a king of him” but Elizabeth knew at what cost.

He introduced her, aged 16, to the recreational passion of her life by taking her to watch his racehorses in training at the Beckhampton stables of Fred Darling. By the time she inherited the royal racing stables in 1952, she was leagues ahead of him in equine knowledge and enthusiasm. His legacy provided one of the deepest diversionary satisfactions of her reign: an arena where she could be herself and excel as a professional among equals.


Martin Charteris
Lord Charteris of Amisfield was a one-off; a shrewd, high-spirited and innovative courtier who served the Queen as her private secretary for three decades, injecting humour into her speeches and a lightness of touch into the daily round. “There was this really pretty woman,” he recalled of his first interview with her, “bright blue eyes, blue dress, brooch with huge sapphires. She was so young, beautiful, dutiful, the most impressive of women.”

He was with Elizabeth and Prince Philip in Kenya when the King died unexpectedly on February 6, 1952. Her calm and composure were astonishing to him. “I never imagined that anyone could grasp their destiny with such safe hands.” It fell to him to ask what name she wanted to use as Queen – “My own name, of course. Elizabeth” – and to brief her on details of the Accession on the long journey home.

Charteris, a snuff-taker, sculptor and late convert to wildfowling, was proud of relaxing the Queen’s image. “He made being Queen fun,” says Robert Lacey, the royal biographer. He wanted people to see her as she really was, not strait-jacketed by formality. Letting the light in on the mystery of royalty, he argued as the ground-breaking documentary Royal Family was televised in 1969, was both pragmatic and inevitable. The highly successful Silver Jubilee in 1977 was his parting triumph.
On his retirement, the Queen presented him with a silver tray engraved with the words: “Martin, thank you for a lifetime.” He was Provost of Eton, his old school, for the next 13 years, remaining close to the Queen until his death in 1999.


Henry Carnarvon
The 7th Earl of Carnarvon was the Queen’s racing manager, one of her oldest and most valued friends. She called him by his schoolboy nickname “Porchey” (after his courtesy title, Lord Porchester). He took her to balls. He was with the princesses when they joined the wild throng of V-E Day revellers outside Buckingham Palace. Lord Porchester (as he then was) revived the Highclere Stud at the family seat near Newbury, where the Queen was a frequent guest. They discussed everything from breeding theories to rhododendrons. “It was a very equal friendship ranging over many interests,” says his son, Geordie, the current earl. “They were from the same generation. They had been through the war. They shared a great love of the countryside and wildlife as well as horses. Whether they were walking at Sandringham, Highclere or in Scotland, it was always a great obsession.

“My father had a photographic memory for bloodlines. He and the Queen had a similar passion for every aspect and detail of breeding. They often had quite lively discussions about which stallion a mare should go to, or which race. It was a key part of their week.”

Carnarvon, who bred a string of high-class winners, was the Queen’s racing manager for 32 years until his sudden death in 2001. She broke with custom and attended his funeral.

Continue reading... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/the_queens_diamond_jubilee/9302771/Perfect-10-the-men-and-women-who-have-shaped-the-Queen.html