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How Much Do You Know About the Royal Family?

Posted in Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the, King George VI, PEOPLE, Prince Charles of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Prince William & Catherine, Duke & Duchess of Cambridge, Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mum, Queen Victoria & Prince Albert, ROYALTY/NOBILITY, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 11, 2011| 3 Comments »

What’s Prince Philip’s favorite drink? Check out our quiz to see how much you know about the Royal Family:

1. In which battle did George VI fight?
A. The First Battle of Ypres
B. The Battle of Loos
C. The Battle of Jutland
D. The Battle of Tumbledown

Queen Elizabeth II loves corgis.

2. What was the name of the first royal corgi, which was given to the Queen on her 18th birthday in 1944?

A. Sinbad
B. Susan
C. Senator
D. Sonata 

 
 

Queen Victoria celebrates her fiftieth year on the throne in 1887 at her Golden Jubilee. Queen Victoria lived from 1819-1901.

3. Who succeeded Queen Victoria?
A. Prince Albert
B. Edward VII
C. George V
D. Edward VIII

4. Of how many countries is the Queen head of state?
A. Four
B. Eight
C. 16
D. 21

5. What title did the British monarch also have until 1947?
A. King of India
B. Imperial Sovereign
C. Monarch of Asia
D. Emperor of India

6. In which naval engagement during World War II was Prince Philip mentioned in despatches?
A. Battle of Cape Matapan
B. Battle of Cape Potsandpans
C. Battle of Cape Cod
D. Battle of Barents Sea

The Duchess and Duke of Windsor in exile in France, years after the Duke AKA King Edward VIII abdicated the British throne in 1936.

 7. What was Edward VIII’s relationship to his successor, George VI?
A. First cousin
B. Father
C. Elder brother
D. Younger brother

8. What was the Queen Mother’s maiden name?
A. Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
B. Lady Elizabeth Glamis
C. Lady Elizabeth Bows
D. The Countess of Strathmore

9. Which king reigned throughout World War I?
A. Edward VII
B. George V
C. George VI
D. George VII

 
 
 

King George VI sits with Prince Charles of Wales. Charles was just 3 when the King died of lung cancer on Feb. 6, 1952.

10. What relation is Prince Charles to George VI?
A. Maternal grandson
B. Paternal grandson
C. Maternal nephew
D. Paternal great-grandson

11. How old was the Queen when she came to the throne?
A. 55
B. 45
C. 35
D. 25

12. Who did the Duke and Duchess of Windsor meet at Berchtesgaden in 1937?
A. Adolf Hitler
B. Charlie Chaplin
C. Tsar of Russia
D. Winston Churchill

13. In which war did Prince Andrew fight as a helicopter pilot?
A. Gulf War
B. Iraq War
C. Falklands War
D. Korean War

14. What was the name of the royal yacht decommissioned in 1997?
A. Britannia
B. Queen Elizabeth
C. Elizabeth and Philip
D. Queen Mary

15. What is Prince Philip’s favorite drink?
A. Bass
B. Brandy (Greek, of course)
C. Boddingtons
D. Bacardi

16. In which war did the Royal Family change their dynastic title from Saxe-Coburg to Windsor?
A. Boer War
B. World War I
C. World War II
D. Cold War

 
 
 

Princess Diana, spring 1997, photographed by Mario Testino

17. What was the maiden name of Diana, Princess of Wales?
A. Lady Diana Spencer
B. Diana, Lady Spencer
C. The Lady Diana
D. The Lady Spencer

18. Why is Prince Michael of Kent not in the line of succession to the throne?
A. He converted to Islam
B. He married a Roman Catholic
C. He became a Zoroastrian
D. He married without the Queen’s permission

19. What was the name of the most famous of Edward VII’s mistresses when he was Prince of Wales?
A. Lily Crabtree
B. Nell Gwynn
C. Mary Robinson
D. Lillie Langtry

20. Which monarch of the House of Windsor has reigned the longest?
A. Edward VII
B. George V
C. George VI
D. Elizabeth II

 
 
 

Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, as portrayed on a commemorative stamp

21. How old was the Queen Mother when she died in 2002?
A. 90
B. 95
C. 75
D. 101

22. Where was the then Princess Elizabeth staying when she heard of the death of her father George VI in 1952?
A. Treetops Game Reserve in Kenya
B. Stardust Casino in Las Vegas
C. Government House in Auckland, New Zealand
D. Ice Station Zebra in Antarctica

23. What post does the monarch hold in the Church of England?
A. Supreme Pontiff
B. Senior Governor
C. Supreme Ruler
D. Supreme Governor 

Queen Elizabeth's little sister, Princess Margaret, enjoying her bath.

24. Who did the Queen’s sister marry?

A. Antony Armstrong-Andrews, Lord Snowdon
B. Andrew Armstrong-Jones, Lord Mountbatten
C. Andrew Armstrong-Jones, Lord Snowdon
D. Antony Armstrong-Jones, Lord Snowdon 

25. What was Prince Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick, later Edward VIII, called by his family?
A. Edward
B. Bertie
C. Albert
D. David

26. Who was prime minister at the time of the Abdication Crisis?
A Stanley Baldwin
B Neville Chamberlain
C Winston Churchill
D Ramsay Macdonald

Queen Elizabeth II is greeted by Winston and Clementine Churchill as she arrives for a dinner given at 10 Downing Street on April 4, 1955. In leading his guests in the loyal toast to Her Majesty, Churchill noted that as a young cavalry officer he had proposed similar toasts during the reign of her great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria. He resigned as Prime Minister on the following day.

27. How many prime ministers have served under the Queen?
A. 13
B. 10
C. 14
D. 12

28. Who is The Keeper of the Royal Conscience?
A. The Archbishop of Canterbury
B. Prince Philip
C. The Prince of Wales
D. Ken Clarke

ANSWERS: 1 C. 2 B. 3 B. 4 C. 5 D. 6 A. 7 C. 8 A. 9 B. 10 A. 11 D. 12 A. 13 C. 14 A. 15 C. 16 B. 17 A. 18 B. 19 D. 20 D. 21 D. 22 A. 23 D. 24 D. 25 D. 26 A. 27 A. 28 D (as Lord Chancellor).

Source: The Daily Mail, Jan. 11, 2011

Readers: For more on the British Royal Family on this blog, click here.
11th January 2011

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Kate Middleton to Take Car, Not Carriage, to Abbey

Posted in Prince Charles of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Prince William & Catherine, Duke & Duchess of Cambridge, Queen Elizabeth II, ROYALTY/NOBILITY, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 5, 2011| 4 Comments »

Prince William and Kate Middleton announce their engagement at Clarence House, London, on November 16, 2010. They are both 28.

“Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton have made more decisions on their upcoming wedding,” Clarence House said in a statement, which was first released in a series of messages on Twitter.

The royal wedding will take place on Friday, April 29, 2011, at Westminster Abbey.

Kate Middleton will travel by car to the 11 a.m. service passing through some of Britain’s most historic sites – Pall Mall, Horse Guards Parade, Whitehall, and Parliament Square. The ceremony will be conducted by the Rev. John Hall and the couple will be married by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.

Once the pair are husband and wife, they will travel along the same route that Middleton arrived in, but this time, in a horse-drawn carriage. Prince William’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, will host a gathering at Buckingham Palace for guests. Afterward, William’s father, Prince Charles, will organize a private dinner for friends and family.

Source: Google News

Readers, for more on this blog about the royal wedding and the British Royal Family, click here.

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Kate Middleton: The Engagement Look

Posted in PEOPLE, Prince Charles of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Prince William & Catherine, Duke & Duchess of Cambridge, Princess Diana, ROYALTY/NOBILITY, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on January 4, 2011| 2 Comments »

Kate Middleton (born Jan. 9, 1982) and Prince William of Great Britain announce their plans to marry (November 16, 2010). Kate's sapphire and diamond engagement ring belonged to the Prince's mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.

Since the November 16, 2010, announcement of her engagement to Prince William, all eyes have been on the lovely Kate Middleton, Britain’s princess-in-waiting (maybe to be titled “Her Royal Highness Princess Catherine of Wales”) and future queen. Everything from her plans to marry at Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011, to her fashion picks is hot, hot news.

At the press conference, Kate looked so smashing in her sapphire blue, gathered-front engagement dress that the outfit became an instant fashion “must have.” It caused a shopping frenzy with women eager to copy Kate’s classic, ladylike, but sexy look. Only two days after she was seen wearing the silk jersey Issa London frock, the dress was sold out in London. It then became available online at Net-a-Porter.com for $535 but quickly sold out.

Within days, Tesco launched a replica version of the dress that was 20 times cheaper than the Issa, selling at £16 ($15.50). The Tesco version – in cotton – featured the same Issa length and waist-flattering, self-tie wrap style but with short sleeves. Within one hour of its availability, the Tesco knockoff design – dubbed “the Kate Middleton dress” – was sold out.

This cotton dress by the Florence + Fred line at Tesco.com emulates the blue Issa London design which Kate Middleton wore to face the press in November 2010 to announce her engagement to Prince William. This knockoff sold out online in one hour, a testimony to the power of Miss Middleton's influential fashion sense.

Peacocks, another British “high street” budget chain retailer, was not about to outdone by the competition.  They released an even cheaper version than Tesco’s – in polyester with three-quarter-length sleeves – that also sold out within hours of hitting the market. Peacocks anticipated the instant sell-out, setting up the ‘Waity Katie’ waiting list dedicated to the dress in order for customers to avoid disappointment. Kate Middleton received the  nickname ‘Waity Katie’  because she knew her fiance nine years before he proposed marriage.

Peacocks' polyester version of the Kate Middleton Issa dress, costing just £14.

It wasn’t just Kate’s dress that caused a fashion sensation. Jewelers around the world have been inundated with requests for replicas of her sapphire-and-diamond engagement ring. It is the same ring that Prince William’s father Prince Charles gave William’s mother, Lady Diana, in 1981, when they became engaged. After Diana’s death, the ring was passed down to Prince Harry, Diana’s second son and William’s younger brother. Harry decided to give William their mother’s ring to give to Kate as her engagement ring.

Kate Middleton's engagement ring

Jewelers were caught off guard by the sheer volume of customer requests for replicas of the engagement ring:

‘Our website crashed, phones are ringing like crazy,’ said Michael Arnstein, CEO of the Natural Sapphire Co. ‘We just hope we can handle the demand.'”

 

Princess Diana's engagement ring, now being worn by Kate Middleton. Prince Charles proposed to Lady Diana without a ring. After accepting Charles's proposal, Diana chose her own ring from a selection at Garrard Jewelers. Set on a gold band, this 18 carat oval cluster ring features a sapphire surrounded by 16 small diamonds.

Stores and websites are flooded with fake sapphire rings for sale. Below is a photo of one store’s offering:

 

Readers, for more of my posts on Kate Middleton and the British Royal family, click here.

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Princess Diana: The Shrine at Harrods

Posted in PEOPLE, Prince Charles of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Princess Diana, ROYALTY/NOBILITY, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 4, 2010| 25 Comments »

Princess Diana and lover Dodi Al Fayed in the summer of 1997.

“The more I hear and read and think about Diana’s and Dodi’s deaths in the Pont d’Alma tunnel, in Paris, on August 31, 1997, in what is possibly the world’s most famous car crash, the more I doubt the truth of their great romance. If it was anything at all, it was a flirt, a fling…. Like the conspiracy theory surrounding their deaths, their romance, too, was orchestrated by Mohamed Al Fayed [Dodi’s father]. The shrine to the eternal love of Dodi and Diana, in Harrods, the most famous of English department stores, owned by Al Fayed [until May 2010], is a popular tourist attraction. People line up to look at it. They speak in whispers, as if they were in church…. 

“The shrine, which is tacky but curiously touching, consists of a fountain, two large portraits—one of Dodi and one of Diana—and floor-lamp-size candles, the scent of lilies in the air. Under a glass pyramid is a crystal glass from which one of them had drunk champagne in the Imperial Suite of the Ritz Hotel just before they died, and the so-called engagement ring, which Dodi had bought that afternoon at the jewelry shop down the street from the Ritz. Diana never wore it.

They had been romantically involved with each other for less than a month. 

Harrods shrine for Princess Diana & Dodi Fayed. Harrods' former owner, Mohamed Al Fayed, is Dodi's father. At the six-month inquest of Dodi and Diana's death (2007-2008), Al Fayed testified of his belief in a vast conspiracy by the British Royal Family under the direction of Prince Philip to murder Princess Diana. The inquest into Princess Diana's death that was carried out at the Royal Courts of Justice in London concluded she and her boyfriend Dodi Fayed were killed by gross negligence of their driver, who was speeding and was more than three times over French drunk driving limit. (Lisa's History Room)

Pakistani-born cardiologist, Hasnat Khan (b. 1960), who was purported to be the love of Princess Diana's life. They met in London in 1995 and carried on an affair until he ended the relationship. No photographs exist of the couple. (Lisa's History Room)

“All was not as it seemed in the love department of the famous Dodi-Diana romance. Several friends of Diana’s told me she was downhearted after the breakup of her romance with Hasnat Khan, the Pakistani surgeon, with whom she was still in love. They say Khan ended his serious relationship with Diana because, as a respected doctor, he could not stand the publicity that overwhelmed her life…. 

“What is rarely mentioned, although it is well known, is the existence of a beautiful American model named Kelly Fisher, who wore on her left hand an enormous and very expensive engagement ring. She says her fiancé had bought her a mansion in Malibu, where they would live after their marriage. She had tentatively set the date of August 9, 1997, for the wedding, nearly a month off. Her fiancé was Dodi Al Fayed. 

American underwear model Kelly Fisher, who claimed to be Dodi Al Fayed's fiancee. Dec. 2007 (Lisa's History Room)

“The two – Dodi and Kelly Fisher – were in Paris together on July 14, when Dodi was summoned by his father to join Princess Diana 

on the Jonikal,the yacht Mohamed Al Fayed had reportedly purchased for $20 million the day after the Princess accepted his invitation for a sailing trip with her sons, William and Harry.

Princess Diana on the Jonikal, the yacht Mohamed Al Fayed bought exclusively to entertain her. July 1997 (Lisa's History Room)

“Kelly was left behind in Paris, though a few days later she was flown to St. Tropez and transported to another Al Fayed yacht. There she languished during the day while waiting for evening visits from Dodi. 

“Diana returned to the Jonikal in August. The fact that she came back for a second visit so soon really shows her loneliness more than it does a passion for Dodi. Her two sons were at Balmoral, one of the Queen’s castles, with their father, Prince Charles, and their grandparents the Queen and Prince Philip, as was their August habit. Diana wasn’t being invited around to the great English estates for long weekends. She had become too famous. It was too difficult to have her stay. Strangers gathered at the gates to get a glimpse of her. Helicopters hovered. She really had no place to go.

Charles, the Prince of Wales (center) is flanked by his two sons, Princes William or "Wills" (l) and Henry or "Harry." This photo, taken by the boys' nanny at the royal estate Balmoral in Scotland, was their 1996 Christmas card. In that year, Prince Charles and Princess Diana divorced.

“The Jonikal invitations were perfect. A splendid yacht. A helicopter. A private plane. Guards to keep the paparazzi at bay. She probably knew that she was being used by a social climber for his and his son’s advancement in London society, but in high society it was a fair deal. Each benefited.

Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed on the Jonikal July/August 1997 (Lisa's History Room)

This photo of Diana, Princess of Wales, kissing Dodi Al Fayed appeared in the Sunday Mirror on August 10, 1997, as she vacationed on Dodi's father's yacht, the Jonikal. Three weeks later, Dodi and Di would be killed in a car accident in Paris. (Lisa's History Room)

“The shrine to the eternal love of Diana and Dodi, on view at Harrods, doesn’t have quite the same impact once you hear about Kelly’s role in the story. It’s still tacky, but it’s no longer touching. It’s calculated. What Al Fayed has created is a shrine to himself: “Look at how I have suffered” is the message…. 

“Dodi loved taking movie stars to Hollywood parties and premieres and being photographed with them. He once said to his friend, former gossip columnist Jack Martin, 

‘When do you think I’ll go out with a girl so famous I’ll get my picture on the cover of People?’

“… ‘Well, he got his wish.’ said Jack. ‘A little late, though.'”

Princess Diana graces the cover of the August 25, 1997, issue of People Magazine. (Lisa's History Room)

source:  “Two Ladies, Two Yachts, and a Billionaire,” by Dominick Dunne, May 2008, Vanity Fair.

Readers: For more posts on this blog about the British Royal Family, click here.  See, in particular, “Princess Diana: Death Photos Leaked.”

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