The Queen Does It In One Take
According to this piece in Her Majesty’s Daily Telegraph, The Queen played herself all in one take.
According to Nicholas Brown, the BBC’s director of Drama Production, she gave a flawless performance. “She got it in one take. That’s what she does, and she does it very well. She is a professional.
The piece also indicates that the corgis were the Queen’s too! Fox News in the United States had the headline Corgis Win The Opening Ceremony. If the latter is true, they must be the first dogs to win a Gold Medal at the Olympics.
I would think that if your corgi is expecting a litter of puppies, you won’t have any difficulty finding good homes for them!
What Happened When The Torch Relay Went Into Windsor Castle To Meet The Queen
It rained of course. And heavily too. this was taken from the BBC’s text commentary.
Gina is then taken to meet the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. After curtseying she says: “It’s English weather isn’t it. You can’t do anything about it.”
To which the Queen, dressed wisely in a camel overcoat, responds: “No nothing.” She then breaks into a wide smile and later enquires of the torch: “What keeps it going?”
The Duke of Edinburgh then seemed to test the weight of the torch before asking Gina, “Are you going to take it home?”
So it seems the Queen may be fed up with the weather too!
Aren’t we all?
The Queen Meets President Hollande Today
according to The Times, the Queen will meet President Hollande today for thirty minutes. They will meet without interpreters and it is expected that they will talk in French. Has there ever been a French queen, who spoke fluent English?
Later President Hollande will have a working lunch with David Cameron.
Note that Hollande’s name is always flagged up by the default spell check.
Between a Rock And A Hard Place
Over this winter I have severely dehydrated myself, due to the bad design of this house. I regularly have lukewarm baths to try to get more water back into my body. My GP’s colleague thinks this is a good idea. I’ve also had air-conditioning fitted, so that my house is usually at about 25 °C with upwards of 40% humidity. I also drink quite a bit to try to raise the moisture levels in my body.
However my cardiologist says that I must not drink more than 1.5 litres a day. I don’t think I do!
But my skin is still as dry as a bone and I itch like crazy. The guy who cuts my hair, says my scalp is very dry and I scratch everywhere like mad. Especially, the backs of my legs, my back, my scalp and my throat.
The problem did clear up last year, but only when we got some sun. Fat chance of that this year. Why did the Queen have to have a ruddy jubilee to guarantee bad weather this summer?
Has anybody any serious ideas, other than moving to Australia?
Hayley Turner Rides for the Queen
Hayley Turner is riding Momentary for the Queen in the Ribblesdale Stakes today.
Hayley is a coeliac and now is the best lady jockey in the UK. Many will say the best lady jockey ever to ride in the UK.
Now We Know Why Waitrose Took Over Duchy Originals
The Times today publishes a picture of Mark Price, the MD of Waitrose in the Royal Box for the Diamond Jubilee Concert.
It’s alright for some!
A Clip of Video from the RAF
The RAF has just released this video taken from the Lancaster during the flypast to mark the Diamond Jubilee.
Note that the pilot and passengers in the Lancaster, are wearing very 1940s bone-domes. It would also appear, that there are quite a few free-loaders going along for the ride.
The RAF should make more videos like this.
An Historical Snippet From Gyles Brandreth
Gyles Brandreth can always be relied upon to add something of note to a discussion. He has just said that the Duke of Edinburgh‘s mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, was at the Diamond Jubilee Thanksgiving of Queen Victoria.
She stayed in Athens during the Second World War, and this snippet, shows an insight into her character.
During the fighting in Athens, to the dismay of the British, she insisted on walking the streets distributing rations to policemen and children in contravention of the curfew order. When told that she might have been shot by a stray bullet, she replied “they tell me that you don’t hear the shot that kills you and in any case I am deaf. So, why worry about that?”
So did the Duke get his forthright character from his mother?
Olympic Torch Relay or Diamond Jubilee Service
I’m very much a supporter of the Queen and the work she does, but I’m watching the Olympic Torch Relay as it passes through Omagh.
I think when we look back on these days in the years to come, the Olympics of 2012 and the associated relay, may be in our memories more than the Diamond Jubilee. After all we’ve seen a lot of Royal ceremonials, but the Torch Relay could turn out to be an important moment, in the restoration of good relations between the UK and especially England and the whole island of Ireland. We may be divided in many ways, but no pessimist could say we’re not joined in our enjoyment of sport.
India Shows “A Queen is Crowned”
According to this report from the Times of India, they’re showing the documentary, A Queen is Crowned, in Lucknow at the moment.
I think I saw it soon after the Coronation, as in those days television was only in black and white, but the documentary was in colour.
The Anonymous Widower 