Thursday, December 11, 2008

A Bit of Royal News

This is old news now, but if you don't regularly read world news and such, you may have missed the annual opening of British Parliament on December 3rd. Queen Elizabeth II opened Parliament for the 56th time in her reign, leading a ceremony with over 500 years of tradition and history. Admittedly I am a bit of an Anglophile and have always enjoyed all the pomp and circumstance, so this is stuff I enjoy sharing. The videos below are a little long, but I find them both interesting. If nothing else, its a nice diversion from all the nonsense in the news of late.

above left: The procession leading to the Palace of Westminster is quite extensive. Her Majesty arrives in the State Coach, drawn by four grey horses. Above right: The Queen reads the speech to the Lords and members of the House of Commons.

above: even in her advanced age, The Queen still looks great. Of course, all the diamonds do help. above right: The Queen's jewels, including the Imperial State Crown (which she wears to open Parliament), are priceless and are stored in a heavily guarded room in the Tower of London. Check out this (long but) interesting video about the opening of Parliament:



And here below is Queen Elizabeth delivering her speech to open Parliament. It's a bit of a yawn-fest, but check it out for a spell:



Well, I hope you weren't too bored by all this. I'll post The Queen's Christmas message on December 25th, so she'll make another appearance here again soon. Have a great Thursday.
-Rick Rockhill

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You and my stepmom would get along famously... Seriously. She's a HUGE anglophile!

If she's ever in your area, I'll have to get you two together...

Rhodester said...

We have more than a few Queens right here in Palm Springs, but they don't generally look like that. I mean the crown thingy.. the rest is similar.

Olivia said...

Oh my God! That old turtle Gordon Brown was standing right next to David Cameron! No wonder he kept his eyes open for once!

It also amazes me how much the Queen's accent has evolved and relaxed over the past couple of decades, to keep pace with the changing demographics of her country.

Anonymous said...

The queen is amazing-- what she has had to deal with on the public stage and keep her cool is impressive. One of my friends got to meet her in a reception and also the Queen Mum, who he said in the maybe 15 seconds that he got to talk to her was a trip and a half.

WAT said...

I blogged about the old rich bag last year. I watched this ceremony in 2007 and it is quite boring, but fascinating nonetheless.

Disclaimers...

This blog is about life experiences & observations and stuff I am interested in. It is simply a side hobby and creative outlet; generally, with a tongue-in-cheek tone. I don't take it too seriously, nor should you. I do not profess to represent every point of view. Nothing on this site is a paid post.

It is for entertainment purposes only it, so just lighten up and just enjoy it. Life is short, live in the moment.

As the author, thoughts/views have no affiliation to my clients, business colleagues or my company.

This blog is independent and free of any type of financial affiliations. Some images used are from the internet and sometimes hard to credit them, so if you own any and want them removed just send me a message.

No copyright infringement intended. I am not responsible for defamatory statements bound to government, religious, or other laws from the reader’s country of origin or residence. The intention of this blog is to do no harm, defame, libel or offend anyone.