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Apr 11: Someone is Going To Be 80 Soon

Ok, I'm not much of a royalist, quite a disfunctional family as they are and not a good example for marriage advice. They all seem to end in failure, except one, Prince Edward. But there you go.

So, It's Ma'am's (that's supposed to be the correct way to say it) will be 80 next week, the 21st of April. So for this occaasion the roya website has put up 80 factoids about her life. Here are some that I think are rather entertaining in a way.

Fact #9
Tony Blair is the first Prime Minister to have been born during The Queen's reign. He was born in early May 1953 - a month before the Coronation.

Ok, not 100% correct as he was born a whole month before her reign, but we can miss that one

Fact # 17
During her reign, The Queen has received many unusual gifts including a variety of live animals. The more unusual animals have been placed in the care of the London zoo, among them jaguars and sloths from Brazil, and two black beavers from Canada.  The Queen has also received gifts of pineapples, eggs, a box of snail shells, a grove of maple trees and 7kg of prawns.

Some one must have forgotten to bring one and poped into the local market and bought a pineapple, eggs. Someone else must have been peckish, maybe french, ate all the snails and just gave her the shells. No idea what one would do with 7Kg of prawns.

Fact # 20
The Queen's real birthday is on April 21, but it is celebrated officially in June.

That's fact #20 and not #1 ?

Fact #27
The Queen has given out about 78,000 Christmas puddings to staff continuing the custom of King George V and King George VI. In addition, The Queen gives all her staff a gift at Christmas time.

And I should hope she does give a gift to the staff!
Fact #31
Princess Elizabeth travelled on the London Underground for the first time in May 1939 with her governess Marion Crawford and Princess Margaret.

And maybe never again?

Fact #34
With the birth of Prince Andrew in 1960, The Queen became the first reigning Sovereign to have a child since Queen Victoria, who had her youngest child, Princess Beatrice, in 1857.

Well, thats sort of cheating a bit. all the ones in between being Kings?

Fact #59
The Queen also introduced a new breed of dog known as the "dorgi" when one of Her Majesty's corgis was mated with a dachshund named Pipkin which belonged to Princess Margaret. The Queen currently has four dorgis, Cider, Berry, Candy and Vulcan.

There you go, a Dorgi,  a even The Queen is into Genic modification!

Fact #74
The Queen is the first member of the Royal Family to be awarded a gold disc from the recording industry. 100,000 copies of the CD of the 'Party at the Palace', produced by EMI, were sold within the first week of release.

She got a Gold disk? Did anyone here her sing? I know Brian May did 'God Save The Queen' from the top of Buck. Palace.. Are we cheating again? But I wold say It was a lot better than Elton John's Candle in the wind ... That was Yuck.

Fact #76
In November 2004, The Queen invited the cast of Les Miserables in the West End to perform for French President Jacques Chirac at Windsor Castle.  It was the first time the cast of a West End musical had performed at a Royal residence.

Apparantly, the room where the cast were performing was called the Wateroo Chambers, It was renamed for the day! I wonder why ?
Fact #79
Technically The Queen still owns the sturgeons, whales and dolphins in the waters around the UK. A statute from 1324, at the time of the reign of King Edward II , states that:

"Also the King shall have ... whales and sturgeons taken in the sea or elsewhere within the realm."

Right be carefull what you catch and make sure you tell Ma'am or it's off with yer 'ead

To read all 80 of them, you can go here
Posted by Andy Rambling in News - UK, News - UK Comment: (1) Trackbacks: (0)
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#1 - joanna said:
2006-04-11 13:59 - (Reply)

joannaAnd I thought America was backwards....


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