Queen Elizabeth II's Actual Birthday April 21, 94 Years Old!

Hiya! I hope your week has not been too traumatic and that you have been social distancing and saving lives.

Amazing what things have been put on hold and cancelled, from the Premier League to Wimbledon to cannon salutes!

 

 April 21, 1926 Elizabeth was born to the Duke And Duchess of York... wo later became King George VI and Queen Elizabth when his elder brother Edward VIII abdicated to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson

 

 

Elizabeth was 11 when her father was crowned in 1937

And was became Queen in 1952 on the death of her father, and crowned in 1953 at Westminster Abbey 

Because of the coronavirus the Queen has cancelled, for the first time in her 68 year reign, the cannon salute giver Her Majesty for her birthday

Here is a link to a YouTube video of a previous birthday gun salute:

 https://images.app.goo.gl/otBLWqVPGQFDgbYN7

This is an original program or programme from the 1953 cotonation, including wonderful photos and a procession map as well as order of service in the Abbey

The first official photo of the Queen taken in 1952 by photographer Dorothy Wilder...

So... wishing Her Majesty Happy 94th Birthday!

 

June 2nd, 1953 A Queen is Crowned For England

June 2nd is the anniversary of the day Queen Elizabeth 2 was crowned Queen of England in 1953...

 The queen followed her father King George VI to the throne...and George never expected to be king...actually was not pleased about it...

but became king by default when his older brother Edward VIII abdicated the throne to marry American twice divorced Wallis Simpson...

King George VI died at the Sandringham estate on February 6th, 1952 while Princess Elizabeth was undertaking a royal visit for her father with her husband Prince Philip....who had to inform her that she was now queen.

And the Queen, now the longest lived and longest reigning British monarch has just celebrated her Sapphire Jubilee of the ascension, and now the coronation...

and long may she reign!

Pink Saturday Royal Wedding Bell, Colored Stones Rather than Diamonds in England

I am joining Pink Saturday with How Sweet the Sound today. The pink I found was from the design of a Prince Charles and Diana Royal Wedding bell from 1981. For more info on the bell or other Royal commemoratives at Time Was Antiques, click on the photos.

I think I thought of the wedding bell, which is by SylvaCeramics, England because of my last post about the green stone Tourmaline and Peridot ring we supplied to a couple (he's an artist in New York City) as an engagement ring. I received a lot of emails from the post asking about my comment that they are popular in the UK, and also by a number of ladies whose 20 and 30 somthing kids have also had colored stones for engagement rings recently. 

When Charles and Diana were engaged in 1980, he gave her a large blue sapphire surrounded by diamonds.

And of course, in November of 2010 their son Prince William presented the same ring to his future bride Catherine Middleton.

When Prince Andrew married Sarah Ferguson in 1986, she was given a large ruby surrounded with diamonds.

And Edward VIII gave his future wife Wallis Simpson a 20 carat emerald.

And a royal cousin Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece married Marie-Chantal in 1995, she had a large oval sapphire with heart shaped diamonds.

So it is fun to see how styles change. By the time William and Catherine's child marries, what will the trend be?