Queen's Jubilee Continues, Thames Pageant, Jubilee Concert

Today is Tuesday Cuppa Tea, but I don't have a teacup...just Diamond Jubilee news. Another great day yesterday. The Diamond Jubilee had it's Big Lunch midday which included Prince Charles and Camilla as surprise participants in Piccadilly.

Then it was on to the Thames Pageant. I watched it streaming from 5am Pacific time on the BBC website.

This was the scene as it crossed under the MIllenium foot bridge..a favorite river crossing site for us between the Embankment and the Southwark side.


There were over 20,000 folks on the river participating. There were 93 narrow boats which ply the canals of the UK and over 1,000 different vessels from 1 man kayaks to Uni crews, lifeboat brigades, a Venetian gondola and a fleet of boats who had actually participated in the fleet of boats who rescued people after the battle of Dunkirk.

The royal family braved the 2 hours in the worsening weather which culminated in a downpour.  Below is the Royal barge Gloriana which I posted about recently as it was being built.  I said at that time it would carry the Queen, but she and most of the family were actually on the much larger Spirit Of Chartwell.

 The GBP, or Great British Public as they are known, turned up trumps as usual and celebrated with an undampened spirit despite the uncooperative weather. I love the hand knit crown wooly hat made and worn by Janet Mead above, and the rain jackets seen all over during the festivities below.

Today, there is currently a live concert going on on a stage built around the Victoria Memorial, just outside the gates of Buckingham Palace.

I had to show you this. After the opening fireworks display, the revelers had the band perform of the Coldstream Guards of the Queen's guards, which is my husband's old regiment. Quite moving for us!

This is the line up for the concert, but Sir Paul McCartney is dur to end with 3 songs and that's not on the list. The Sing portion is organized by Andrew Lloyd Webber:

16:19 The line-up for tonight's concert is quite something. Apparently the Queen asked for Kylie's Timebomb especially. I'm most looking forward to Madness singing Our House from the top of....The Queen's House! And Elton John's rendition of I'm Still Standing which either seems appropriate or completely inappropriate.

• Madness – Our House (From roof of the palace)
• Robbie Williams – Mack the Knife/Let Me Entertain You
• Gary Barlow and Cheryl – Need You Now
• Ed Sheeran – The A Team
• Alfie Bow and Renee Fleming – Somewhere (From palace balcony)
• Gareth Malone and Military Wives – National Anthem
• Shirley Bassey – Diamonds are Forever
• Tom Jones – Delilah/Mama Told Me Not To Come
• Cliff Richard – Medley
• Grace Jones – Slave To The Rhythm
• Paul McCartney – Medley
• Jessie J – Domino
• Annie Lennox – There Must Be An Angel
• JLS – Everybody in Love/She Makes Me Wanna
• Alfie Boe – O Solo Mio
• Jools Holland and Ruby Turner – You Are So Beautiful
• Renee Fleming – Un Bel Di Vedremo
• Lang Lang – Hungarian Rhapsody
• Elton John – Your Song/Still Standing/Crocodile Rock
• Gary Barlow and the Commonwealth Band featuring the Military Wives – Sing
• Stevie Wonder – Medley
• Kylie Minogue - Medley (including Timebomb)

The concert will be followed by the National Beacon by Queen Elizabeth, the first lighting that began in New Zealand yesterday. I leave you with a Jubilee highlights video from the Guardian that is great!

Prince Charles Releases his Christmas Card Photo, Buckingham Palace Wedgwood Christmas Plate

There was a great article in the Daily Mail online  yesterday because Prince Charles released the photo he and Camilla will be using for their Christmas cards.

The image was taken on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the wedding of his son Prince William and Catherine Middleton. The is holding his step grand daughter. I think that's such a great photo. The Daily Mail headline is Greetings From Grandpapa Charles.! The article also includes some great past Royal Family Christmas cards which are really interesting. Have a look.

In the Christmas and Buck House theme, here is a Wedgwood annual Christmas 1979 jasperware plate of Buckingham Palace that we have. I love Wedgwood blue jasperware and have quite a bit of it. It is no longer being made in the UK which is such a shame!

There are still a few items made at the Wedgwood (now Wedgwood Waterford) Museum and Visitor Centre in Barlaston by Stoke-on-Trent. I had a whole photo essay of the process taken last time we were there, down loaded to my travel laptop, which then crashed in the hotel the night we docked back in the US after a week's crossing on Queen Mary 2 back from England. I lost all the photos! I was devastated! Sigh... But this is from a Wedgwood book I have, Wedgwood, A Collector's Guide by Peter Williams. 

The body of the item is a cream to buff color, whatever color it will be when fired. Then, when it is still damp, the motif his hand applied by an artist. The figures are about 2mm thick and are easily broken unless, like these artists, you know what you are doing! Then the process is quickly and deftly done. I love jasperware!

For more info on the Christmas Buckingham Palace plate or other items of Wedgwood jasperware at Time Was Antiques, click on the photos.

Vist in The Buckingham Palace Kitchens With Oz Chef Bill Granger

The Monarchy website on Facebook has just posted this interesting video of a visit to Buckingham Palace kitchens by Australian chef Bill Granger in advance of a State dinner following an announcement of the Queen Elizabeth !!'s forthcoming visit to Australia. 

Interesting to hear the ages of the Buck House chefs and how long some have been working there. The items mentioned are Pavlovas and Lamingtons. 

In 1935, the chef of the Hotel Esplanade in Perth, Western Australia, Herbert Sachse, created the pavlova to celebrate the visit of the great Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova. Whilst it has been suggested this dessert was created in New Zealand, it has become recognized as a popular Australian dish. Recipe to follow.


Lamingtons are small squares of plain cake, dipped in melted chocolate and sugar and coated in desiccated coconut. Said to have been named after Baron Lamington, a popular governor of Queensland from 1896 to 1901.

TRADITIONAL PAVLOVA
4-6 egg whites
pinch salt
8oz castor sugar/sugar (equal parts)
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 level teaspoons cornflour

(Please note the following equivalents:
castor sugar or fine/super fine sugar
corn flour or cornstarch)

Preheat oven to 400F(200C).
Lightly grease oven tray, line with baking paper or use non-stick cooking spray.

Beat the whites of eggs with a pinch of salt until stiff (until peaks form).
Continue beating, gradually adding sugar, vinegar and vanilla, until of thick consistency.
Lightly fold in cornflour.

Pile mixture into circular shape, making hollow in centre for filling.
(Mixture will swell during cooking)

Electric oven: turn oven to 250F (130C) and bake undisturbed for 1 1/2 hours.
Gas oven: bake at 400F (200C) for ten minutes, then turn oven to 250F (130C) and bake a further hour.
(Fan forced oven: temperature and time needs to be adjusted accordingly.) Turn oven off, leave pavlova in oven until cool.

Top with whipped cream and decorate with fruit as desired. 

Lamingtons 

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 (8 ounce) packages flaked coconut

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8x12 inch rectangular pan. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup butter, 3/4 cup sugar and the vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk; beat well.
3. Pour the batter into the 8x12 inch pan. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Let stand 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Store overnight to give the cake a chance to firm up before Icing.
4. To make the Icing: In a large bowl, combine confectioners' sugar and cocoa. In a saucepan, heat milk and 2 teaspoons butter until the butter is melted. Add the milk to the sugar mixture and mix well to create a fluid, but not too runny, Icing.
5. Procedure: Cut the cake into 24 squares. Place coconut in a shallow container. Using a fork, dip each square into the icing, then roll it in the coconut. Place onto rack to dry. Continue for each piece. The Icing will drip, so place a sheet of parchment paper under the rack to catch the drips.

Will and Kate Song by Canadian, My husband the Coldstream Guard and Charles & Diana Wedding china

The BBC website posted a link to a YouTube video of a song a Canadian group wrote...and illustrated...for Will and Kate which is quite cute!
You can click on the link here to go hear it. I especially liked the fun drawings done to accompany the song. Cute! And nice song!
BBC link to Will & Kate song


A question I get asked about my DH is...is it true he guarded the Queen at Buckingham Palace, and the answer is...yes! My husband was a member of the Coldstream Guards, a crack infantry regiment that is part of the Brigade Of Guards. The Coldstream guards are affectionately known in the brigade as the Chilly Rivers.

This is not my DH. When he emigrated to the US he left his photos behind and his sister now has them.  He was from a family of guardsmen and until recently you had to have family connections to join the guards...as well as be over 6 feet tall. His brother was a guardsman as well as an uncle who was a Company Sergeant Major. The idea of being over 6 feet as well as the bearskin hat...which is actually bearskin and weigh 7-8 pounds...was to make the guards look even taller and more intimidating than they already were.


The guards used to find the guard at Buckingham Palace outside the gates that are now closed in front of the Palace. There are 2 guard houses inside which used to be outside the gates. The year my DH was guarding the palace they were hauled inside the gates because of an incident involving an American tourist and a Coldstream Guard...not my DH but a good friend of his. 


The Guardsmen were famous for remaining impassive no matter what, and were purposely trained for this. But, as they were standing outside the gates easily accessed by tourist this was not always easy. Some people made it a quest to get a reaction from a guardsman. One particular American woman was being beyond the norm offensive trying to provoke a reaction. I won't tell you what she did...I would be too embarrassed. But...the guard reacted, was reported and the guards were permanently moved inside the gates.


To explain, if you have ever watched the changing of the guards, you will notice that the 2 guardsmen seem to miraculously be able to know what the other will do and when. BUT...there are tricks involved. Under the pavement where the guards stand is a hollow space that clearly relays sound to the other guard position. Then men are in steel toed boots. When they slam feet or rifle butts it resounds to the other guard to begin a particular maneuver...indicated by a code of heels, toes, slams. Then as they march toward each other, finger signals are given to communicate. SO...on that fateful day, the guardsman telegraphed a quick 2 paces forward and slammed into the American tourist's shins with his steel toed boots.  Sounds terrible, but the provocation was extreme, and when the case was heard it was dismissed with no penalty for the guardsman but an apology, and the guards were moved in.

We do have his patches. There is a Guards Museum in London that we visited about 10 years ago which brought tears to my husband's eyes. It was fabulous! He still wears his guards tie at times and has a Coldstream Guards key fob he treasures.

This is the guards at their inside guards box during a change of the guards.

A current image used as a recruitment poster. There was a reality show 2 years ago of 8 weeks following 6 new recruits through a year in the Guards that was fabulous.


So...you can see why we, at Time Was Antiques are strong supporters of England and English antiques, collectibles and British Royal Memorabilia!


We just found a box in the warehouse of items from the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and Diana in 1981 that have been stored since 2002 when we closed our actual antique shop to go exclusively online. I had wondewred where they had gone! We have bone chinamugs and plates from Chinacraft, a division of Caverswall, England on e of the foremost manufactureres of royal commemoratives.

The interesting thing about these designs is they include Highgrove, the organic estate of Prince Charles. They were a numbered edition of 5,000 and each one of the mugs and plates are separately numbered. Pretty cool!!!  To see more photos and info of the mugs and plates at Time Was Antiques, just click on the photos.


Have a great day, a cup of tea with a friend and cheers!

Cold Snap Continues in England and more mottoware added

Snow and cold continued in the UK. This is a photo of Buckingham Palace in the snow from another visit a few years ago. It was quite fun to be in London in the snow...in April! My husband was a Coldstream Guard in the Brigade of Guards (also known as the Chilly Rivers) and found the guard at Buck House before they had to bring the guards inside the gate after an incident with an American tourist heckling a fellow guardsman while on duty.

There was something cheering about popping into a pub or tea room for a cuppa with the snow lightly falling. But then, anything is lovely with a cuppa and a Eccles cake!

 A countryside snow photo. The roads can be treacherous as few folks have snow tires. But...beautiful. This is on the way through the Cotswolds.

 On to another piece of mottoware pottery...which I just love. This is a butter tub or butter dish from Longpark, Torquay with the vernacular motto Elp Yerzel Tu Butter with a tradition sailing ship on the other side that I just added at Time Was Antiques. I recently unearthed a small collection we had gotten in England but  had been lost in the warehouse since our move several years ago. Stuff was arriving from a buying trip as we were packing to move & it got repacked, mis labeled and lost! I'd forgotten we had them. How fun is that!!!

Click the photo for more information.

Rain & sunshine today, in  the 40s and we are off to the Sequim Community Church Christmas program tonight. So fun!  Plan to use up some bananas baking some Banana Streusel muffins in the meantime. Have a great day!