So Many English Things This Week!

 Greetings to my fellow cocooning friends!
Some days have not a lot going on, and it is difficult to find interesting things to blog about.
However... April 23rd, actually has too many things!

First of all...today, April 23rd is St. George's Day, and St. George is the symbol of England...not the Union Jack....

 Which is thy symbol of the United Kingdom, but this is the flag of England...it's the symbol on the National teams of England. St. George is the patron saint of England and believed to have died on April 23rd. 
He is thought to have been a Roman soldier, and, of course...reputed to have killed a dragon.....

 This is a Dunoon, England bone china mug we have at Time Was Antiques with the ubiquitous image of the St. George Cross, symbol of England...so...

April 23rd is also famous in England because it is celebrated as Shakespeare's birthday in 1564, and also his date of death in 1616...

 which is a big deal in parts of England...especially Stratford-upon-Avon where he lived...big celebrations there every year...

 This the is Church Of The Holy Trinity in Stratford where the Bard is buried...

This is a cake plate from 1904-1906 of the church...

And Shaespeares gravestone within the church. My husband was born just a few miles from here, so we have visitied many times and loved rambling along the River Avon along the picturesque Shakespeare Trail.

Speaking of my husband... 

April 23rd in the anniversary of the founding of the Coldstream Guards, a unit of the Queen' Own Guards brigade of 5 units, and special to us because it was my husband's old unit. For more on the guards, I have posted previously about it HERE

The Coldstream Guards is a part of the Guards Division, Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. It is the oldest regiment in the British Army in continuous active service, originating in Coldstream, Scotland, in 1650 when General George Monck founded the regiment.

My husband has some great stories of his time in the Guards, and guarding the Queen at Buckingham Palace.... 

 

And on April 23rd of last year, Prince Louis was born... third child of the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge...

 

 

This photo was just released by his Mum Catherine for his second birthday... obviously an enthusiastic finger painter!

 

 

So wishing you a wonderful day celebrating a lot of things British! We will be flying the flag outside again!

Cheers!

Prince Louis of Cambridge First Birthday April 23rd, Shakespeare And St. George and More!

source: minimiddleton.tumblr

Hello there. Thanks for joining me for a post about English birthdays...

The youngest being little Prince Louis, son of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge who turns one year old today... April 23rd. The photo was taken by his mother, Catherine. So cute!

Wonder if he will face plant in his cake... if he does, it will be publicized!

This was taken of the entire Cambridge family in 2018 when Louis was 6 months old at Amner Hall near Sandringham...

Also...today is St. George's Day, and St. George is the symbol flag of England... ask any English sport fan...not the Union Jack....

 Which is the symbol of the United Kingdom, but the flag of St. George, or the George Cross is the flag of England, and is the symbol on the National teams of England. St. George is the patron saint of England and believed to have died on April 23rd. He is thought to have been a Roman soldier, and, of course...reputed to have killed a dragon.....

 This is a Dunoon, England bone china mug we have at Time Was Antiques with the ubiquitous image of the St. George Cross, symbol of England...so...

April 23rd is also famous in England because it is celebrated as William Shakespeare's birthday...

 

Who has the added distinction to be thought to have been born on April 23, 1564 and died on the same day in 1616...

 

 

We have just added an 1896 volume of Shakespeare's play King Henry IV part II that even has an actual etching of a castle bound into the book... click on the photo for more info at Time Was Antiques

And, lastly, April 23rd is also the anniversary of the founding of the Coldstream Guards, a unit of the Queen's Brigade of Guards... 5 units, and special to us because it was my husband's old unit. They take turns being actually a crack infantry unit mixed with guarding royal properties including Buckingham Palace...you know, changing the guard, etc. He has some great stories of his times on guard.  For more on the guards, I have posted previously about it HERE

 So... thanks for joining me!

Trooping The Colour For the Queen 2018 On Her Official 92nd Birthday

Saturday, 9 June, the Coldstream Guards will Troop their Colour for The Queen's Birthday Parade, a ceremony that has marked the official birthday of the Sovereign for over 260 years.

Although the Queen actually turned 92 on April 21, 2018, the official celebration is always in June when weather is generally more predictable.

It is always made extra special when the guard of honour on this occasion...the one of the Queen's Brigade Of Guards regiment presenting the Colours for the Trooping in Her Majesty's honour...falls in rota to the Coldstream Guards, as that was my husband's regiment.

Last year, the Queen and the Duke rode in a carriage, as she has done for the last several years....

Until 1982, the Queen always rode herself, until an attempted assasination during the procession down the Mall...

Now it's her kids and grandkids who ride during the procession...

And the climax is always the Buckingham Palace balcony gathering with a military fly over...I assume the new Duchess of Sussex, Meghan, will join Prince Harry! Probably not Prince Louis though...and perhaps Princess Eugenie's fiance? Fun!

Happy (Official) 92nd Birthday

This week...a week for England

I know I have been very bad at my blogging on this blog...life has a way of intervening. But today....I just had too! Too many things about this day....

First of all...today is St. George's Day, and St. George is the symbol of England...not the Union Jack....

 Which is thy symbol of the United Kingdom, but this is the flag of England...it's the symbol on the National teams of England. St. George is the patron saint of England and believed to have dies on April 23rd. He is thought to have been a Roman soldier, and, of course...reputed to have killed a dragon.....

 This is a Dunoon, England bone china mug we have at Time Was Antiques with the ubiquitous image of the St. George Cross, symbol of England...so...

April 23rd is also famous in England because it is celebrated as Shakespeare's birthday...

 which is a big deal in parts of England...especially Stratford-upon-Avon where he lived...big celebrations there this weekend....this Shakespeare teapot is from our archives...

And April 23rd in the anniversary of the founding of the Coldstream Guards, a unit of the Queen' Own Guards brigade of 5 units, and special to us because it was my husband's old unit. For more on the guards, I have posted previously about it HERE

And April 21st is the actual birthday of Queen Elizabeth II...89 this year, and still out riding. For a great photos stream of her life, click on the photo or HERE for more photos from The Telegraph.co.uk....and of course, a new baby is due soon as well...

Jason Bell photo of Prince George, son of William and Catherine, Duke and Duchess Of Cambridge, on his christening day....So a special day all around. Hope yours is brilliant, and that you celebrate with a nice cuppa!

Trooping The Colours For Queen's Official Birthday

Today, June 16th marked the last of the major royal duties for Queen Elizabeth II before the London Olympics begin in July. She also announced her semi annual Birthday Honours List ehich includes Kenneth Branagh and Kate Winslet.

Although the Queen's actual birthday is in April, her official birthday is always celebrated in June...nicer weather usually. The birthday main feature is the Trooping Of The Colour ceremony at Horse Guards Parade in London where the queen is greeted and is reviewed by Her Majesty.

This photo of from 1982. The Queen is sidesaddle, which is how she always rode for the ceremony. The year before, someone shot at her along the Mall, but she is a spectacular horsewoman and brought Burmese, her horse, under control within seconds to the admiration of the crowd. There will be archived news videos of the event if you are interested.  Now the queen, at 86, watched from the grandstand. This year Prince Philip was recovered enough to join her. 

Most of the guardsmen you see are Coldstream Guards, the regiment my husband was a member of. He remembers  that at the Trooping of the Colour someone almost always fainted due to locked knees. If it was hot, which it sometimes is, there were more that went down...and were subsequently disciplined with a boring job for a bit & teased by the others. In the 1970s, the bearskin hat weighed in at 8-10 pounds. The framework is now much more lightweight and weighs in at 5-6 pounds. I found this photo of an example:

The family enjoyed the carriage ride back to Buckingham Palace after the ceremony. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge rode with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, as both William and his father Charles were on horseback.

 The family then gathered on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for a wave and a fly by.

 So happy official birthday Ma'am!

Tuesday Is Tea Day, Antique Staffs Green Transfer Teacup Trio, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Irish Guards

Hi and welcome to a Tuesday post. I am joining Tuesday Cuppa Tea and the other wonderful blogs (among many others) that are listed at the bottom of the post.

In honor of St. Patrick's Day still...here is an antique Staffordshire teacup trio in a grass green transferware floral pattern. The set was made in the 1870-1890 and I think it's lovely! The set is unmarked, which was quite normal prior to 1891 when potteries were required by law to mark country of origin on their items.  I'd call it shamrock green!

Also on the subject of shamrocks, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and wife of Prince William visited the Royal Irish Guards on St. Patrick's Day to present shamrocks to the troops.

Apparently, as reported in an article about the visit, 3 guards fainted during the visit. You hear of girls fainting for the Prince, but the guards go down for Catherine!

The Irish Guards are one of 5 divisions of the Queen's Royal Brigade Of Guards, members of each regiment taking turns changing the guard at Buckingham Palace and other royal monuments like St. James Palace and others. The Guards are:
1) Coldstream Guards (have to put that regiment first as my husband was a Coldstream Guard and found the guard at Buck House)

2) Grenadier Guards

3) Welsh Guards

4)  Irish Guards

5) Scotch Guards

All of them are rigorously trained soldiers and all wear the bearskin hats they are so famous for when on duty at the Palace. You can only tell them apart then by their hat and collar insignias and from a distance by the placement of the buttons on their red tunics. At the bottom of the post, you will find a video of the Duchess of Cambridge's visit. It has to be there because I don't know enough HTML to put it in below this but before my list of blog parties. Sigh...oh to be more techie!  Sorry about the ad to start!

I will leave my posts about Queen Elizabeth's Royal visit to Manchester to a bit later in the week or this will be too long!

For more info on the teacup trio at Time Was Antiques, click on the photos.

 Here is the list of blog parties:

 

 

Ruth ~ http://antiquesandteacups.blogspot.com/
Tuesday Cuppa Tea

Terri~  http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com/ 
Teacup Tuesday

Trisha~  http://sweetology101.blogspot.com/ 
Tea Party Tuesday

Sandi  ~  http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com

Teatime Tuesday

Kathy~  http://blissfulrhythm.blogspot.com
Victoria - A Return to Loveliness

Martha~  http://www.marthasfavorites.com/ 
Teacup Tuesday 

Ruth  ~ http://timewasantiquesfamily.blogspot.com

Tuesday Cuppa Tea

Bernideen’s ~ http://bernideensteatimeblog.blogspot.com/

Friends Sharing Tea Wednesday

Angela  http://teawithfriends.blogspot.com/

Tea With Friends

Miss Kathy ~ http://thewritersreverie.blogspot.com/

Celia ~ http://attitudeivlife.blogspot.com/  Afternoon Tea

Ivy And Elephants ~http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com/

What’s It Wednesday