Happy Birthday Prince Harry

Today, September 15th, is Britain's Prince Harry's 33rd birthday, having been born in 1984

The younger son of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, following older brother William...

Prince Harry has had a military career, serving in Afghanistan and is actively involved now in supporting the royal family as the Queen, his grandmother ages.

He is close to his father and is said to be about to be engaged...

He is a great supporter of the Invictus Games for wounded military personnel and the Sentebale Trust conservation activities in Africa.

Harry lives as Kensington Palace, London as does his brother and sister-in-law, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Happy Birthday Harry!

Commemorating Princess Diana...20 years after her death

The night of August 30 to 31st, 1997, Princess Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris, an event that shocked the world into mourning.

I don't think there was a dry eye as her sons followed her coffin during her funeral...

William, Harry and Kate visited what used to be the sunken garden at Kensington Palace...one of our favorite places in the grounds...which is now the Princess Diana Memorial Garden. To see more of that, click the link below...I was unable to embed it so you can see it here on the blog...

From Kensington Palace

There have been many documentaries in the last few weeks to commemorate this sad anniversary...some good, some bad, some sensationalizing. The People's Princess has become a figure of myth almost, and this date just needed to be commemorated and remembered.

From our archives, some of the many memorial items that we had on Time Was Antiques...such a feeling that we all needed something tangible to remember her by....

Royal Wedding Wednesday - Procession Route -Royal Family Jewels

Only a few more days until the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. Haven't decided if I'll just stay up all night...the BBC America coverage starts at midnight Pacific time...or just see when I wake up, or set the alarm or....


I have found several wonderful bits of info from the specials and websites covering the upcoming wedding that I thought you may enjoy if you haven't encountered them already. 


The BBC News has some great features on their website that are well worth a visit. Some of the info includes the exact procession order and schedule, the route the procession will take with a video

a 360 degree tour of Westminster Abbey, other videos about the cavalry, seating plan and 3 different Royal Wedding quizzes. I aced one...Prince & Princess level...got a Duke & Duchess level on another and a Baron & Baroness level on the third...just above the stable boys! LOL!!!
BBC News Royal Wedding Website


I don't know how many of you have caught the special documentary on BBC America: Princess Diana: Her Life In Jewels which was mind boggling. My husband and I watched together. He was a registered English diamond setter for 38 years, having served a 6 year apprenticeship from age 15 in England...and was actually imported into America by a firm of jewelers in San Francisco.  So we were very interested in the jewelry. Every time we visit England we spend a week in London and ALWAYS go to the Jewel House at the Tower of London. 


The show was wonderful...did you know...the Crown jewel collection includes the 2 biggest diamonds in the world. The largest is 317 carats...the size of a duck egg...called the Cullinan or Star Of Africa which is in the scepter but can be removed and used as a brooch

The other story I found fascinating is about the Cambridge Emeralds  seen below

in 1811 when The Duke and Duchess Of Cambridge were visiting Germany, Augusta, the Duchess entered a raffle and won a box of...emeralds! The stones weren't set until the earl 1900s when her niece, Queen Mary inherited them. The queen is shown wearing some of them. Some of them were made into a choker and given to Princess Diana as a wedding gift from Queen Elizabeth II. It will be interested to see if Catherine ends up with those and some of the fabulous jewel suites Diana received as wedding gifts from gulf state arab princes.

Another Royal tradition...wedding bands of Welsh gold. Welsh gold is extremely rare, and the tradition began in the 1920s when the Royal family was gifted with a 2 pound (not carat, pound!!!) gold nugget from the Clogau mine. Prince Albert, later to be crowned King George VI had some of the Welsh gold used to make the wedding band Queen Elizabeth wore. The same nugget has fashioned a wedding band for each successive royal bride and the assumption is that Prince William will continue the tradition.


I found a great and comprehensive website with photos of all the major Royal jewels which is truly astounding! It's a Tudor Wicki called Jewellry of Today's British Royalty and is well worth a gawk...


We still have a few of the William and Kate Royal Wedding items below available at Time Was Antiques. For more info click on the photos.

Plus over 300 items of British Royal Memorabilia. We are flying our British 3 foot by 5 foot flag on Friday and having a bit of a tea party in honor of the Royal Wedding. Cheers and our best wished to the William and Catherine!

Royal Wedding Wednesday - Last Of Charles And Diana's Wedding Gifts

Joining with Royal Wedding Wednesday with Decor To Adore for my last post of 3 I think, on the wedding gifts received by Prince Charles and Princess Diana for the wedding in 1981 from thew booklet we got while viewing the wedding gifts at St. James Palace, London shortly after the wedding when we were there for our annual buying trip.  I no longer have the original as it was purchased by an NBC producer last November tight after the engagement of Prince William and Kate was announced. I had copies of half the pages which I then was asked for by a producer with ITV UK in conjunction with TLC channel...so you will be hearing more about the subject during the week before the wedding.

271  a Darlington crystal vase                                               Hampshire

272.  book "The Blessings Of Marriage"                                Canada

273.  an embroidered tablecloth                                              Sussex

275.  a four leaf clover and plaque Touch Wood               Kent

276.  2 silver mint julep cups                                                          USA

277.  a deer carved in stone                                                             Scotland

278.  a small wooden toy soldier                                                  Kent

280.  a framed drawing of King Edward VIII                        Hampshire

283.  doorchimes                                                                                 Kent

284.  2 candles shaped like doves                                                London

285.  a bag of coffee beans                                                              Malawi  

287.  copper box made by West Coast Canadian Indians  Canada

292. a lucky black cat toy made by the donor                      Warwickshire

294.  a bottle of port in a wood box                                             Australia

297.  6 wooden clothes pegs made by the donor                    Yorkshire

299.  swan headed salad spoons                                                   Hertfordshire

349. a knitted tea cozy in the shape of a cottage                  Cambridgeshire

354.  a purple velvet hat made by the donor                               Essex

355. a set of crocheted kitchen cozies by the donor                  Australia

362. 2 toweling bathrobes                                                                    Manchester

363. bone china rose ornament                                                          Surrey

  

365.  a decorated goose egg                                                                  Cheshire

373. a book "Birds Of Town & Village"                                            Warwickshire

376  a pair of hand knitted blue bed socks                                    Belgium

377.  a commemorative tea caddy                                                    London

431.  2 mice dolls in wedding outfits                                                 Lincolshire

432.  2 dustermitts                                                                                     Essex

433. set of large traditional Japanese fish kites                         Japan

434.  a wrought iron weathervane                                                    Peterborough

435. a glass pear ornament                                                                  Barrow-in-Furness

            

437.  2 Fairisle skiing jerseys                                                             Australia

438. a mousetrap cage made by the donor                                 Essex

454. a Caithness glass paperweight                                                Wales

384.  2 toothbrushes                                                                                 Middlesex

387.  an embroidered sampler                                                            USA

388.  a handmade pottery mouse                                                      Tyne-and-Wear

389.  book "Old Yorkshire Recipes"                                                  Yorkshire

396.  a carved relief of a horse head                                                Tyne-and-Wear

397.  a 7 record set of the Goon Show                                               Scotland

That is my favorite gift...the Goon show was one of the most famous

English comedy shows beginning in the 1940s.

The cast included Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe,

Spike Milligan and others became 

internationally know. They are hysterical!

402.  a heart shaped potato                                                                   Cheshire

408.  a decorative Good Luck Key                                                  London

409. a framed "Tribute To The Dog"                                            London

411.  an Icelandic wool shawl                                                          Iceland

415.  varieties of Rose Tea flavours                                              London

417.  a child's painting of a bride and groom                           Devon

419. a corn dolly                                                                                    London

                        

So...there you have it. A sampling of the wedding gifts received by Prince Charles and Princess Diana. It will be fun to see what this modern couple receive. 5 crock pots? 

Photos are from Google except for the commemorative tea caddy and Staffordshire posy ornament, both of which are available at Time Was Antiques. Click on those photos for more information.

Our Visit To Kensington Palace, Diana Exhibit, Orangery Afternoon Tea, Our Will & Kate Mug on BBC America

In 1998 when we were in the UK for an annual buying trip, we visited Kensington Palace, home of Princess Diana from 1981 until her tragic death in 1997.Kensington Palace is a lovely palace in fabulous gardens including huge horse chestnut trees. At various times we have sheltered from rain under them or watched schoolboys picking up the mature chestnuts...or conkers as they are called....from the ground where they have fallen in the fall. My husband showed me the fine points of conker battles in the park following afternoon tea at The Orangery in the back of the palace.


The Diana exhibit was a highlight of the trip with photos by Mario Testino. I would love to add a photo here, but they are copyrighted.


Below are photos we took then as well as several from previous teas at The Orangery.

Entrance to the Royal apartments and Diana Exhibit at the side of the Palace to the right as you enter the gold gates.

Moving to the Orangery for afternoon tea.

Champagne afternoon tea

The so called Debutante tea

Menu

SIGNATURE  ORANGE  TEA                             

£14.85 per person                                 

An assortment of finger sandwiches,

signature orange scented scone with Cornish

clotted cream & strawberry jam. Finished

with a delectable éclair and orange and

passion fruit tart. 

Served with a choice of teas or coffee.

Recommended tea - Rooibos breakfast

(Orange tea)

ENCHANTED PALACE TEA                                           

£17.95 per person

Enchanted palace chocolate ganache slice and heart

shaped raspberry shortbread, signature orange

scented scone with Cornish clotted cream & strawberry

jam and an assortment of finger sandwiches.

Served with a choice of teas or coffee.

Recommended tea – Chocolate tea

ROYAL CHAMPAGNE TEA                         

£20.45 per person             

A flute of Champagne, served with an

assortment of finger sandwiches, signature

orange scented scone with Cornish clotted

cream & strawberry jam. Finished with a

delectable éclair and orange and passion fruit

tart. Served with a choice of teas or coffee.

TREGOTHNAN ENGLISH TEA                 

£33.75 per person

A flute of Champagne, a selection of afternoon tea

sandwiches, freshly baked mini scones served with

Cornish clotted cream and organic preserves, a variety

of dainty afternoon tea pastries.

Served with a pot of Tregothnan tea

The reason the Tregothnan Tea is pricey and important, is that the Tregothnan tea plantation in Cornwall is the only tea producing estate in England. We visited Tregothnan on a visit to Cornwall and bought tea there. So I came home from the Orangery with some more packets of tea, as they had them for sale there. It is a delicious black tea with hints of Darjeeling. I loved it.

Lastly on our Kensington tour, the gardens at Kensington Palace. This is my favorite, the Sunken Garden with reflecting koi pool. It was so tranquil and private. We sat on benches (on the days we visited when it wasn't raining) and enjoyed the quite so colose to Kensington High Street where we have stayed several times. Kensington Palace is one of the reasons we like to stay in this area of town.

To change generations, BBC America just had a program on tonight called The Modern Monarchy: Dos and Don'ts which included a segment of William and Kate Royal Wedding collectibles...and guess what mug they featured??!! The one we have in stock at Time Was Antiques. How cool is that??? To purchase or for more info, just click on the photos of the Prince William and Kate mug below.

I also want to thank those who have been joining me in prayer for my daughter in law Casey. They began the procedure today, but having sent a camera up her artery to confirm the size of the hole in her heart before the actual patching surgery, they found it was a bit different than expected and is located where the artery goes to her lung. So they stopped the procedure and have sent her to another cardiac specialist/surgeon who specializes in this rarer type of surgery which will be done next week. Sigh....

But Psalms 31:14-15 says"But as for me I trust in You Oh Lord....Our times are in Your hands", and Romans 8:28 "All things work together for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose."