I’ve never been to the UK, except for passing through. It is on my bucket list, but anything from a priority. The weather is commonly dreadful I’m told, which is one of the reasons so many young British people are found in such far-flung parts of the globe.
But some things they do very well.
While other things are simply inexplicable to a republican:
The Queen has today been pleased to confer a Dukedom on Prince William of Wales. His titles will be Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn and Baron Carrickfergus.
Prince William thus becomes His Royal Highness The Duke of Cambridge and Miss Catherine Middleton on marriage will become Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge.
In 1706 George Augustus (subsequently George II) the only son of George Ludwig, Elector of Hanover (subsequently George I of Great Britain) was created with other titles Duke of Cambridge. On the accession of his father to the throne in 1714 he also became Duke of Cornwall and was created Prince of Wales. On his own accession to the throne in 1727 the Dukedom of Cambridge merged with The Crown and ceased.
Cambridge was previously a Royal Dukedom and four sons of James, Duke of York (afterwards James II) who died in infancy were all created Duke of Cambridge. As an Earldom Cambridge was a medieval Royal title. Edward IV was Duke of York and Earl of Cambridge till proclaimed King of England in 1461 when his titles merged with The Crown.
His father and grandfather both Richard Plantagenet were both Earls of Cambridge and the latter was also Duke of York. Edmund of Langley, 5th son of Edward III and great-grandfather of Edward IV, was created Earl of Cambridge in 1362 and Duke of York in 1385.
The Dukedom of Cambridge created in 1801 became extinct on the death of the 2nd Duke of Cambridge in 1904. Cambridge existed as a Marquessate from 1917 when it was conferred on Queen Mary’s brother till 1981 when the 2nd Marquess died and the title became extinct.
Baron Carrickfergus, is it?
I’m very happy to have studied US history in high school. There really isn’t all that much of it.
We’ve got it so much easier; James Earl the Peanut Farmer was annointed the Governor of Georgia, which ceased when he became his Highness the Right Reverend President of the many United States of the Americas. He was succeeded by Ronald the Most High, late of Hollywood and points West….
But it’s still cool, as long as we’re not paying for it. Oh, wait we are, since they don’t have to have nearly as much military force because of us. Just sayin’, not trying to harsh the buzz or anything.
By the way, for some reason this reminds me of a funny story. When my wife’s niece was little she was playing with a little girl on the playground of the neighborhood where my in-laws lived. My father-in-law was the home owners association president. Jessica told the little girl she was playing with, “I can do anything I want here, because my Granpa is the President of all of this!”
I wonder what William and harry said when they were in school? “Don’t mess with me Dude, my grandma can have your parents put in the Tower of London.”
The phrase is “harsh the (my) mellow”. Have to admit, I would have liked Charles a bit more if he had actually lopped some heads off rather than whine about how he wanted to be his mistress’ tampon. William seems to have his kit in one bag and that one stenciled.
We’re headed over there for a visit in a couple weeks, can’t wait!
You can probably skip Piccadilly Circus. I’ve heard there isn’t an elephant or trapeze in sight. A few clowns though.
Have a good trip!
Just a few?
No Heffalumps? Then why bother?
Really! A wasted trip.
The history of England is short and sweet – they left the godawful place looking for good weather and a decent meal, neither of which you can find in abundance in the UK. Thus the Empire was born.
And jpr – when you visit make sure you hit the castles. They generally have nice wall diagrams of the lineage of the castle lords and you quickly see that inter-breeding and out-of-wedlock children figure very prominently in the royal family tree.
The guys who dabble in DNA claim that nearly all natural-born Britons (minus a generation or two of Indians, etc) are descendants of some level of royalty, in part because royalty liked to dabble in the peasantry, and because over centuries of British life the poor just plain died off, causing the end of their non-royal genetic lines.
Homeliest damned family tree I’ve ever seen.
Whew! What a relief. They finally backfilled the job that’s been vacant since the death of the 2nd Duke in 1904. Welcome news to the guy who’s been pulling up the slack for the past 107 years.
I wonder what kind of paycheck comes with the title?
I’ll say this, the new Duchess’s sister has a perfect tush.
Good thing you didn’t comment directly about the Duchess herself. That goes directly into your permanent file.
No worries, Liz and I are tight. She has a soft spot for Italian Americans because she thinks were all tough guys like “Goodfellas”. It’s her favorite movie. True story.
Both of the ladies strike me as being on the skinny side. Takes all kinds.
I like my girl well rounded and soft. You know, like a Girl is supposed to be. Stick Insects aren’t my cuppa tea.
My first wife looks like Sofia Vergara. When I meet her I’ll be sure to let you know.
Trying to keep the ins and outs of the Brit Royals straight can lead to Title-induced vertigo and corkscrew landings.
They do pomp very well. Personally, I like such shows. I’ve been wanting to go to the Edinburgh Military Tatoo for years simply because I like such things and the Brits do them very well. Far better than we do.
I can’t begin to describe how much I detest the very idea of “royalty.”
-1
I just paged through the photographs of the Royal Wedding, and I must say, the Brits still throw the best parties and the most elegant weddings. Plus Her Royal Highness Catherine really looks like a princess ought to look. No wonder Wills fell for her… a lovely young woman and not nearly as strange as poor Diana. Catherine’s dress is truly gorgeous,elegant, and worthy of a princess [unlike Diana's, which was pretty sad stuff -- bunchy in strange places and looking as if it had been designed for a larger, more awkwardly built woman, like Michelle Obama.]
Ahh well,,, sorry to subject you gentlemen and warriors to comments on female style and substance. But I expect Kris and the other Lex babes will know what I mean.
Marianne
I always felt just a little sorry for Diana. It always seemed to me that she jumped off the end of the dock without asking herself, ” Can I swim?”. And no one seemed enough to either keep her off the end of the dock, or to teach her to swim. She did impress me as something of a twit, though. The 1961 crop was not a very good one. an 8 week period in the summer of ’61 produced Diana Spencer, Barack Obama, and me.
Now we can understand a bit more about you. I’m not sure what, though
Anyone that likes Dad’s Root Beer can’t be all bad though.
Like Meatloaf used to say, “One out of three ain’t bad.”
Oh yes Miss Marianne – I do know what you mean. And I agree completely with everything except the bit about Princess Di’s dress. For it’s time, it was an over-the-top confection worthy of a princess. Though I do believe she had no idea she was swimming with sharks. Princess William (aka Catherine for she can’t be known as a princess herself…) won’t make that mistake. You can tell when you look at pictures of her that she’s far too smart to be fully taken-in by it all.
She will remain true to herself because she knows who that is.
So many of the naive Left think that they are swimming with dolphins, and not noticing that the dolphins have tails that are mounted vertically.
If anything, I suspect the royal family has no idea the family of sharks it has just married into…
So will his brother become the Duke of Earl?
Just curious…
Not to worry, Marianne. A video of the ceremony was the warm fuzzy that started off my day. You’re right that the new Duchess looks like a Princess and was beautifully attired.
Anyone notice how they all seemed to be rocking forth and back a bit during the ceremony? Must’ve been one hell of a bender last night. Harry looked totally disenchanted to be there; perhaps needing to lie down a bit.
Mongo … Loved your comment. Not only were they “rocking back and forth” a bit, but Prince William seemed to have a good deal of trouble getting The Ring onto Catherine’s finger. Perhaps Will’s eyes were still a wee bit crossed from over-indulgence. I’m pretty darn sure that Prince Hal was suffering a bit from too much of the cup that cheers. Dearie me — Dearie me, he’s next, and he knows it. From the picture they showed of his latest girl friend, she’s not within a country mile of being as elegant as Catherine. Looks like she could be selling oranges like Ann Boleyn.
Marianne
Ah Baron of Carrickfergus–there’s the rub. If you’ve ever heard Van Morrison sing Carrickfergus, you know it’s a castle in Ireland. And I suppose if you’re Irish, it’s just another symbol of bloody minded oppression by the English! Sinn Fein (or what’s left of it) must be seething.
On the other hand, Kate is a comely young lass, and best wishes to the new royal couple.
Goes with the Irish Guards uniform, I suppose.
Ah, that place. It’s in the north of Ireland, and they spelt it wrong. It ought to read, “Carraig Fhearghais“.
Rock of Fergus.
Ah. That’s where we get “crag”.
I’m slow, but get there sometimes anyway.
He’s a helo pilot. They rock naturally.
Went to England with the family for two weeks last June, with a couple of days in Scotland. The weather was varied from wonderful to atrocious. But, the people were universally warm and friendly. The scenery was magnificent and the history fascinating.
And, yes, the food was actually, on the whole, quite good, except for the mushy peas…never could figure those out.
I highly recommend the experience to all.
Visualize whirled peas.
You got to be there for the entire summer then, nice!
I did three years in Ol’ Blighty at RAF Uxbridge (’80-’83) and just happened to be there when Chuck and Di tied the knot. That was THE most fortuitous accident of timing and The Second Mrs. Pennington and I enjoyed it immensely.
I was back to London a few times on bid’niz since then and I agree with Advokaat… the food has improved by an order of magnitude since the ’80s. London was a culinary desert then but that’s not the case now.
It’s amazing, all those dukes and earls, and in SOHO you can find queens by the dozen.
YOU OWE ME A KEYBOARD!
And a fresh cup of coffee.
I had a dog named Duke, once. Never asked him where he was from.
Ah, but the Duke of Earle, well, he’s in New Jersey!
Lex, perhaps I can explain a little: He was only given the `title` of Duke of Cambridge – In Henry the Eighth’s day he would have actually been given Cambridge as well – we’ve come a long way.
He is an officer in the RAF and flies a helo out of RAF Anglesey, North Wales (SAR Flight)and lives in married quarters (but his Gran does own Buckingham Palace and shedloads of other fancy gaffs)
Daryl’s comment re the sisters tush could cost him command of a Frigate in the modern Navy. Just mentioning this again is, for me, possibly treason, (and we still hang `em for that)
There was a modest fly-past of a Lancaster Bomber, a Spitfire and a Hurricane of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (I believe they are now being readied for a CAP over Libya – well we’re getting real short of kit)
The above old classics were followed by 2 Typhoon and 2 Tornado fighter/bombers (I suspect they had just returned from a bombing run over Libya – see above comment)
We have a great sense of ironic humour over here, as well as great places to eat. (Contact me for a very reasonable B&B and conducted tour at a generous hourly rate when you buy your bucket tickets)
Hogday, if you find yourselves running a bit thin on kit and kin
to run the ops in Libya, you might try Steve Hinton over in Chino, CA. Seems there’s this collection of Warbirds getting a little use on weekends, along with scads of hoary aviators drinking entirely too much whilst regaling one another of times gone by. Just a thought…
Cheers Mongo, I’ll drink with almost anyone
So will I. Unless they’re from the Gunn, of course. To do so would be more to invite a skirmish than anything, and Lord knows they’ve taken their fair share of losses from the Keith and Clan (Faulkner).
Agreed lol. I don’t speak good “Jockular” so watch my lip when cruising North of the Border, especially when I can ride there in under 2 hours from here. I hear they sometimes eat their own children, y`know!!
Eric Brown sure loves the SeaFire, but he also loves the F6F. He compared the two planes as the SeaFifre being a ballerina with a knife, and the Hellcat being a prizefighter with an ax.
SeaFifre?
((gets mental image of aircraft with the musicians ‘swallows nests’ painted on the wing tips))
Well, the edit button went away about a year ago.
Have to confess that the edit button would be handy.
Yep…there are just a few times when I could have used one.
Well, maybe more than “a few.”
Off topic, but kind of on the line of ground attack:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyqijh2sMao&feature=player_embedded
Yeah, but Captain Brown could get just about anything aboard the carrier.
Fifteen Spitfires to be exact Hogday, if we’re talking about the show in Duxford. Great stuff captured by Flightline UK and a much different mix of planes than we normally see in airshows over here.
Ah Duxford – what days I’ve had there. Bearcats, Jugs (The P47 variety as well)P51′s (avec Merlin), B17, PBY’s, oh the joy of Warbirds Weekend and a Gold Pass……
Considering that I am a fat lazy civilian it is probable that the Royal Navy is better off without having me running a Frigate aground. Might have been fun for a while but I tend to blow chunks when the boat bobs up and down. IT is nice to know that I was able to get you to commit treason. Makes me feel like an evil overlord. I always wanted to be an evil overlord.
Daryle, I’m writing this from a secret location…..please don’t talk about Treason anymore.
True, the weather is bad, and the food is worse, but for peat’s sake, they do manufacture some the the world’s best amber liquids. I’ve never found a more delightful sip than a Macallan single malt, but on occasion when I can’t find a Macallan, there’s always the 12 yr old Dalmore.
Try getting your hands on a bottle of St. Sixtus Westvleteren beer. It costs a bit but made my knees weak and I am not much of a beer coniesure. Conesure? Conesieure? dag nabbit. Beer drinker. That’s what I meant.
Now look here old chap – sorry, got carried away there – Look here, about this food thing, I’ve been to the US numerous times, so can you please tell me what, for you chompers, consists of “good food”? (I have my own opinion and have eaten very well in the great Republic, but I’m just asking a local’s opinion
)
I go for a medium well Black Angus Ribeye. Prime Rib is also mighty Nice. There are a number of places where you can get a fair dish of Fish and Chips, but I really like broiled, wild caught Alaskan Salmon. Used to like my Salmon wild caught in Oregon back in the 60s when my father and his buddies would go to the Alsea River during the Salmon run and catch their limit. Those runs are gone these days.
Copper River run is coming up.
Pour me a Macallan Fine Oak 18 year old neat with a bit of water on the side to start off with.
Sirloin, medium rare, minced garlic over the top, add some grilled asparagus, with sauteed onions and mushrooms on the side; no steak sauce. Add a 5+ year old Woodbridge Merlot, and I’ll go sit quietly in the corner.
Been learning. Asides my desk is a special shelf with my new friends Blair Athol, Glenmorangie, Bowmore and Auchentoshan. Mr Glenlivet, 15 years in a French oak cask, unfortunately fell as good soldiers do, but he will be replaced.
Now, there’s justifiable bragging rights.
Cardhu for me. The Glenlivet, or if poor, Famous Grouse, will do in a pinch. When as poor as I am now, I’m afraid it’s the cheaper products of Anhaeuser-Busch for me.
Glenmorangie – pure nectar. Bushmills Black label, when in Ulster (thats Northern Ireland for the moment). Nothing like strolling up to the bar and asking for a `Black Bush`
I had a great time their in the mid 90s. Central London near Victoria station. From there I pressed on by backpack with two blonds in tow all the way to Prague via the Mediterranean coast. The return leg was across the North bringing us through Germany (East Germany was still freaky back then). Eventually, 5 more days in London and a cute Australian to keep me company before the flight home. Twas a nice trip.
Spencer, you sound like my kind of buddy.
Lex, as a man of culture and scholarship you simply MUST visit for the history that whole place is littered with. I spent a wonderful day in the Imperial War Museum London when work kicked me over for a few days; on the next chance I get its the British Museum. And in the evening crawl into an old pub – a real pub, one that’s been there for hundreds of years, and have some authentic English ale.
I, for one am dying to get there soon. Maybe next year. This year I’m finally going to the Ancestral Home: Italy. Taking a Stephan Ambrose tour. Very excited.
Shifty, same courtesy I extended to Lex is there for you, too.
Hogday, if you’re in striking distance of Duxford then we’re in striking distance of each other. I’m just outside Peterborough, daily thanking the Lord that I’m not just inside Peterborough.
Zane, I’m a 2hr Hog-ride from Duxford (UP the A1 as opposed to Duxford side). I feel your pain re Peterborough tho`. The ex in laws cmme from just across the border in Northants. Nice and green around Oundle, but as for Peterborough, oh dear, another erstwhile pleasent enough old English town totally wasted by the mdern planners/developers.
As a former (and forever) band nerd, that pic just warms my cockles. I would cue up “The Great Little Army” or “Standard of Saint George” right now had my CD player not just recently failed hard on me. I suspect roach turds in the works of the servo which drives the read head. Autistic-Bachelor housekeeping, you know.
The housemate has just now lent me his CD player, so I’m now groovin’ on the tunes of Kenneth Alford.
Jtg, at the Right of the Line, with the Colo(u)rs.
Can here my old drill sgt now; “Thigh parallel to the ground, then drive that foot down – I want to see blood spurting from the welts of those boots”….oh we loved him so…