French State Visit to United Kingdom: March 2008

[NGalitzine]

Originally Posted by Adamari

The Queen typically gives the Order of Bath to visiting heads of states, including other sovereigns (I believe the King of Jordan received it on his 2001 state visit). She rarely hands out the Order of the Garter to another head of state, usually only other monarchs and only after they have been on the throne for many, many years. King Hussein of Jordan is the only non-European monarch I am aware of who has ever received the Garter.

I believe Hussein had The Bath, its the Emperors of Japan who receive The Garter.

[Cordonez]

Originally Posted by wbenson

It's an illusion created by the bearskins and the people wearing them being farther back. If you bring Prince Philip up a little higher, he's actually twell.aller than the army officer on the right, and probably would be equal in height with the one on the left if he wasn't hunched over a little. (The Yeoman in the back seems quite tall, though)

Thank you Wbenson for the explanation. I assumed it was a spatial issue but logically I just couldn't seem to get it right.

[Mandy]

HM Queen Margrethe of Denmark has the Order of the Garter since at least 1980.

[milla Ca]

Carla la Manifique? Susie Rushton says ´Non´
March 29

Sarkozy isn't the only one being made a fool of: the hysterical reaction to his trophy wife shames us all.

Carla la Magnifique? Susie Rushton says 'Non' - Commentators, Opinion - The Independent

[Nico]

Carla la Manifique? Susie Rushton says ´Non´
March 29

Sarkozy isn't the only one being made a fool of: the hysterical reaction to his trophy wife shames us all.

Carla la Magnifique? Susie Rushton says 'Non' - Commentators, Opinion - The Independent

Many thanks for this VERY interesting article...

[BellaFay]

Originally Posted by branchg

The Duchess of Cornwall ranks right after The Queen in official precedence as the wife of the heir to the throne.

At court, The Queen placed Camilla after The Princess Royal and Princess Alexandra, but this really means little since the old rules of protocol are not followed on private family occasions.

Could somebody explain the rather bizarre seating plan adopted at the banquet. The Queen sat opposite her husband but poor President Sarkozy, who was after all the honoured guest wasn't allowed to sit opposite his wife. He wasn't even seated opposite his mother. They were both seated diagonally to his left on the other side of Prince Philip & Prince Charles respectively. This also meant incidentally that Camilla wasn't sitting opposite her husband, but instead opposite somebody who looked rather like the former Tory Home Office Minister, Douglas Hurd?

[MARG]

Originally Posted by jcbcode99

. . . . . .I agree, she looks glamourous but a little too red carpet for my taste. . . . . please.

I have to agree with you on this. The hair down, blousy look might look good wih jeans, but at a formal banquet it looks tacky. Worse, her deep wine/burgundy dress sucked the life out of her (diamond?) necklace and earrings.The necklace itself was insipid. It just lay there, lifeless, whereas the Sapphire and diamond neclace and earrings she wore for the Royal Banquet sparkled fire and looked fabulous.

[muriel]

Originally Posted by jcbcode99

Muriel, I'm catching up and haven't read all posts since this one, so if I repeat what has been my apologies--
the ruby neckace which HM is wearing was made for Queen Victoria--but was originally set with opals. Queen Alexandra did not like opals, believing them to be unlucky, so she had the necklace reset with the delicious rubies we now see. The Queen Mother ended up with the piece, and it passed to her daughter at her death.
The necklace you are thinking of is somewhat similar in design, but has three drops. It is a nice necklace, but in my opinion there is no comparison to Queen Victoria's piece. If you click on the link below there is a photo of QEQM and also one of QEII, both wearing their respective pieces. You'll see the difference. Which one do you like?? Also, there is a third ruby necklace directly below which was a gift to the Queen set in yellow gold. I do not like this piece at all.
PS--The Queen Mum is wearing the matching earrings which also had opals originally. The Queen is wearing Queen Mary's ruby earrings.

Tiara QEIIruby

Hi Jcbcode99 - You are right, I had mistaken the QMs ruby necklace for the one the Queen had bought. For some reason, the weblink is not working, so my comments now are from memory. I think the QMs necklace is a lot more grand and regal than the one the Queen had bought, and therefore, more appropriate for a State occassion like this one. Unfortunately, I can't comment on the ruby necklace with the yellow gold setting. Any chance you could repost the link please?

[politikgirl]

I was very impressed with Madame Sarkozy during this visit, not because she's beautiful, young, wore nice clothes, etc. (all the things that people have been saying) but because she seems to have handled herself very well given the circumstances (the nude pictures at the auction, adapting to the new situation very quickly, etc.). I really expected the worst of her, but am glad to see that I was wrong.

[CaliforniaDreamin]

Originally Posted by milla Ca

Carla la Manifique? Susie Rushton says ´Non´
March 29

Sarkozy isn't the only one being made a fool of: the hysterical reaction to his trophy wife shames us all.

Carla la Magnifique? Susie Rushton says 'Non' - Commentators, Opinion - The Independent

My, my....Ms Rushton doesn't mince words does she? When is Monsieur le President up for re-election? I heard that his approval rating among the French is now something like 38%. That's around what Dubya Bush's is I think.

By the way maybe it's me but I don't think Carla is all that pretty anymore. Her face looks....strange. She does have a great figure.

[politikgirl]

I think she's still very pretty, although the plastic surgery is starting to show a bit, but now that she's a First Lady, the fact that she's relatively young and attractive in comparison to many other "first spouses" in the world automatically seems to make her in the eyes of a lot of people, "beautiful".

Either way, I think she carried herself very well on the state visit given the circumstances.

[Little_star]

Originally Posted by CaliforniaDreamin

My, my....Ms Rushton doesn't mince words
By the way maybe it's me but I don't think Carla is all that pretty anymore. Her face looks....strange. She does have a great figure.

Welcome to the club! Although I've never thought Carla was that pretty, even at the height of her fame in the mid-90's.