General Questions & Random Facts about the British Royal Family


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Age records broken by the British Royal Family

On 18 April the Duke of Edinburgh has become the longest serving royal consort.

Are there more age records broken by BRF?
 
I Belive Prince Arthur Duke of Connaught is the logest lived Royal Man.
 
I think that Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester was the oldest member of the Royal Family ever
 
Royal Christmas Cards?

Anyone know of a collection online that has royal photographic Christmas cards? I have seen a few for sale here and there but would be interested in seeing more of them.
 
Who Is Allowed to Call HM "Lilibet"?

Only family? Certain family members only? Friends? Presumably Prince Philip and, when they were alive, Princess Margaret and her parents.

But would everyone else have to call her Ma'am? Even her nearest and dearest friends?

It must be sad not being able to have people close to you call you by your charming childhood name...
 
Her family most certainly.
Her closest friends possible, but maybe Elizabeth or Lizzie.
Lillibet is her childhood name, she may not like to hear it as her father often called her it.

I thing only subjcts/servants call her ma'am. :)
 
She signed The Queen Mum's 100th birthday card "Lilibet," didn't she? So I'd assume her mother continued to call her by that name into adulthood.
 
I remember reading somewhere that Diana as a girl reffered to the Queen as Auntie Lillibet, being her friend's (andrew) mother. Just as I, having being born and bred in the UK called my friends parents as aunt so and so, uncle such and such. All senior members of the family, her uncles and aunts cousin's and so forth probably call her Lillibet, the younger generation, ie her cousins children and grandchildren are probably more formal. The exception being the Linelys and chattos, probably cal her aunt Lillibet as their parents did.
 
:previous:

I think I remember watching a documentary in which one of the Danish Royals - Queen Margrethe or Princess Benedikte - spoke from her as Lillibet.
I'm not absolutely sure who it was, but it was someone from the family. It would be imaginable to me that some of her distant relatives speak of her as "cousin Lillibet" sometimes.
 
In the family circle, nicknames are freely bestowed and used by family and close friends for years afterwards. I would imagine royal cousins and friends of the Windsors are used to calling the Queen "Lilibet" and I imagine the Queen encourages such familiarity.

On 18 April the Duke of Edinburgh has become the longest serving royal consort.

Are there more age records broken by BRF?

Isn't Prince Charles the oldest man to hold title as Prince of Wales?
 
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In the family circle, nicknames are freely bestowed and used by family and close friends for years afterwards. I would imagine royal cousins and friends of the Windsors are used to calling the Queen "Lilibet" and I imagine the Queen encourages such familiarity.



Isn't Prince Charles the oldest man to hold title as Prince of Wales?


He is the oldest to hold the title replacing Edward VII who was 59 when he became King but Edward VII has still held the title for longer as he was Prince of Wales for most of those 59 years being created PoW shortly after his birth and being born Duke of Cornwall.

Charles has been Duke of Cornwall for nearly 58 years (will reach that point on 6th Februrary) and Prince of Wales for nearly 52 years having been created Prince of Wales in 1958 (and invested in 1969).

In 2011 at some point he will surpass Edward for holding the Duke of Cornwall title for the longest period but it will take him 2016 to replace hm as the longest serving Prince of Wales. The dates might be out by a year due to the days actually involved but I am not capable of figuring that out - my Maths doesn't extend to the ability to add up figures.:D
 
:previous:

Right and I believe your math is correct. Victoria created her son POW at a very young age and that is why Charles will have to hold the title longer in order to surpass Edward VII being the POW for the longest time. Of course, for Charles, reaching that distinction will be a dubious honor. His mother's longevity just may garner him a number of distinctions, including the oldest monarch to take the throne, surpassing William IV.
 
You think he will be past 64 when he becomes King?
 
I don't presume to know when Charles will become King but the Queen is in very good health, and, God willing, may live for several more years. So I think there is a good chance that Charles may be older than 64 when he takes the throne.
 
If QEII has her own mother's longevity, Charles would be well into his eighties when his mother dies.
 
If QEII has her own mother's longevity, Charles would be well into his eighties when his mother dies.


Actually, if the Queen reached the same age as her mother was when she died - namely 101 and about 6 months she would be dying in about October 2027 just a month or so before Charles turns 79 - not 'well into his eighties'. He of course could also then live as long (and I hope that he does) meaning that he has another 40 or so years, having just turned 61 last November. If so he would have a reign of about 20 years, and they would be wonderful years at that.
 
Royal banner

Hello perhaps someone can advise me. Last week on television I caught a brief glimpse of old footage of the Royal Family on the balcony at Buckingham Palace, under the balcony was a large banner with Royal Insignia. The banner was blue and it had various insignia, mostly round, (circular) and it looked like the banner was in embroidery and goldwork. After an extensive internet search I have not been able to find an image of it. In the footage the Queen was younger and perhaps the image was from the 50s or 60s. Although it may have been from the Silver Jubilee as I have seen a similar but more modern balcony banner in a photo of the Golden Jubilee. If anyone knows anything about this banner, or has information or images please let me know . I am not even sure whether this is a banner or has some special name so any information would be appreciated. After spending days on the internet I have found nothing so any help would be gratefully received
 
Thank you, yes this was a small part of the banner (in the centre) but there were a lot of other motifs as well. It was not a flag it was a very large banner than ran the whole length of the balcony. The background was a mid blue. I am attaching an image of a similar banner from the Golden Jubilee. Thanks again

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/8691/62960440pk.jpg



62960440pk.jpg
 
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Windsors and voting in elections

Is there every been any disclosure on how the Windsors vote in the UK elections? I know that the Queen is not allowed to vote (and probably so is Charles) but how do the rest of them (Camilla, Sophie etc. etc.) vote?
 
Is there every been any disclosure on how the Windsors vote in the UK elections? I know that the Queen is not allowed to vote (and probably so is Charles) but how do the rest of them (Camilla, Sophie etc. etc.) vote?

The Queen is the only one who legally can't vote either for the House of Commons or the House of Lords but... there is no evidence that other major members of the family have ever voted.

If they did, like everyone else, their vote would be a secret ballot and thus no one would know how they voted and thus no disclosure about how they would/did vote in elections in the UK.
 
According to the British Monarchy site, they don't vote.



Nobody can vote for the House of Lords.

I was under the impression that some of the Lords who now sit there are elected by their peers i.e. other Lords in which case people are voting for the Lords. House of Lords Elections These 'other people' are the Lords themselves and some of the royals are also amongst those Lords.

They royal dukes etc used to be able to vote in the Lords although they rarely, if ever, did so.
 
I'd forgotten about that.

I think Edward VII considered voting once while Prince of Wales, but he was persuaded not to.
 
The Queen is at Windsor for an investiture.

It is up to the politicians to sort out the electoral mess.
First, they have to wait for all the results to be in. In the case of Orkney and shetland and other remote locations, this may take some time.
 
I'd forgotten about that.

I think Edward VII considered voting once while Prince of Wales, but he was persuaded not to.


That's right. He had served on a Housing Commission and knew that if he voted in support of the subsequent legislation it would pass but if he didn't it would fail. He was persuaded not to as his vote would be seen as trying to influence the vote and so didn't vote and was proven right. The Bill failed and housing reform didn't happen.
 
As the Queen has seen so many governments from both/all parties come and go for so many decades, I suspect it would be difficult (although not impossible) for her to have formed a definitive political pursuation. Her aspect on politics (and I suspect it's the same for her family) is going to be different from that of most of the population.
 
I would like to know what may happen if no Prime Minister is voted in. Is it true that the Queen may have to step in ? And if so what can she possibly do? I thought this was a Democratic system now.
 
The current royal dukes (The Princes Charles, Andrew and Philip, as well as Princes Edward and Richard) were offered seats in the reformed House of Lords, but declined to accept.

Members of the royal family holding the rank of HRH do not vote in elections, but other members of the royal family are free to do so. Most choose not to.
 
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