HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II

Good Morning to you,

Are you wondering if I have muddled up my days and that I think today, is Thursday?

No, honestly, I am not confused.

I wanted to pop by to visit you, because today, is such a special day.

Today, our monarch, Queen Elizabeth II has reigned for 63 years and 7 months and has become, the longest reigning monarch in our history,  even longer than her great, great grandmother, Queen Victoria.

So in honour of this achievement, I thought, I would celebrate, by sharing with you some lovely early photographs of Queen Elizabeth.  Some you may have seen before and some you may not.

Queen Elizabeth at the tender age of 3 years.
Yes, I have shown you this
photograph before, but
I feel sure you can forgive me
because it is such a lovely photograph.

 Dare I say this about our monarch.... she was so cute and I love her curls.

In December 1951 , 

Queen Elizabeth broadcasting, 

what would become, her 

annual Christmas message

to the nation.

Our Queen at the age of 20 years,
wearing one of her many 
beautiful gowns.

Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh
 at the time of their betrothal
 in July 1947.

In this photograph, you can see the

 Princess Elizabeth wearing the badges of

 rank, of a Colonel, in the Grenadier Guards.

 By her side is

the Duke of Gloucester 

at the ceremony of the 

Trooping of the Colour in June 1949.

Prince Charles was one year old on

 14th November 1949 when this

 photograph was taken.

I love that Princess Anne

 had no interest in having her photograph taken, but preferred to

 investigate the flowerbeds,
which appeared to be far more interesting.

Prince Charles at the age of four. 

If you look at his face you can see he loved

 his glove puppet.

I do hope you have enjoyed these photographs as much as I did.  

In June 2013, I told you about when George and I were presented to Queen Elizabeth.  It was in 1975 and a memory we will never forget, as it was such an honour for us both.

All of these photographs were taken from The Queen Elizabeth Coronation Book published in 1953.

Take care and I will catch up with you tomorrow, as normal.

This week I will be visiting,

Lesley from Lamberts Lately

QUEEN ELIZABETH II

Good Afternoon to you,

My word, for the past few days we have had the most glorious weather. The sun has been shining, the skies have been bright blue and  each day a new flower bud opens and my garden is suddenly a riot of colour..... all it needed was some warm weather to bring the garden to life.

Because the long range weather forecast was so promising, we were able to plan a trip to the Rugby Club Car Boot Sale.  We were up at six o'clock in the morning.... which is unheard of in this household and we were  out of the house by six forty five.

I have to say, I am always excited when I visit car boot sales, and do you know, I wake up five or six times during the night with excitement, as you never know what goodies are going to be there. 

I am a scanner when it comes to car boot sales, I have visited so many over the years, that I can spot a potential item a mile off..... alright that is a bit of an exaggeration, but  I don't have to stop at every stall to examine the items, as I know what I am looking for.

..... but it wasn't me who found the first item, it was George.  We always stop and rummage through boxes as that is often where the little treasures lie.  I was looking at a wooden cutlery holder, which looked as if it had been removed from the owner's drawer and brought straight to the car boot sale. Amongst the very old cutlery, were a pair of glasses, which somehow, made me feel very sad. It looked like an elderly lady had mistakenly placed her pink rimmed glasses, in the drawer and was unable to find them. Sadly, they never will be found.

As I was looking in my box, George called me over and look what he found,

This Queen Elizabeth II Coronation cup, saucer and tea plate.

This is the saucer, showing the date of the Coronation, June 2nd 1953.  It is interesting to see the date written this way, as nowadays we would write the date as 2nd June 1953.  If you would like to see the book about the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II please visit here.

The cup has the same amount of detail as the saucer.  When I picked up the cup, my thumb rested on the top of the handle, my forefinger through the handle and my middle finger rested underneath, now I know this is how most of us hold our cups, but the way this handle was designed made it really comfortable to hold.

Here you can see the gold rim which is on the lip of the cup. Considering this set is 60 years old the colours are still very vibrant, so I think it has been tucked away in someone's china cabinet.

Again, you can see the same detail on the tea plate. This tea plate is much smaller than the one's we use nowadays, I think it goes hand in hand with larger portions which we have available to us today.

You can see the detail of the handle more clearly in this photograph.

Of course, this dainty teacup, saucer and plate were never meant to be used on a daily basis, only on special occasions, but it was mainly bought as a commemorative set and would have been placed inside a china cabinet.  

Ivy, had a beautiful china cabinet and she had pieces, such as these, displayed behind the glass panes.  To Ivy, and to many women of her generation, their best china would have been placed inside the china cabinet, to be taken out and dusted each week, and then carefully replaced.  The china cabinet was always placed in the front parlour, a room, which was used for special occasions and for guests to enjoy a cup of tea and a piece of cake. The parlour was always pristine as it was only used now and again. I loved going into Ivy's front parlour as it was filled with so many interesting things, but of course I was never, ever, allowed to touch anything.

I do not have a china cabinet, but I will find a special place for this set, as after all, I am a Diamond Jubilee child.

We found quite a few lovely items, which I will show you later..... and it does include blue and white, which as you can imagine, I am thrilled about.


Have a lovely week and I will see you on Sunday.

This week I will be joining, 

Richella at Imparting Grace

and

Yvonne at Stonegable

and

Kate at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

and
Iris at Under My Tree

60TH ANNIVERSARY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH II

Good Morning to you,

In 1975, George and I, were lucky enough to be presented to HRH The Queen.  The Queen had attended the Sovereign's Day Parade at RMA Sandhurst and we, along with five other couples, were chosen to be presented to Her Majesty.

The day of the news, began  like any other day. I  had been busy washing, doing housework and I was playing with Natasha, who was only two years of age at the time, when George burst through the door and told me, "We are going to be presented to The Queen!" I thought he was joking, as he can be a bit of a joker, so I did not believe him, but he said how could he joke about something like this. I sat and thought about it, and decided he was not teasing me..... and then the penny dropped.... we are going to be presented to HM Queen Elizabeth.  I leapt out of my chair as I was so excited, I really did not know what to do with myself, but I was full of questions, "What do I wear", "What do I say", "Do I wear gloves", "Do I shake hands!" The questions were tripping off my tongue,  but George could not give me any  answers as he was being told the protocol the following day.  I had to wait a whole night and day before I found out. I could not settle, I was in such a nervous state of excitement.

When George finally arrived home from work the following day..... it felt like the longest day of my life. George led me through the protocols, the do's and the don'ts.  I had to be smart (obviously), I had to wear gloves (which I expected), I only spoke if I was spoken to (I agreed) and I had to practice my curtsy.

There was so much excitement surrounding The Queen's visit, which of course we were caught up in. Our husbands were busy working, so we  ladies decided to meet up for coffee. We talked and we talked to get rid of our nervous energy as each of us was so excited..... we also practiced our curtsies, non-stop. By the time I had finished practicing  my curtsy had become a thing of beauty.

The day finally arrived. Her Majesty The Queen was seated and The Sovereign's Parade passed without a hitch. After the Parade we were ushered into one of the beautiful rooms at RMA Sandhurst.  We were all excited, but nervous, and I have to say, I was glad that I did not have to speak with Her Majesty, as when she reached George, I looked like a rabbit who had been frozen in the headlights. She spoke to George and smiled at me.  I  curtsied and kept looking at her with a fixed grin on my face.  I often wonder what she thought of me.... I'm sure I looked a little odd, but then I thought afterwards, I am sure she gets the same reaction from all "normal folk"..... I mean, under normal circumstances, who expects to meet The Queen. Remember, I was but two feet away from Queen Elizabeth II, our reigning Monarch.  Who would have believed it could happen to me, and  I have to say, it was a thrill of a lifetime  to be in the same room as The Queen.  It really was an experience of a life time and one I will never forget,

and so I thought, as Queen Elizabeth  celebrated the 60th Anniversary of her Coronation yesterday, you would enjoy some photographs, from, 

The Queen Elizabeth Coronation Book.

which was published in 1953
in time for the Queen's Coronation.

The book is full of photographs of Queen Elizabeth as a child, photographs with her parents and with her sister Princess Margaret. The photographs range from the early 1940's to 1953.

On 6th February 1952, King George VI died and the crown was passed to Princess Elizabeth and  her young life changed forever.

On Sunday 2nd June 1953, Princess Elizabeth was crowned  Queen Elizabeth II. The Coronation took place  in Westminster Abbey, in London.

This photograph was taken in 1942 at The Royal Lodge, Windsor. It reads,

"Her Majesty's quick grasp of affairs of State is largely owing to the careful training given by her father."

In this photograph Princess Elizabeth is wearing her Princess's robes for the Coronation of  her father, George VI.

Princess Margaret and Princess Elizabeth in one of the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace in May 1942.

I love the soft pink of their blouses and the beautiful peter pan collar, which I believe is in fashion now.

Do you recognise the blossoms which are surrounding the 15 year old Princess?

They are Philadelphus which were grown in the gardens at the Royal Lodge, Windsor.  This photograph was taken in July 1941.

..... and here, a photograph of the Queen  as a really sweet looking 3 year old little girl.

Don't you just love her blond, curly, hair.

We all know that the Queen is a keen horsewoman  and has a great love of horses. This photograph shows the Princess Elizabeth rewarding her pony after a victory at the Windsor Horse Show in 1944.

This is a lovely mother and daughter photograph. The Queen and Princess Elizabeth in a carriage procession at Royal Ascot in June 1951.

I thought you would like to see the Coronation Crown. This crown is known as the St Edward's Crown.  It was made in 1661 for Charles II, by Sir Robert Vyner, the Court Jeweller. Since 1661, all the Kings and Queens of England have been crowned with this magnificent crown.

.... and what do you think of this beautiful coach. This highly decorated coach is the Great State Coach which was used to convey Queen Elizabeth to and from Westminster Abbey.  

I had to show you a photograph of Their Royal Highnesses in the Drawing Room at Clarence House in 1951.  By all accounts this blue dress was Her Majesty's favourite dress at the time.

I really like this photograph, it was taken in 1952 when Her Majesty had spent an afternoon in Edinburgh.

The photographer really captured  the beauty  of  Princess Elizabeth.

I could not leave you without showing you a photograph of Her Royal Highness in her bridal gown. On 20th November 1947 HRH the Princess Elizabeth was married to HRH the Duke of Edinburgh.

...... and what a beautiful couple they were.

This photograph was taken in November 1949 the Princess had flown to Malta to join her husband for a short holiday.  

....again a lovely  photograph.

These photographs are but a drop in the ocean, as The Queen must be the most photographed women in the world. I am so happy to be able to share them with you, especially on the occasion of Her Majesty's 60th Anniversary.

Take care and I will see you later in the week.

This week I shall be joining,

Sherry at No Minimalist Here

Southern Lovely

Claudia at Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Kathryn at The Dedicated House