Duke of Edinburgh

After proudly discussing our wonderful Queen in one of my Blogs, I hadn't realised that her Consort, the Duke of Edinburgh was nearing a record himself.

Prince Philip has become Britain's longest serving royal consort and has overtaken the record of 57 years and 70 days set by Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III.

Although she is a record breaker, poor Charlotte did not have a happy time as Consort, because she had to look after her husband. George suffered from “madness” for a long period of his life, which is now believed to be porphyria. She remained supportive of her husband until her death on 17 November 1818, though she feared him every time she visited. George died, blind, deaf, lame and insane, fourteen months later.

Their lives are certainly not similar, and Prince Philip has worked tirelessly with his wife for the benefit of the UK, and the Commonwealth, since 1947. And, they have clearly been in love for many years, see below.

Philip was made the Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich by King George VI shortly before his marriage to Princess Elizabeth in 1947. The Queen made Corfu-born Philip a Prince of the United Kingdom 10 years later.

Even after so many years of service to the country, Prince Philip shows little sign of slowing down. He undertook more than 350 engagements in 2008, and is patron or president of some 800 organisations.

Well done, Philip. Keep up the good work.

How they got together:
Elizabeth—who was Philip's third cousin through Queen Victoria, and second cousin, once removed, through Christian IX of Denmark—fell in love with Philip and they began to exchange letters. Eventually, in the summer of 1946, Philip asked the King for his daughter's hand in marriage. The King granted his request providing any formal engagement was delayed until Elizabeth's twenty-first birthday the following April. The engagement was announced to the public in July 1947.

Louis Mountbatten urged Philip to renounce his Greek and Danish royal titles, as well as his allegiance to the Greek crown, convert from Greek Orthodoxy to the Church of England, and become a naturalised British subject, all of which was done by 18 March 1947. Philip adopted the surname Mountbatten from his mother's family. The day preceding his wedding, King George VI bestowed the style His Royal Highness on Philip, and on the morning of the wedding, 20 November 1947, he was made the Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich of Greenwich in the County of London.

How complicated, but I suppose he did it for love (and safety!).

Petition

Clubs and other are establishments are literally watching their money go down the drain as water companies start to bring through surface area-based charging. The Water Industry Act 1991 classes only two categories of customer – domestic and non-domestic. From 2010, all non-domestic customers will be charged according to the surface area of the site rather than through the rateable value of the property; this means that many of our clubs and other voluntary organisations will end up paying more than ten times their original rate.

CCPR has launched a petition to urge the Prime Minister to instruct utilities companies to charge community clubs affordable rates for services. Please support this by signing up on link below.

Sign Petition

The Queen of England

I was watching repeats of "Monarchy" last week on the new channel, Blighty. Over the years, the Monarchy has had to change what it does and how it does it, to such an extent that it has survived. And isn't it wonderful! Not only that, this programme has served to remind me that our Monarchy, and our great Queen really does have a wonderfully important purpose. She is a unique and special ambassador to our country and works every day for the good of the UK and commonwealth. Also, there is no doubt in my mind that she loves her countries very much.

Yes, it's true - I am a Royalist and proud of it.

Did you know that our Queen has been on the throne for so long, that her reign surpassed those of her four immediate predecessors combined (Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, and George VI), after which she became the third longest reigning British or English monarch, the second-longest-serving current monarch of a sovereign state (after King Bhumibol of Thailand), and the oldest reigning British monarch.

So that she breaks records and becomes the longest-living British head of state, Elizabeth would have to live until 29 January 2012 when she would overtake Richard Cromwell.

To overtake Queen Victoria and become the longest reigning monarch in British history, Elizabeth would have to live to 10 September 2015, when she would be 89. To surpass the reign of King Louis XIV of France, and become the longest reigning monarch in European history, Elizabeth would have to live until 26 May 2024, when she would be 98.

It's very possible too, after all, the Queen Mother lived to 102.

God Bless, the Queen. Thank you, Ma'am for everything you do for us.

You see, I don't need to be grumpy all the time. :O)