General Chat for the late QEII and the late DoE

Curryong · May 31, 2020, 07:40:06 AM

Plane trees are everywhere in London. IMO they're a rather uninteresting sort of tree, but it's always been said that they were the only specimens to survive what was the capital's smoky and sooty atmosphere, which is why they are so ubiquitous there I suppose.

OTOH, Dutch elm trees used to thrive on the Royal estates in England as elsewhere in the country. Then they were hit by an awful disease in the 1960s and 1970s and about 90% of them died or were destroyed. Now they are on their way back, I'm happy to say. Dutch elms are marvellous looking trees I think.

'Forgotten' elm tree set to make a comeback - BBC News

An ancient article from 1995 about the Dutch elms (and limes, another lovely tree) at Windsor.

Crown Estates take axe to ancient trees at Windsor | The Independent

Princess Cassandra · May 31, 2020, 11:03:53 PM

Quote from: Curryong on May 31, 2020, 07:40:06 AM
Plane trees are everywhere in London. IMO they're a rather uninteresting sort of tree, but it's always been said that they were the only specimens to survive what was the capital's smoky and sooty atmosphere, which is why they are so ubiquitous there I suppose.

OTOH, Dutch elm trees used to thrive on the Royal estates in England as elsewhere in the country. Then they were hit by an awful disease in the 1960s and 1970s and about 90% of them died or were destroyed. Now they are on their way back, I'm happy to say. Dutch elms are marvellous looking trees I think.

'Forgotten' elm tree set to make a comeback - BBC News

An ancient article from 1995 about the Dutch elms (and limes, another lovely tree) at Windsor.

Crown Estates take axe to ancient trees at Windsor | The Independent

Thanks so much for the information! They have developed a few resistant elm varieties - we planted two "Liberty Elms" in our downtown and so far they look great. But here the Dutch elm disease allows trees to get about 25 feet tall before it hits them, so we don't yet know if they are truly resistant. It's heartbreaking to see, as they get sick and die in a year. Our Chestnut trees do not get very big before they get sick, but they sucker out from dead stumps and you can see them in the forests. I've seen pictures and drawings of the Chestnut trees - they were huge and spreading trees. Every town in New England has an Elm Street and a Chestnut Street, but the mature shade-giving trees disappeared many decades ago. We have a few Plane trees here, also. I like them with their heart-shaped leaves.

Curryong · June 01, 2020, 06:50:06 AM

Yes chesnuts are terrific trees. You can stand under them in a storm and not get wet! We have most English trees here in Australia, including limes, Dutch elms (which have escaped the disease) and chestnuts. Sweet chestnuts aren't much eaten here at Xmas (too hot) but I used to really love roasted chestnuts at that time of the year.

Conkers from Horse chestnuts used to be used to play a game called 'Conkers', with them on a string and groups of boys would knock into their friends' conkers with them until they burst! However, I'm sorry to say that the Horse chestnut trees have also been subject to disease over the last few years as well.

TLLK · June 01, 2020, 06:06:46 PM

Incredible to think that arborists and botanists were already working behind the scenes to try and develop a species of Elm that would be able to survive decades after the Dutch Elm disease blight.

@Curryong- I am impressed that the English trees have done well in Australia considering the difference in the climate.

Princess Cassandra · June 01, 2020, 10:04:07 PM

I'm not sure when, but I do plan to try to make this recipe. Anyway, I've downloaded it to my recipe file.

Curryong · June 01, 2020, 11:25:36 PM

Quote from: TLLK on June 01, 2020, 06:06:46 PM
Incredible to think that arborists and botanists were already working behind the scenes to try and develop a species of Elm that would be able to survive decades after the Dutch Elm disease blight.

@Curryong- I am impressed that the English trees have done well in Australia considering the difference in the climate.

Most species have, at least here in Melbourne, and in Tasmania, which have cooler climates than say Queensland, up north. Many species came here in the 19th century, because people missed what they had at home. Same with wildlife, our rabbit plague is due to one man missing bunnies and wanting to see them here in Australia. Several escaped! And foxes, imported for fox hunting, which have had a devastating effect on our wildlife population.

It was all part of the 'We're British to our bootstraps' ethos that ruled here, even when I came. It's often forgotten that Aussies held British passports until 1949, nearly fifty years after Federation.

Many more Australian trees, shrubs and flowers have been planted here in the last twenty years or so, partially because we have had some terrible droughts and they, of course, adapt to this very well.

Princess Cassandra · June 05, 2020, 01:53:20 PM

Quote from: Curryong on June 01, 2020, 06:50:06 AM
Yes chesnuts are terrific trees. You can stand under them in a storm and not get wet! We have most English trees here in Australia, including limes, Dutch elms (which have escaped the disease) and chestnuts. Sweet chestnuts aren't much eaten here at Xmas (too hot) but I used to really love roasted chestnuts at that time of the year.

Conkers from Horse chestnuts used to be used to play a game called 'Conkers', with them on a string and groups of boys would knock into their friends' conkers with them until they burst! However, I'm sorry to say that the Horse chestnut trees have also been subject to disease over the last few years as well.

Interesting! Our horse chestnuts are doing fine. I can honestly say I've never stood underneath a mature sweet chestnut in the rain, but I would love to!

Curryong · June 05, 2020, 03:28:58 PM

Yes, our horse chestnut trees here in Australia are doing fine too. It's the Horse chestnuts in Britain that are unfortunately subject to disease.

TLLK · June 13, 2020, 01:11:51 PM

Some of the royal gardens will be opening soon however the manor houses/palaces/castles associated with them are still closed as are the gift shops.

Royal gardens begin to open to visitors again ? Royal Central

QuoteThe grounds of some of Britain?s most famous royal residences are to welcome visitors once more after closing because of the coronavirus pandemic. However, ongoing restrictions mean that booking will be mandatory for anyone hoping to make a trip.

Sandringham?s formal gardens will be open this weekend, on June 13th and 14th but visitors have to secure a slot in advance by heading to the website. The same procedure will be used by Historic Royal Palaces which has just announced it is opening up the grounds of two of its famous homes from Monday June 15th 2020.

The gardens at Hampton Court Palace and Hillsborough Castle in County Down will once more be accessible to visitors. However, booking is essential and can be made on the HRP website. The other facilities looked after by the organisation, including the Tower of London, remain shut for the time being.

Visitors to all these royal residences are being told in advance that things will look different when they arrive because of ongoing restrictions. Cafes and restaurants remain closed although Sandringham will reopen its gift shop from June 15th 2020.

Meanwhile, other visitor attractions with royal links are also ready to welcome back visitors. English Heritage has announced that six of the sites it had to close because of the coronavirus restrictions will open again on June 13th although people will need to book in advance and stick to their time slots. Again, only the outside spaces will be accessible.

LouisFerdinand · June 13, 2020, 02:05:33 PM

It is good news that people will be able to visit the flower gardens. Flowers are so beautiful in the month of June.

TLLK · June 21, 2020, 02:14:44 PM

Twitter

QuoteWishing you all Happy #FathersDay

Here?s a collection of photographs from the #RoyalArchives of The Duke of Edinburgh with his children.

TLLK · July 10, 2020, 01:04:23 PM

Boy, 7, sends Queen handmade word search in case she's lonely during lockdown - Mirror Online

QuoteA schoolboy has sent the Queen a word search in case she is feeling "sad or lonely" during lockdown.

Seven-year-old Timothy Madders created his "happiness word search" with hidden words including "smile", "family", "holiday" and "sunshine".

He and his family had been making word searches during lockdown when he decided to create one for Her Majesty and post it at the beginning of May.

The youngster, from Billericay in Essex, wrote to the Queen in his neatest handwritting.

He wrote: "Dear Queen Elizabeth, You might be feeling sad or lonely during lockdown, so I thought I could make a word search for you to cheer you up.

"Love from Timothy Madders."

:Jen:

LouisFerdinand · July 10, 2020, 11:36:10 PM

The wordsearch was a very creative idea on Timothy's part. I liked doing wordsearches when I was a little boy.

Princess Cassandra · July 14, 2020, 08:10:15 PM

You know that certainly made her smile! What a sweet thing to do.

TLLK · July 14, 2020, 08:45:48 PM

I loved that this boy decided to create a unique gift for HM on his own.

LouisFerdinand · August 03, 2020, 10:52:06 PM

Prince Edward in the carriage
Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Edward in the carriage, Prince Charles, Prince Philip and P? | Queen elizabeth, Royal family christmas,

This is the same carriage that Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge used for the christening of Princess Charlotte in 2015.
Pin on World Royal Families

TLLK · November 23, 2020, 01:46:51 PM

:snowflake: https://www.instagram.com/p/CH4vkhUHSiq/

BP pastry chefs share their recipe for a classic Christmas pudding. The video shows how the ingredients are mixed and cooked.

oak_and_cedar · November 26, 2020, 07:42:31 AM

This was an interesting article
Prince Philip is a 'devoted reader of books about UFOs and aliens' | Daily Mail Online

Does anyone believe he might be privy to some info? He is married to Queen after all...

Curryong · November 26, 2020, 08:27:47 AM

I don't think so really. Philip has/had a very inquiring mind and a huge library of books on all sorts of subjects. He had wide ranging interest on all kinds of esoteric issues; ancient civilisations, world religions, spiritualism etc. it's possible that he also read about inter planetary travel as well.

Amabel2 · November 26, 2020, 09:26:30 AM

is he a Star Trek fan I wonder?

oak_and_cedar · November 28, 2020, 09:19:41 PM

Yes, but since he's married to the monarch, presumably he might have been able to discuss his interest with the brightest minds on that matter, or any matter really. Which must be really nice. And I do agree that he seems like a very intellectually curious man.

Slightly off topic, but i've read that HM liked the tv show the durrells I believe it's called, and also dr. who. I can imagine that that would be something Prince Philip would like to watch. Well at least I think that's the case for Dr. Who anyways.

Curryong · November 29, 2020, 03:30:54 AM

I can just imagine the Queen and Prince Philip sitting together watching Dr Who! The Queen's had odd taste in TV shows in her time, East Enders and Coronation St among them.

On the subject of extra terrestrials I've been watching with some amazement this week as conspiracy theories shoot around the Internet about the stainless steel object that has just been discovered in the desert in Utah. Now, that might interest Philip, not the fact that aliens were responsible so much as why earthlings would go to so much trouble to dig a deep hole and then rivet a sculpture to solid rock in a desert!

Curryong · December 01, 2020, 06:51:10 AM

Incidentally Oak, guess what I found when I part of re-read Eade's biography of Prince Philip today.
Had completely forgotten this bit.

Philip was a subscriber in the 1950s to a journal called The Flying Saucer Review! He had got interested in UFO's through Dickie Mounbatten, who was convinced that interplanetary beings regularly visited Earth and might come to invade in a big way in order to sort out conflicts in a post war world (this was in the early Cold War 1950s.)

Philip also corresponded with ufologist Timothy Good, who was a self proclaimed expert on UFOs and alien presences. He wrote to Good 'There are many reasons to believe that they exist. There is so much evidence from reliable witnesses.'

An equerry to Prince Philip, Squadron Leader Peter Horsley, who had been a war hero and believed in the supernatural, (as Philip did) after a near drowning experience, would follow up credible reports of UFO sightings for Philip in the mid 1950s and several witnesses were invited to BP to speak to the two men about their experiences.

Horsley later claimed that he had met an interplanetary being named Janus who praised Philip as a man 'who will prove to be of importance in inter-galactic harmony'. He never mentioned this encounter to Philip however. Horsley ended up in the RAF as Deputy Commander in Chief, Strike Command.

oak_and_cedar · December 06, 2020, 07:43:32 AM

Thank you Curryong, that's indeed very interesting.

I came across this article the other day:
Leaked photo from Pentagon UFO task force shows silver cube hovering over the Atlantic | Daily Mail Online

Some people in the comments section are suggesting that we are being 'drip fed' info before a 'revelation' or confirmation, whatever one wants to call it.

It's all very interesting and i'm not sure we're alone in the universe. So no wonder prince Philip has a keen interest in the subject.

Curryong · December 06, 2020, 08:34:19 PM

That Pentagon report is indeed very interesting, but couldn't the unidentified craft that seemed to come from the ocean into the sky be an experimental craft that the Americans are working on themselves?

I'm afraid I'm a bit of a sceptic regarding UFOs and visitors from other planets; though I certainly don't believe we are alone in the universe Im not convinced we've been visited yet. And perhaps it's just as well! How do we know that a very advanced civilisation so ahead of us in technology would come to Earth with friendly intentions, and not arrive in force instead of one or two craft at a time just snooping around?

On the other hand, I'm interested in the supernatural, believe in ghosts and poltergeist and am a sucker for a good ghost story, so it takes all sorts I guess!

PS The 1950s, when Philip was involved was a high point in interest in aliens and UFOs, especially in the US. For instance in Hollywood there were alien and space movies every five minutes! The big Space programmes by NASA were less than a decade away.