Royal Wedding Invitations

Alas, it seems that the wedding invitations have been sent out and I think we have just missed the cut. I was just more than a little crushed to see that we don't neatly fit into any of the categories listed on the Prince of Wales website of groups who were invited. 

Perhaps some of you have received yours?

Wedding invitations - The wedding of HRH Prince William of Wales and Miss Catherine Middleton

19th February 2011

Invitations to the wedding of Prince William and Miss Middleton have been issued in the name of Her Majesty The Queen.

The following groups of people have been invited to the wedding:

• Members of The Royal Family and their friends
• Members of the Middleton Family and their friends
• Friends of Prince William and Miss Middleton
• Members of Foreign Royal Families
• Representatives from the Defence Services
• Representatives from Prince William’s patronages
• Representatives from the Church and other faiths
• Members of the Government, Parliament and Devolved Administrations
• Members of the Diplomatic Corps
• Governors-General and Prime Ministers from the Realms
• Members of the Royal Household

Around 1,900 people have been invited to the service at Westminster Abbey.

Around 600 people have been invited to the lunchtime reception at Buckingham Palace given by The Queen.

Around 300 people have been invited to the dinner at Buckingham Palace given by The Prince of Wales.

Notes to Editors 
Please note we are not releasing the names of individual invitees.

The invitations were posted on Wednesday and Thursday this week.

A rough breakdown of numbers of guests is as follows (this includes spouses):
• The vast majority of guests are drawn from Prince William and Miss Middleton’s Family and Friends – over 1,000
• Over 50 Members of The Royal Family
• Over 40 Members of Foreign Royal Families
• Over 200 Members of Government, Parliament and Diplomatic Corps
• Approximately 80 guests drawn from Prince William’s charities
• 60 Governors-General and Realm Prime Ministers
• 30 Members of the Defence Services

The EIIR on the invitation is die-stamped in gold and then burnished. The text on the invitation is also die-stamped. The edges of the invitation are bevelled then gilded. 

Misericords

I mentioned the Chester Cathedral in my last post and promised I would return to it. Originally a Benedictine monastery established in 1093, it was later disbanded in 1538, only to become a cathedral of the Church of England under the authority of Henry VIII in 1541. As typical, many changes have been made though the years to its structure to give the town of Chester the lovely church they have today.

There are many beautiful features of the cathedral worth mentioning, including the organ,

the cloisters,

and the stunning Gothic Revival features of the choir stalls for which it is known world wide for the quality of its wood carving. It was absolutely stunning!

In medieval times the custom was for the monks and clergy to stand throughout entire services, often very lengthy, so very early on, consideration was made for the elderly and infirm to give them an option of standing upright the whole time.

Here my husband was demonstrating the benefits of a misericord. A misericord is a narrow ledge on the underside of a hinged seat which was designed to support a person standing at rest against the seat when it was turned up. This way, the monks were not actually standing, but more or less leaning on a tiny ledge.  The earliest misericords date from the middle of the 13th century and are found at the Exeter Cathedral. England has an impressive tradition of misericords scattered throughout the country.

When you flip up the seats, the fascinating thing about the underside of these seats is that they were decorated with some intriguing carvings, sometimes humorous, sometimes moral, and often secular or pagan in subject. The carvings at the Chester Cathedral are some of the best surviving examples. Forty-three of them still date from 1390.

Here you see a king's head crowned and supported on each side by medallion heads with collars.

This one had a monster with a lion's head and bat's wings supported on each side by a fleur de lis.

I learned while researching these carvings that a "wodehouse" is an aboriginal wild man of medieval lore in Britain, as seen here, all covered with shaggy hair. The center wodehouse is seated on a prostrate man, and two other wodehouses are on each side.

We kept lifting the seats that day looking for more craftsmanship. We found this monster with the head and forelegs of a lion and two dragons as its body. What are these creatures doing in church--I kept wondering!

Here is a woman whose husband is on his knees at her feet, and she is holding the tip of his hood with one hand and is chastening him with some tool in her other hand. I'd love to know the story behind that one.

Finally, one more to show you: two wrestlers with marshals on each side of them holding batons, and two demi-angels supporting them on each side.

Have you ever seen a misericord? I had seen them on other occasions and wondered about them, and now I think it will be fun as I visit churches around the continent to look for these touchstones of the past. If you know of others, let me know....

The Town of Chester

On our return home from Liverpool, we found another treasure--the town of Chester. Originally, a Roman fort and then a settlement, one of Chester's claims to fame is its town walls, the most complete city walls in Great Britain. Some sections date back to as early as 120, but most sections are medieval or Victorian. They form an almost continuous circle around the town 2 miles long.

We approached the city by the Eastgate, which gave us a preview of the picturesque town we were going to explore.

The Eastgate stands at the former entrance of the old Roman fort, and the current gateway supporting a walkway that is part of the City walls today, dates from 1768. The beautiful clock was built on the occasion of the Diamond Jubliee of Queen Victoria and put into place in 1899. It is considered the most photographed clock in England after Big Ben here in London.

As cold as it was on the January day we visited, the city was bustling with activity.

Many visitors come to see the black-and-white timbered buildings, some from the medieval era,

but many being Victorian restorations, as a result of the Black-and-white Revival architectural movement in the mid 19th century.

The Chester Rows are unique, in that above the street level shops you find covered walkways which front another level of shops. Often the bottom level shops are slightly below ground and have to be reached by a slight descent. Nothing exactly like this exists in the world.

A view from the Rows gives you a whole different perspective.

The Three Old Arches formed the facade of what is considered the first shop storefront, dating from the early 1200's. Even shop-a-holics need a history lesson every once in a while.

There was just time for lunch before heading back towards London, so we decided to grab some Sunday Roast at a pub we found called The Victoria. It wasn't until our roast beef and chicken dinners were ordered that I looked around and discovered its historical value.

It dates back to 1269, and still retains its low ceilings, antique settles and oak beams. Amazing!

One of the amazing structures in town is the Chester Cathedral, which deserves a blog post of its own. So come back for a visit soon and learn about the beautiful and interesting"misericords" we found inside this strikingly fascinating cathedral.

Meryl as The Iron Lady

Photo courtesy of The Guardian

Perhaps you have heard the buzz this week about the new movie currently being filmed in London about the former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Titled "The Iron Lady," it tells the story of the Baroness Thatcher's rise to power as the first woman to lead a major Western democracy. The movie focuses on the days leading up to the 1982 Falklands War.

So if you were casting for the role, who would you pick?

None other than Meryl Streep, if you were the director Phyllida Lloyd, who also directed Ms. Streep in the hit "Mamma Mia." Jim Broadbent, an Oscar winner himself, and one of Britain's most versatile actors portrays her husband. Filming began around London two weeks ago, and one of my friends spotted them filming in Battersea Park today.

Several reports claim that family members are not extremely happy with the way Baroness Thatcher is being portrayed. It seems she is depicted as an elderly woman suffering from dementia who recalls with sadness some of the events of her life.

Do you think the resemblance is a bit uncanny? I mean if Meryl can channel Julia Childs, I imagine she can portray just about anyone.

And here's another tidbit for you. Margaret Thatcher lived in the house down the street from ours on Flood Street, no. 19, in the years preceding her move to 10 Downing Street.

A release date has not been announced, but when it is, you can be sure, I'll let you know!

Sister Act

Sister Act, the musical, is set to open on Broadway in previews on March 24th. Having recently closed its production in the West End in London, the cast is poised to unleash its soulful rendition of the favorite movie of 1992. Produced by Whoopi Goldberg and Stage Entertainment UK, the London show was a big hit with fans for over a year and a half. I had the chance to see it during that time, and really enjoyed the music and the storyline.

Patina Miller, who originated the role of Deloris in London, will be taking the stage in NY as the disco diva who witnessed a murder and was subsequently entered into the witness protection program, in a place where she was quite unlikely to be found--a convent. Taking on the identity of Sister Mary Clarence, she initially finds herself at odds with Mother Superior, but soon finds her way into the hearts of the convent choir, whom she reshapes to be the musical act of her dreams, disco moves and all.

Highly entertaining, I think you'll enjoy this sneak peek of the show here, and then you might enjoy watching their performance from The View this morning.

Catch it wherever you can--on tour in the UK, on Broadway, in an international tour, or perhaps in the future on tour in the US. 

Click twice to see full screen.

Culture in Liverpool?

So you might ask, is there more to Liverpool than the Beatles and the Liverpool Football Club? Definitely, as we discovered on our weekend trip, and here's a trivia question to ponder as you read more about it--what do you call a person who lives in Liverpool?

Liverpool is situated along the western coast of England just 134 miles from Dublin, Ireland. The Albert Dock is where we started our day as many tourists do,

and within walking distance we were near the Pier Head where we found some stunning varieties of architecture. The St. Nicholas and Our Lady Church sits in the shadow of more modern buildings.

To get a better perspective of the Pier Head, we boarded the local ferry that shuttles passengers along the River Mearsey which eventually leads out to the Irish Sea. It was fascinating to me to learn that between the 18th-19th century, 40% of the world's trade passed through Liverpool. Forty percent! The dominant trade at that time was the African slave trade, and a triangle developed between Liverpool, Africa and the West Indies. During this time, Liverpool prospered and grew from the profits of the slave trade.

In this century, UNESCO has designated Liverpool as a World Heritage Site, primarily because of its impressive waterfront. There are the Three Graces of Pier Head--3 buildings of exceptional beauty. First is the Port of Liverpool Building, built at the beginning of the 20th century.

The second of the Three Graces is the Cunard Building, home of Cunard Steamship Company, the world's most famous shipping company who later merged with its competitor, the White Star Line, builder of the Titanic. The Cunard's most famous ships were the Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary.

And the most impressive of all is the Liver Building, home of the Royal Liver Assurance Group. The Liver refers to the two Liver birds perched on each end of the building. You say Liver--rhymes with diver. The mythical Liver bird has been the symbol of Liverpool since Medieval times. Legend has it that the female Liver bird faces outward towards the sea to look for any handsome sailors coming up the river, and the male bird looks inward to see if the pubs are open. I'm just reporting what I hear....

Also, legend has it that if one Liver bird ever flies away, Liverpool would cease to exist. (Sounds very similar to the raven's story at the Tower of London, if you ask me.)

The clocks on the face of the building have as their claim to fame, that they are even larger than the clock on Big Ben itself.

And if that wasn't enough culture for you, what do you think about these Lambananas? Bet your town doesn't have any of those. In 2008, 125 replicas of the Super Lambanana of Liverpool, which is 17 feet tall, invaded the town of Liverpool as part of the celebration of its designation as the European Capital of Culture. Enough said.

So what do you call residents who hail from Liverpool? Another good trivia question here for you to store away.

You call them Liverpudlians!

Beatles Mania

We headed out by coach bus a few weeks ago with 25 of our "closest" friends to Liverpool, the native home of the Beatles. There we walked in the steps of the Fab Four and tried to imagine the early days, before the boys made it to the big time.

A crash course was necessary, of course, so we made our way through the Beatles Story, a museum  of their early careers where we gleaned a lot of information and trivia of their "behind the scene" story.

Then, we hopped on the Magical Mystery Tour bus for a cruise around town to see some of its more famous landmarks.

We first saw the childhood home of Ringo Starr, which is one of over 400 homes built before 1919 that are scheduled to be demolished in the upcoming days. Attempts by fans of the Beatles and the Housing Minister to keep the home from being torn down have hit a dead-end, so this spot at 9 Madryn Street may not be around much longer. Did you know that Ringo's real name is Richard Starkey? It's little trivia like that, that can come in quite handy at the next pub quiz night or playing Trivial Pursuit!

Next we saw the birthplace of George Harrison, where he lived with his parents and 3 other children. George has reminisced that there was only one source of heat in the house, a single coal fire, and that in the winter, the children would often wake up to freezing temperatures and have to run outside for the toilet. The little house was just two rooms up and two rooms down, each room being only 10 feet square. His family stayed there until he was 6 years old.

The house was situated at 12 Arnold Grove, a name that George sometimes used later in life to sign in anonymously in hotels.

Next, on to John Lennon's childhood home, where he lived with his Aunt Mimi from the age of 5-23. Yoko Ono bought the property some years ago, and donated it to the National Trust at which point the interior was recreated to resemble the way the house looked during his time there. Tours of the home are now possible and one of the things visitors are able to see is his aunt's front bedroom where he and Paul McCartney created the Beatles' first UK number 1 song, "Please, Please Me."

Paul McCartney's childhood home was next--his family had moved there in 1955, the year before his mother died, leaving his father to raise Paul and his brother, Michael. This home is also run by the National Trust and is open for visits, where you can see various Beatles memorabilia and the rooms where Paul and John would get together to play their guitars. Over 20 of their songs were written here, including "I Saw Her Standing There."

A visit to Liverpool would not be complete without visiting Penny Lane, which is at a junction where Paul and John would catch a bus into town. The Penny Lane signs have been so popular through the years that they are often stolen by obsessed fans.

Moving along on the Magical Mystery Tour, we drove by Strawberry Field(s) which was the location of a Salvation Army Children's Home near John Lennon's home. John and his friends used to play in the field surrounding the home.

Probably one of the most famous locales in Liverpool's Beatles' history, is the Cavern, a rock and roll club located in the cellar, which has hosted some of the world's most famous rock and roll acts.

Just a small space for performers and observers both, the Beatles performed there some 292 times between 1961-1963. Their last performance there was in August of 1963 just 6 months before their trip to the US to perform at the Ed Sullivan show. On that day, over 74 million tuned in to watch them--over 40% of the American population at the time. 

Our group of Americans enjoyed our weekend trip down memory lane in Liverpool, as we channeled John Lennon with our colored glasses.

Imagine all the people.

Living life as peace.

You may say that I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one.

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will be as one.

Royal Wedding Countdown

I'm adding a Royal Wedding Countdown on the sidebar here, so the big event won't slip up on us! There are also updates, features, and current news brought to you by BBC that you can read simply by clicking on the arrow beside "Read More."

Today the British Butter London cosmetic company is featured on the gadget reporting on its new shade of nail polish called No More Waity, Katie, a "grayish blue and glitter-infused" color. You know you want some, don't you?

Other news that I am tracking for all of us who are keen on more details includes the government's consideration of a law that would insure that Kate and William's first born would be the heir, even if their first baby was a girl. 

Kate's family is taking over the rooms at the Goring Hotel on the wedding weekend, a mere 400 yards from Buckingham Palace, and it is expected that she will spend her last night there with her family before her wedding day. It's a beautiful hotel, family owned and with a traditional British flair. I can vouch for their afternoon tea--lovely!

Also, the official wedding china is being produced at Stoke on Trent as fast as it can be made. You can order it here from the Royal Collection website, but don't be in any hurry because due to an "unprecedented demand" orders may take 3 weeks to process. The tankard, the plate and the pill box are made of fine English bone china and adorned with the couple's initials, crown and wedding date. Typically the W for William would be on the top, but from what I've read, Catherine's "C" was moved to top billing to avoid any "WC" humor.

And who will design Kate's dress? Some are guessing Bruce Oldfield, a favorite of Princess Diana, and a British designer who has been dressing celebrities for 35 years. Kate, her mother and sister were seen visiting his Knightsbridge shop last month which has fueled the speculation that he could be the one. It is Kate's desire that the designer and the dress be a secret until her wedding day.

Stay tuned for more insights as they come along. It's a fascinating process watching the whole wedding unfold in such a relatively short time. Let's watch the countdown together as the days pass by.