Royal Docket for the Week of February 2nd

Monday, February 3rd

HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh

     The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will be in King's Lynn, Norfolk. As Honorary Air Commodore, the Queen will pay a visit to the Royal Air Force (RAF) base at Marham, whilst the Duke will attend a meeting of the Rotary Club of King's Lynn as an Honorary Member and Paul Harris Fellow.

Tuesday, February 4

     Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is set to visit the county of Somerset, which has been hard-hit by heavy rains and flooding.

HRH The Prince of Wales

     He will host a reception in the village of Stoke St Gregory for residents and emergency services personnel who have been victims of the flood. Attending the reception will be representatives from The Prince’s Countryside Fund, a consortium of businesses of which the Prince of Wales is Patron, with a commitment to help support and sustain the British countryside and its centuries-old agriculture. Among other things, it has a reserve fund for use during emergencies such as this. The Prince will then travel by boat to Muchleney, where he will visit the Thorney Moor Farm to witness the damage caused by the floods and understand how residents are coping.

     Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall will host an 80th anniversary lunch at Clarence House for the Brooke - an animal welfare organization of which she is President.

HRH The Countess of Wessex

     Sophie, Countess of Wessex will attend the Ski Championships in Meribel, France as Patron of the Combined Winter Sports Association.

     Princess Anne, Princess Royal, along with her husband Vice Admial Sir Timothy Laurence, will be in Russia with over the next two weeks in her role has a member of the International Olympic Committe (IOC) and as President of the British Olympic Association before and during the XXII Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. She will also be carrying out engagements on behalf of the UK Government and other organizations to which she is connected.

HRH The Princess Royal

     As Chancellor of the University of London, the Princess Royal will visit the International College of Economics and Finance at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. She will also attend Day One of the 126th IOC Session in Sochi.

Wednesday, February 5

     Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is to attend a reception at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London as President of the British Asian Trust, an organization created by British Asian business leaders which provides funds to charities that improve the lives of impoverished people in Southeast Asia and disadvantaged communities in the United Kingdom. It is one of the 20 Prince's Charities.

     Princess Anne, Princess Royal will attend Day Two of the 126th IOC Session in Sochi, Russia.

Thursday, February 6

     Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is to attend a reception at the Savoy Hotel in London for Invest in Futures, an initiative of the Prince's Trust which aims to unite the financial services industry with the goal of helping disadvantaged young people to become economically active. Prince Charles is President of the Prince's Trust.

HRH The Duchess of Cornwall

     Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall will attend a Waitangi Day reception at New Zealand House in London. The day celebrates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, which is considered one of New Zealand's founding documents. It made the country a part of the British Empire, guaranteed the native Māori the rights to their land, and gave them the rights of British subjects. The Duchess will one day be Queen of New Zealand.

HRH The Earl of Wessex

     Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex will attend a dinner given by the Head of the Australian Defence Staff, the Service Advisers, and Defence Counsellors in the Fusiliers' Mess at the Tower of London.

     Princess Anne, Princess Royal will attend Day Three of the 126th IOC Session in Sochi, Russia.

     Princess Alexandra is set to visit Bailrigg, Lancaster to attend a dinner that celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of Lancaster University.

Friday, February 7

     Princess Anne, Princess Royal will be in Sochi, Russia to attend the Opening Ceremony of the XXII Olympic Winter Games in the Fisht Olympic Stadium.

HRH Princess Alexandra at left

     Princess Alexandra is set to be in the county of Lancashire to visit Ferrari's Country House Hotel in Preston.

Saturday, February 8

     Princess Anne, Princess Royal will be attending the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia in her role as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and as President of the British Olympic Association.




Photo Credit: Titanic Belfast via Flickr cc, Dan Marsh via Wikimedia Commons cc, Holger Motzkau via Wikimedia Commons cc, Northern Ireland Office via Flickr cc, José Cruz/Agência Brasil via Wikimedia Commons cc, Northern Ireland Office via Flickr cc, Surrey County Council News via Flickr cc

The British Golden Summer of 2013

Sidenote: Although this is primarily a blog concerning the monarchy, from time to time, there will be postings about people, situations, and events throughout the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth that have an effect on the monarchy, or have a relation to it. This is one of them.     

     Throughout the summer of 2013, the people of the United Kingdom have had much reason to celebrate.  Back in June, Justin Rose won the U.S. Open golf tournament.

Justin Rose, winner of the 2013 U.S. Open.

With his spectacular victory, Andy Murray broke the 77 year British drought at Wimbledon. The trophy was presented to him by Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth and President of the All-England Lawn, Tennis, and Croquet Club.

     In this month, Andy Murray became the first British man to win at Wimbledon in 77 years, the British and Irish Lions defeated Australia in their first rugby series victory in 16 tears, Chris Froome became the second consecutive – and second ever – British winner of the Tour de France, and (as of this writing) the English cricket team appears to be on its way to defeating the Australians in the Ashes tournament. After a seemingly prolonged winter season, real summer finally arrived in the UK with temperatures soaring to 90°F (32°C) in some areas.  And to top it all off, there was the arrival of Prince George of Cambridge, who will one day be king of the United Kingdom.

Chris Froome follows in the footsteps of a fellow Brit, Bradley Wiggins, to win the 2013 Tour de France.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with Prince George

     So it has been another golden summer for Great Britain and Northern Ireland, coming on the heels of the success emanating from the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Summer Olympics in London last year. And with the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow next year, there will another summer for the Brits to feel a sense of patriotism and be proud of themselves. Although British athletes will be competing under separate English, Northern Irish, Scottish, and Welsh teams, it is hoped that residents of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales will support their fellow country men and women from other parts of the UK against non-UK teams.

These games bring the 2 billion people across the far-flung Commonwealth together.

     But then again, these are the Commonwealth Games where there are historical, cultural, and familial bonds and connections between the people of Britain, and people from places like Canada, Australia, India, and New Zealand. It is conceivable that some Scots will support an Australian team over an English team, or for some English people to support a Canadian team over a Welsh team. Indeed, some people within the British Indian community may be inclined to support an Indian team over any of the hometown British teams in Glasgow. For Queen Elizabeth II, who is the symbolic Head of the Commonwealth and monarch of 16 Commonwealth countries, there must also be conflicting loyalties.

      

The Commonwealth of Nations. The countries in red represent the members of the Commonwealth that are realms that share the British monarch as head of state. The countries in blue represent the members of the Commonwealth that either have their own monarchies, or are republics.

     Regardless of these anomalies however, the Games are an opportunity for Commonwealth countries to come together and celebrate what ties them together, while engaging in competitive sportsmanship. With the wind at their backs from the last two years, British athletes in particular ought to be feeling good about making the summer of 2014 another golden one for British sports. Meanwhile, the monarchy, with its newest member, should feel relatively good about its position going forward as well. For the public, these events over the past two years (along with the great weather) have made them feel good about themselves and proud to be British.

     But while these events have brought much to celebrate, the same cannot be said about the UK economy. The Conservative (Tory)-led coalition government under David Cameron has presided over an economy which has basically flat-lined over the past three years, with austerity being at the heart of the government’s economic policy. In many ways, events such as Murray’s win at Wimbledon and the birth of Prince George provide a dash of color and good news against the gray backdrop of economic malaise. There has been a slight uptick as of late, but the reality is that the economy (whether under the policies of the Tory Pary, Labour Party, or another coalition with the Liberal Democrats) must improve substantially throughout the entire United Kingdom, or else I fear that even royal and sporting events will not be enough to lift people’s spirits. Intangible feeling can only go so far, for at the end of the day, it is all about the realities of the pocketbook and wallet.

Photo Credit: Christopher Johnson via Flickr cc, Keith Allison via Flickr cc, Christophe Badoux via Wikimedia Commons cc, Christopher Neve via Photopin cc, Thomas Nugent via Geograph cc