Happy Victoria Day

Scooter · Post by **Scooter** » Mon May 20, 2019 1:49 pm

One thing that's great about living in Canada is getting to celebrate the birthday of an old queen.

Bicycle Bill · Post by **Bicycle Bill** » Mon May 20, 2019 3:09 pm

Scooter wrote:... is getting to celebrate the birthday of an old queen.

Happy birthday, Rocketman.

Oh ... you're not talking about Elton John?

-"BB"-

Lord Jim · Post by **Lord Jim** » Mon May 20, 2019 3:36 pm

Big RR · Post by **Big RR** » Mon May 20, 2019 3:41 pm

I don't know Jim, we are not amused.

rubato · Post by **rubato** » Mon May 20, 2019 6:11 pm

Bicycle Bill wrote:
Scooter wrote:... is getting to celebrate the birthday of an old queen.
Happy birthday, Rocketman.

Oh ... you're not talking about Elton John?

-"BB"-

"Fickt nicht mit den Racketmensch,!

Tyrone Slothrop

yrs,
rubato

RayThom · Post by **RayThom** » Mon May 20, 2019 7:50 pm

Lest we forget...

rubato · Post by **rubato** » Tue May 21, 2019 4:29 am

The house of Hanover (German) still rules Britain.

yrs,
rubato

MajGenl.Meade · Post by **MajGenl.Meade** » Tue May 21, 2019 5:36 am

Ooops! History strikes again! Not Hanover; the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Victoria was the last Hanoverian monarch of the UK.

Of course, it was considered wise in 1917 to change the House name by act of Parliament to "Windsor" because during the First Recent Unpleasantness with the Hun, Gotha bombers dropped bombs on London

Big RR · Post by **Big RR** » Tue May 21, 2019 1:14 pm

Meade--as I recall, Edward (who succeeded Victoria) was of the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha line because f his father, Prince Albert (in or out of the can

); does this mean the next monarch of the UK will be of the same house as Prince Phillip (is it Montbatten?) and the Windsor line will cease?

ex-khobar Andy · Post by **ex-khobar Andy** » Tue May 21, 2019 1:36 pm

Big RR there is a reasonably good explanation of this on Wikipedia.

Essentially Mountbatten-Windsor (MW) is the surname used by descendants of Liz and that Greek chappie when they need it - for instance in filing legal papers. Windsor remains the royal house name and Charles would retain it when he becomes king. I think he could change it if he wanted but as far as I know he has no intention of doing so. When Prince Harry was a soldier he used the surname 'Wales' - he could have used Mountbatten-Windsor but I'm guessing that he decided Wales was easier on the lads and didn't necessitate a twelve inch name tape on the uniform. I think Prince William did the same but memory is not helping there.

Edited to add: and BTW it's Prince Philip not Phillip. One 'L' is the usual spelling. I know this because my middle name is 'Phillip' - family lore is that when my father went to the Registry Office to record the birth (this being Glasgow in the 1940s) both he and the Registrar were drunk and between them, they concluded that Philip had two Ls.

Big RR · Post by **Big RR** » Tue May 21, 2019 1:40 pm

Thanks, but was there a reason that didn't happen after Victoria with Edward (the situation appears to be the same as now)? Is it the current times? Or was there some Parliamentary Act to keep the house name always the same?

ex-khobar Andy · Post by **ex-khobar Andy** » Tue May 21, 2019 2:04 pm

I don't think that there is any formal 'constitutional' reason for either choice: it seems to be a matter of preference. Usually the House name (Norman Plantagenet Lancaster York Tudor Stuart Hanover Windsor, as I learned almost 60 years ago) changes when the monarchy changes hands and does not go to the eldest (usually) son of the prior monarch. In that sense the change from Hanover (Victoria) to Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Edward VII) was the abberation. It might have been influenced by the very protracted mourning which Victoria suffered following Albert's death and some wish to commemorate this.

Big RR · Post by **Big RR** » Tue May 21, 2019 2:06 pm

That makes sense. Thanks.

ex-khobar Andy · Post by **ex-khobar Andy** » Tue May 21, 2019 2:18 pm

And BTW - returning to the original topic of the thread - it has always amused me that a certain period of architecture in the US is called Victorian. That famous 'postcard row' in SF should really be the Grover Cleveland houses.

MajGenl.Meade · Post by **MajGenl.Meade** » Tue May 21, 2019 2:18 pm

Big RR - Philip is not a monarch. He is the monarch's consort, so he doesn't get to start a House. That was true of Albert too (or perhaps Albert one, the Hall guy). It was the new king, Edward VII who surprised everyone by (a) deciding not to rule as Albert (his first name) but as Edward and (b) choosing to use Saxe-Coburg-Gotha as the family name. I guess monarchs can choose stuff like that. George V did in 1917 when Windsor seemed a more sensible choice at the time.

German Shepherd dogs did the same thing, becoming "Alsatians" in the UK post WW1 altho' with less voluntarism. That name was abandoned in 1977 in favor of the original name.

Big RR · Post by **Big RR** » Tue May 21, 2019 2:26 pm

Thanks Meade, I always learn a lot here.

BTW, German shepherds became "Police Dogs" during WW2 in the US. Not an official name (as I understand), but it was in pretty common use for sometime afterwards (probably through the early 60s).

MGMcAnick · Post by **MGMcAnick** » Tue May 21, 2019 6:38 pm

ex-khobar Andy wrote: Edited to add: and BTW it's Prince Philip not Phillip. One 'L' is the usual spelling. I know this because my middle name is 'Phillip' - family lore is that when my father went to the Registry Office to record the birth (this being Glasgow in the 1940s) both he and the Registrar were drunk and between them, they concluded that Philip had two Ls.

I think the two L Phillip is possibly the German spelling. All of the Phillips in my family are two L Phillips, not those inferior one L guys. (Remember the Addams family bragging about not being those inferior one D Adams?)

And then there was my friend Wyanetta. She pronounced it Waneta or Juaneta. She said her parents had settled on the name, but her mother was "out of it" after she was born, and her father couldn't spell. It's spelled wrong on her birth certificate.

RayThom · Post by **RayThom** » Tue May 21, 2019 7:29 pm

Burning Petard · Post by **Burning Petard** » Tue May 21, 2019 9:52 pm

The 'German Shepherd' dog was indeed developed in Germany where it's called the Schaeffer Hund. And that translates into English as 'shepherd dog.' The breed was developed by a man whose last name was Schaeffer. Much the way Doberman Pinschers were developed; those dogs were never intended to pinscher (bite) Dobermans. However, I sort of suspect in the first half of the previous century, German Shepherd and Doberman dogs were trained to bite Germans.

And I am proudly the descendant of very low class Welshmen. I firmly assert my honor, (to paraphrase Carl Sandberg) as an American that I am as good as any other man and a damn sight better. We issue no warrants of nobility. If ever introduced to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom I would never take a knee or bow my head.

snailgate.

MajGenl.Meade · Post by **MajGenl.Meade** » Thu May 23, 2019 6:55 am

Reverse snobbery - easily recognized by someone with working class English 4-bears. I suppose you don't stand quietly during some lousy foreigner's national anthem either.

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