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Paul Sparks
- Online English Lesson Plans, Lesson Material and Ideas for "Culture of
English Speaking Countries Lessons", Xiangtan Normal University...
WESTERN CULTURE AND SOCIETY: THE UNITED KINGDOM (UK) -
The British Monarchy (Royal Family)
Source of information
"The Official Royal Website": http://www.royal.gov.uk/
The British Monarchy:  The
Crown Jewels, (some shown in the picture) are famous world-wide, and are a
symbol of monarchy for the British people and, as such, their value
represents more than gold and precious stones. They have been used by
English kings and queens since 1660 or earlier. The Crown Jewels are part of
the national heritage and held by The Queen as Sovereign. When a sovereign
(King or Queen) dies, or abdicates (retires from being King or Queen), a
successor is immediately decided according to rules which were laid down at
the end of the seventeenth century. The coronation of a new sovereign is a
great ceremony of celebration that has remained essentially the same for
over a thousand years. The new Sovereign succeeds to the throne as soon as
his or her predecessor dies and is at once proclaimed at an Accession
Council in St James's Palace. All members of the Privy Council are summoned.
Members of the House of Lords, the Lord Mayor and aldermen and other leading
citizens of the City of London, and High Commissioners of Commonwealth
countries are invited to attend. In London the public proclamation of the
new Sovereign is first read out at St James's Palace; it is also read out in
Edinburgh, Windsor and York.
Coronation:
(The Ceremony to install a new King or Queen) The coronation of the new
Sovereign follows an appropriate interval after the death of the King or
Queen. The ceremony has remained essentially the same over a thousand years.
For the last 900 years, the ceremony has taken place at Westminster Abbey.
The service is conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the presence of
representatives of the Houses of Parliament, Church and State. Prime
ministers and leading citizens from the Commonwealth and representatives of
other countries also attend. The coronation is an occasion for pageantry and
celebration, but it is a religious ceremony. During the ceremony, the
Sovereign takes the coronation oath - the form and wording have varied over
the centuries.
Succession:
The basis for the succession was determined in the constitutional
developments of the 17th century, which culminated in the Bill of Rights
(1689) and the Act of Settlement (1701). When James II fled the country in
1688, Parliament held that he had 'abdicated the government' and that the
throne was vacant. The throne was then offered, not to James's young son,
but to his daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange, as joint rulers.
It therefore came to be established not only that the Sovereign rules
through Parliament, but that the succession to the throne can be regulated
by Parliament, and that a Sovereign can be deprived of his title through
misgovernment. Succession to the throne is based on the principle of male
primogeniture, according to which male heirs take precedence over daughters
and the right of succession belongs to the eldest son. Daughters take
precedence over the Sovereign's brothers. When a daughter succeeds, she
becomes Queen Regnant and has the same powers as a king. Where a Sovereign
has no children, the succession then lies with the Sovereign's eldest
surviving brother and his children (sons, then daughters), as when William
IV was succeeded by his niece Victoria. If a Sovereign has no brothers, or
if those brothers have no children, then the line of succession passes to
the Sovereign's sister(s) in age order, as when Edward VI was succeeded by
his half-sisters Mary and Elizabeth.
The Royal Household:
The Royal Household assists The Queen in carrying out her official duties;
there are 645 full-time employees. The Royal Household's functions are
divided into six Departments, under the overall authority of the Lord
Chamberlain, the senior member of The Queen's Household.
The Royal Castles and
Palaces: Throughout the centuries, Britain's
kings and queens have built or bought many places to serve as family homes,
workplaces and as centres of government. The residences associated with
today's Royal family are divided into the Occupied Royal Palaces, which are
held by the Sovereign in trust for future generations, and the Private
Estates which have been handed down to The Queen by earlier generations of
the Royal family.
Buckingham Palace:
 Buckingham
Palace has been the official London residence of Britain's sovereigns since
1837 and evolved from a town house that was owned, from the beginning of the
eighteenth century, by the Dukes of Buckingham.
"The Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace" has taken place
since 1660, it is where Household Troops have guarded the Sovereign and the
Royal Palaces. Until 1689, the Sovereign lived mainly at the Palace of
Whitehall and was guarded there by Household Cavalry. (They still mount
guard at Horse Guards Arch today; the Changing of the Guard takes place
daily at 11 am in the courtyard of Horse Guards Building and lasts half an
hour. Other units such as The King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, take over
on occasions to enable the Household Cavalry to carry out their operational
commitments.).
In 1689, the court moved to St James's Palace, which was guarded by the Foot
Guards. When Queen Victoria moved into Buckingham Palace in 1837, the
Queen's Guard remained at St James's Palace, with a detachment guarding
Buckingham Palace, as it still does today. When The Queen is in residence,
there are four sentries at the front of the building; when she is away there
are two.
Windsor Castle:
For over 900 years there has been a castle at Windsor. William the Conqueror
chose the site, high above the River Thames and on the edge of a Saxon
hunting ground. It was a day's march from the Tower of London and intended
to guard the western approaches to the capital. Now the Castle continues to
perform its prime role as one of The Queen's official residences. On 20
November 1992, the forty-fifth wedding anniversary of The Queen and The Duke
of Edinburgh, nine principal rooms and over 100 other rooms over an area of
9,000 square metres, approximately one-fifth of the Castle area, of the
Upper Ward of Windsor Castle were damaged or destroyed by fire which began
in the Private Chapel when a spotlight came into contact with a curtain over
a prolonged period and ignited the material.
St James's Palace:
The senior Palace of the Sovereign and still the 'Court' to which foreign
Ambassadors and High Commissioners are accredited, St James's Palace was
built between 1532 and 1540 by Henry VIII on the site of the Hospital of St
James, Westminster. For over 300 years it was lived in by kings and queens
of England. Queen Anne brought the court to St James's in 1702 after the
disastrous fire which destroyed the Palace of Whitehall in 1698. It has
remained the official residence of the Sovereign, although since the death
of William IV in 1837 the Sovereign has lived at Buckingham Palace.
Kensington Palace:
 In 1689
William III bought the Jacobean mansion originally known as Nottingham House
from his Secretary of State, the Earl of Nottingham, and commissioned
Christopher Wren to extend and improve the house. This included the
construction of Royal Apartments for the King and Queen, a council chamber,
the Chapel Royal and the Great Stairs. A private road was laid out from the
Palace to Hyde Park Corner, wide enough for three or four carriages to
travel abreast down it, part of which survives today as Rotten Row. Until
the death of George II in 1760, Kensington Palace was the favourite
residence of successive sovereigns. Queen Victoria was born and brought up
in the Palace and news of her accession in 1837 was brought to her there by
the Lord Chamberlain and the Archbishop of Canterbury. It had been expected
that Victoria would reign from either Kensington or St James's Palace but
almost immediately she moved to Buckingham Palace and never again stayed at
Kensington.
Balmoral Castle: The
castle which the royal family use when they stay in Scotland.
Sandringham House:
The Queen and other members of the Royal family regularly spend Christmas at
Sandringham and make it their official base until February each year. The
house was first opened to the public in 1977, and there is a museum with
displays of Royal life and Estate history.
Royal History:
The current Royal Family are called the "Windsors", previous
Royalty are as follows:
-
Kings of Wessex and
England (802-1066)
-
The Scottish Royal
Dynasties (842-1625)
-
The Continental
Dynasties (1066-1216)
-
The Plantagenet
Dynasties (1216-1485)
-
The Tudors
(1485-1603) and the Stuarts (1603-1714)
-
The Hanoverians
(1714-1837)
-
Saxe-Coburg and
Gotha (1837-1917)
-
The Windsors (1917-
present day)
Historical Kings and
Queens
The Commonwealth:
The Queen is not only Queen of the United Kingdom, but Head of the
Commonwealth, a voluntary association of 54 independent countries. Most of
these countries have progressed from British rule to independent
self-government, and the Commonwealth now serves to foster international
co-operation and trade links. While remaining entirely responsible for their
own policies, member countries choose to consult and co-operate in certain
areas such as strengthening democracy by good government, promoting human
rights and working for social and economic development of poorer countries.
Much of the strength of the Commonwealth is derived from its
non-governmental and informal links, such as teacher-training schemes, youth
ministries, distance education, science and environmental projects, shared
sports and arts festivals. This means that it is as much a commonwealth of
peoples as of governments.
The Queen - Elizabeth
II: Queen Elizabeth II - By tradition, The
Queen takes an abbreviated form of the Latin description when she signs
formal and official documents and messages, using the signature 'Elizabeth
R' (which stands for 'Regina' or Queen). The Queen was born in London on 21
April 1926, the first child of The Duke and Duchess of York, subsequently
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Five weeks later she was christened
Elizabeth Alexandra Mary in the chapel at Buckingham Palace. Princess
Elizabeth (now the Queen) was educated at home with Princess Margaret, her
younger sister. After her father succeeded to the throne in 1936 and she
became heir presumptive, she started to study constitutional history and
law. She also studied art and music; learned to ride horses and enjoyed
amateur theatricals and swimming - she won the Children's Challenge Shield
at London's Bath Club when she was thirteen.
The Queens early public
life: As the Princess grew older she began to
take part in public life. She broadcast for the first time in October 1940,
when she was 14; she sent a message during the BBC's children's programme to
all the children of Britain and the Commonwealth, particularly to those
children who were being evacuated for safety reasons. In early 1942 she was
appointed Colonel-in-Chief of the Grenadier Guards, and on her sixteenth
birthday she carried out her first public engagement, when she inspected the
regiment. In April 1943, Princess Elizabeth carried out her first solo
public engagement, when she spent a day with a Grenadier Guards tank
battalion in Southern Command. Thereafter her official duties increased,
particularly in connection with young people: she was President of the Queen
Elizabeth Hospital for Children in Hackney and the National Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Children. From March 1944 onwards, she also began
to accompany the King and Queen on many of their tours within Britain.
Shortly after her eighteenth birthday in 1944, Princess Elizabeth was
appointed a Counsellor of State during the King's absence on a tour of the
Italian battlefields and, for the first time, carried out some of the duties
of Head of State. In August that year, with Queen Elizabeth, the Princess
received an address from the House of Commons, and replied on behalf of the
Throne. In September 1944, the Princess carried out her first official tour
of Scotland with her parents, including her first opening ceremony in
October when she opened the recently reconstructed Aberdeen Sailors' Home.
The Princess's first flight by air was in July 1945, when she accompanied
the King and Queen on a two-day visit to Northern Ireland. In early 1945 the
Princess was made a Subaltern in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS). By
the end of the war she had reached the rank of Junior Commander, having
completed her course at No. 1 Mechanical training Centre of ATS and passed
out as a fully qualified driver.
After the end of the
war, Princess Elizabeth's public engagements continued to grow, and she
travelled extensively to attend public functions throughout the British
Isles. These included the launching of a new aircraft carrier in Belfast and
a tour of Ulster in March 1946, and attending the National Eisteddfod of
Wales in August 1946. Her first official overseas visit took place in 1947,
when she accompanied her parents and sister on a tour of South Africa.
During this tour she celebrated her twenty-first birthday, and gave a
broadcast address dedicating herself to the service of the Commonwealth - a
dedication she repeated five years later on her accession to the throne. On
her return from the South Africa tour, Princess Elizabeth received the
freedom of the City of London in June 1947; in July, she received the
freedom of the city of Edinburgh. In November 1947, Princess Elizabeth was
created a Lady of the Garter at a private investiture by the King.
Marriage and family:
Shortly after the Royal family returned from South Africa, the Princess's
engagement to Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten was announced. The couple, who
had known each other for many years, were married in Westminster Abbey on 20
November 1947. Lieutenant Mountbatten, now His Royal Highness The Prince
Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was the son of Prince Andrew of Greece and a
great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria. The Royal couple had four children,
and so far have six grandchildren. Prince Charles, now The Prince of Wales,
Heir apparent to the throne, was born in 1948, and his sister, Princess
Anne, now The Princess Royal, two years later. After Princess Elizabeth
became Queen, their third child, Prince Andrew, arrived in 1960 and the
fourth, Prince Edward, in 1964. Prince Andrew and Prince Edward were the
first children to be born to a reigning monarch since Queen Victoria had her
family. Their grandchildren are Peter and Zara Phillips (b. 1977 and 1981);
Prince William of Wales and Prince Henry of Wales (b. 1982 and 1984); and
Princess Beatrice of York and Princess Eugenie of York (b. 1988 and 1990).
Prince Charles:
"The Prince of Wales", eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince
Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, is heir apparent to the throne. The Prince was
born at Buckingham Palace on 14 November 1948, and was christened Charles
Philip Arthur George. The Prince was educated at Cheam School and at
Gordonstoun, Scotland. He spent part of the school year in 1966 as an
exchange student at the Geelong Church of England Grammar School, Melbourne,
Australia - the first member of the British Royal family to attend an
overseas Commonwealth school. Between 1967 and 1970, the Prince read
archaeology and anthropology and, for his last two years, history, at the
University of Cambridge.
Marriage and Family
(Diana, Princess
of Wales, 1 July 1961 - 31 August 1997)
 On 29 July 1981
The Prince of Wales married Lady Diana Spencer in St Paul's Cathedral. The
marriage of The Prince and Princess of Wales was dissolved on 28 August
1996. The Princess of Wales was killed in a car crash on 31 August 1997 in
Paris. Their two children, Prince William and Prince Henry, are second and
third in line of succession to the throne. Prince William Arthur Philip
Louis was born on 21 June 1982 at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, in London.
He was christened by the Archbishop of Canterbury at Buckingham Palace and
he was confirmed by the Bishop of London at St George's Chapel in 1997.
Prince William is currently at Eton College, Windsor. He undertakes no
official engagements on his own, although he attended the VE and VJ
commemorations in 1995 in London with his family. Prince Henry Charles
Albert David was born on 15 September 1984 at St Mary's Hospital,
Paddington. He was christened by the Archbishop of Canterbury in December
1984 in St George's Chapel, Windsor.
Prince William:
Prince William Arthur Philip Louis was born on 21 June 1982 at St Mary's
Hospital, Paddington, in London. He was christened by the Archbishop of
Canterbury at Buckingham Palace. Prince William began his education at Mrs
Mynor's Nursery School in west London in September 1985, aged 3. In January
1987, William was enrolled at Wetherby School, also in London, and was a
pupil there until July 1990. He spent five years at Ludgrove School from
September 1990 until July 1995. Prince William is currently at Eton College,
Windsor, where he will study geography, biology and history of art at A
Level, after sitting 12 GCSEs.
Prince William is a keen
sportsman and prefers football, rugby, tennis, swimming and water polo. At
Ludgrove, he was rugby and hockey team captain and represented the school at
cross-country running. William is also a crack clay pigeon shooter, winning
the school's prize in 1994. He has acted in school plays, and enjoys reading
and film-going.
Prince William's first
public appearance was on a visit to Wales on St David's Day (1 March), at a
service at Llandaff Cathedral, aged 8. In May 1995, Prince William
accompanied his mother, father and brother to the 50th anniversary of VE
(Victory in Europe) commemorations in Hyde Park; he also accompanied his
family to the VJ (Victory in Japan) Day 50th anniversary commemorations in
front of Buckingham Palace and in the Mall in August 1995. He attended his
mother's funeral at Westminster Abbey on 6 September 1997.
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