Saturday 12 June 2010

SAaturday 12 June - another Royal Event

Another Royal occasion had me glued to the telly this morning:  the Queen's Birthday Parade and Trooping the Colour.  It's held on Horseguards' Parade in London every year to commemorate the monarch's 'Official' birthday.  That means the day she was crowned and therefore officially became our Queen.  It has nothing to do with the anniversary of her birth, which is 21st April.

Until a few years ago the Queen used to actually take an active part in the proceedings, on horseback whatever the weather, and always riding sidesaddle.  Sidesaddle!  Both legs on the same side of the horse !  What a brilliant horsewoman she must be.  Nowadays she and her husband sit it out on a specially built podium and she uses an open carriage to review the troops assembled before her.  Quite right too, she is 84

You know, I watch all this every single year.  I never tire of it and never will because each year I learn something I never knew.  This time it was that the drum horses - the huge shires that carry two 57lb kettle drums plus a drummer in full regalia and have to be on their ceremonial best behaviour - they are the only animals in the British army that carry an official rank of Major.  Not the rider, the horse!  Well, I never knew that!  I did wonder whether those magnificent animals might be deaf.  I couldn't see any ear defenders, though I'm sure they will have had some way of protecting their hearing.  How would you like it if somebody was banging on a huge drum - which YOU had to carry - right next to your ears?

A couple of other thoughts occurred too.  I wonder how it must be to have two legs the same length?  How do the marching soldiers get over the fear of tripping over something?  Maybe they never think about it but I think I would have panic attacks about it!

Where there are lots of horses there must be lots of horse poo.  As they - men and animals - went marching off the parade ground back to barracks I wondered how they avoided the stuff.  Answer:  they don't, they March straight through it.  No hopping over or round - straight through and nary so much as a wrinkled nose.  Even the Queen's open carriage ploughed through a pile of poo.  Now if there's anything worse than steaming, sticky horse poo, it's disturbed steaming sticky horse poo!  So now you know: the drum horses must be deaf and everyone else has no sense of smell!

How do those on parade manage to decipher the orders that are being belted out?  They must have hellish lung capacity, those who do all the shouting.  I mean the troopers can hardly say to their neighbour "What did he say?"

Those busbies (tall bearskin hats) must get unbearably hot on a nice day.  On the other hand they must weigh a ton if it rains.  how do the mums know which one is their son under all that lot?

And haven't they got big feet.........

I wonder what the Queen is having for lunch?  If I said I'd love to go, would she invite me?  I know which knife and fork to use!

13 comments:

Sybil said...

Oh Angie, what a laugh you have given me. The tears are streaming down my face as I write I certaily had never given the horse poo a thought ROFL ...

As for lunch with the Queen, if you are invited please let me come to...just as your supporter you understand !
mch Love Sybil xx

I'm mostly known as 'MA' said...

The thoughts of all that royalty and protocol are something to be admired but I'm sure I'd rather just be plain old me without having to be on show all the time. It hardly seems possible they are in their 80's but then time is the same for us all rich or poor.

Jan said...

Yes I watched it too ,it has to be said (not for the first time ) nobody does the ceremonial quite like us do they ?,big feet ,umm yes and nice bums cor ! it was lovely watching it again through your eyes hee hee ,felt abit concerned when the Queen had problems with her lap blanket still I suppose it wouldnt be right for one of those soldiers to tuck her in ,would it ?...love Jan xx

RuthnJasper said...

Mmmnnn... lovely horse poo... I bet the Queen has the best roses in England!

Of course, this was the occasion when the Queen showed exactly how brave she is - I think it was in the 1980s. As she rode past some nutjob fired a couple of shots at her. Her horse jumped a bit, but she soon had him under control, and she never batted an eyelid. What a woman! I really love and respect our Queen.

And, you know, she names each and every horse in the stables herself. Ruth has been to the Palace twice - on an earlier http://jasper-thedogsblog.blogspot.com/ post, there's her photo of the stall reserved for a carriage horse called Jasper! Ruth actually saw him - a foul-tempered, arrogant beast, apparently... nothing like me, then...!
lots of love,
Jasper xxxxxxxxx

Jojo said...

Very interesting thoughts indeed!!! Now I'm worried about that poor horse having hearing damage!! Even with plugs, those drums vibrate. Poor thing. It will be next year before he recovers.

Marie Rayner said...

Oh Angie, you do make me laugh. I love your posts. I can't believe I missed this yesterday!! I watch this every year and instead I was in Chester watching Romans prance about! *sniff* Woe is me! Love you loads dear friend. xxoo

Joyce said...

Thanks for peaking in at my blog today. I will send you some heat and you can send me some cool weather. I never knew horses could be ranked a Major. Oh and those hats must he hot and heavy too. See it was the big guys birthday in your previous post. Yes I think we both should be invited to have tea at least at the Palace:-) I would behavior. Oh and your scones and cake looked wonderful.
Joyce

Rita said...

Hi Angie!
How nice that you should be the first one to greet me back;thank you so much.
Your beautiful Queen is coming to Canada June 28th; she won't be coming to see me, but I will watching her on the tele.
I did see her in person and I know she wave right at me;I was that close.
We were in Quebec city(my husband was still studying) in 1964; what a thrill! Have always admired her courage!
Thank you for making my day!
Hugs,
Rita

Patchwork Dragon said...

As Jan says, no one does ceremony quite like us! I have a couple of friends that I meet up with in Windsor 2 or 3 times a year, and we always try and get there to watch changing of the guard!

Grammy Staffy said...

Oh, I do hope that she invites you... especially since you are all brushed up on your manners and know what silverware to use.

You are so funny Angie.
You make me smile my friend.
Hugs, Lura

Anonymous said...

Hey Angie...can you hear me back there??? have tried to comment but it wouldn't work...but here I am again...I have always enjoyed watching and/or reading anything about the Royal Family of England...and when I was a young girl..loved to read anything about the two Princesses...and when I visited England we watched the changing of the guard I think it was called...at Buckingham Palace...the Queen wasn't at home...at that time...LOL...so we didn't get invited to lunch...sheesh...a real bummer!!! LOL...we ate at some Pub...and it was delicious...LOL...God Bless Angie...love and hugs...Ora in KY

Ben said...

Great...now I'll be thinking of horse poo the rest of the night...

I do love the idea of your "birthday" being the day you started your job. Makes me quite the young man, you know.

Great post, dear.

Ben
http://www.cfainc.org/breeds/profiles/devon.html

Sybil said...

Hope you are ok. Angie seems a wee while since we had an update.
love Sybil