Happy Birthday, Your Majesty

images
 
The Guards at Windsor Castle parade and the band plays, "Happy Birthday",
unfortunately, her Majesty the Queen is in Sandringham, at the house of
her late husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.

Mike.

 
278773600_4835324143238804_5265927414063490445_n.jpg

Barbie gives Queen Elizabeth her own doll for her 96th birthday!

Happy Birthday Queen Elizabeth ll (born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary in Mayfair, London, on April 21 1926)

Mattel released a limited edition Queen Elizabeth doll in honor of the Platinum Jubilee and her 70 years on the English throne.

The doll is part of Barbie’s Tributes Collection which honors famous and historical figures.

The royal Barbie is adorned with one of the monarch’s most iconic outfits: a replica of Queen Mary’s tiara, which she wore during her wedding to the late Prince Philip, as well as medallions inspired by the Royal Family Orders. The pink and blue ribbons also feature miniature portraits of her father King George VI and grandfather George V.

The figure comes in a box that was inspired by the throne room of Buckingham Palace and will also showcase a crest-shaped logo and badge commemorating the anniversary of the Queen’s accession to the throne.
 
It will probably upset the Monarchists but although the Queen has a place in most hearts, the monarchy that she represents, is moralised in media culture through representations of national identity, 'the family' and philanthropy, which circumvent questions of inequality, aristocratic state power and privilege.

By law, the Crown is exempt from taxation, and the Sovereign Grant is exempt from income tax. In 1992, responding to anger over public funds being used to restore Windsor Castle after a fire, the Firm agreed to pay ‘voluntary’ income and capital gains tax on private investments and the Privy Purse, the sovereign’s income from the portfolio of land, property and assets held by the Duchy of Lancaster but only “to the extent that the income is not used for official purposes”. At the time, the exact sum of this income tax, as well as the size of the wealth the income is taxable from, remained undisclosed. The Crown is also exempt from inheritance tax on “sovereign to sovereign bequests”, meaning assets can pass from monarch to monarch without alteration or loss of wealth.

The Crown is legally a common law corporation. As Guy Standing argues in ‘The Corruption of Capitalism’, rentier capitalism, monopoly ownership of scarce assets, such as land or intellectual property, by a few wealthy individuals or companies, historically began with the monarchy’s attempts to raise capital through fee extraction. This ranged from the patent system and copyright laws, to landlordism and the enclosure of public space. Many monarchs profited directly from trade deals through customs duties.

There's much more here: What's wrong with Britain? Let's start with the monarchy.
 
If the Brits don't want their monarchy any longer, we'll be happy to take them in the U.S. They certainly can't be any worse or more expensive than what we already have in place, and would probably be a major upgrade, LOL.

Back in 2011 this circulated around the Internet, and I still think it's a wonderful piece of humor:
( Not meant for those lacking a sense of humor, and or those that refuse to read a note in its entirety before making a comment)

To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II:

In light of your immediate failure to financially manage yourselves and also in recent years your tendency to elect incompetent Presidents of the USA and therefore not able to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. (You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford English Dictionary.)

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas, which she does not fancy).

Your new Prime Minister, David Cameron, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections.

Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated sometime next year to determine whether any of you noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

1. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'colour,' 'favour,' 'labour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix '-ize' will be replaced by the suffix '-ise.'Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary').

Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as ''like' and 'you know' is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as U.S. English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter 'u'' and the elimination of '-ize.' '

3. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.

4. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not quite ready to be independent. Guns should only be used for shooting grouse. If you can't sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you're not ready to shoot grouse.

5. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. Although a permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

6. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left side with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

7. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) of roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it.

8. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.

9. The cold, tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. New Zealand beer is also acceptable, as New Zealand is pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of the British Commonwealth - see what it did for them. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.

10. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.

11. You will cease playing American football. There are only two kinds of proper football; one you call soccer, and rugby (dominated by the New Zealanders). Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies).

12. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the Australians (World dominators) first to take the sting out of their deliveries.

13. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.

14. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).

15. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 p.m. with proper cups, with saucers, but never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream) when in season.

God Save the Queen!
 
She was born with a job waiting for her, and I think she has done it as well as it possibly could. Happy Birthday, Ma’am!
 
Geezerette said:
She was born with a job waiting for her, and I think she has done it as well as it possibly could. Happy Birthday, Ma’am!
Click to expand...
yes and no.. she was not born with the monarchy waiting for her, because she was born to the Brother of the King... She was never meant to be Queen and wasn't trained to be Queen from a toddler.. as Charles has been trained to be King from a tiny tot.. .. but when her Uncle abdicated in December 1936 when Elizabeth was 10 years old .. and her Mother and father became King and Queen in May 1937.. A wholly unprepared King George ( Albert ) had to learn how to become King, and had little time to spend training his eldest daughter to become Queen.. little knowing that he would die young and she would have to take the role of Monarch in her early 20's

Instead the Queen mother felt that her children as girls needed no formal Education and her father thought it was more important for them to have fun, nor did they have to learn to mix with their peers, and so they had them educated at home with just rudimentary subjects.. English , Maths, and a couple of other subjects.. and one language which was French. The Queen received no higher education or University degrees of any sort.. so by the time her father had died suddenly and she had to take over the role of Monarch she was far from ready...

To have been able to be the longest reigning Monarch, beloved by most, and never put a foot wrong with regard to any conversation she may have had with the head of any country , and again to have prevented many a conflict of war during her reign.. is a testament to what an intelligent person , and very quick learner she must be...

It's never be known whether the Queen hates her job as her father had, due to being unprepared for it... but she's been the most loyal of sovereigns to her country regardless of her feelings.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top