Queen facts you never knew before yesterday/today

[sborber]

I had no idea she birthed (the now King) Charles via C-section, at home, IN Buckingham Palace... Imagine!

The Hanoverian kings all married German princesses. Victoria was married to a German, Edward VII was married to Danish princess who was actually German, and Mary of Teck was also of German descent. George VI bucked the tradition by married a Scottish Earl's daughter.

All I was doing was responding to a poster who said she had more Scottish blood than English. Not sure why you should consider it so terrible to be German...

.....I think it's probably because it's continuing to label someone as German when they no longer live there and the family have been British for some time. It's as if people are only defined by their heritage and origins.

They key word there was "blood". Personally I find it fascinating how German noble houses married into so many monarchies and how, for example, the Dutch king has no actual Dutch blood.

Quite.

She sent her young horses to Ireland because the grass was so good.

No but at her birth she was third in line to the throne.

Edward VIII was believed to be sterile so there was a very good chance that the child born would be heir to the throne one day.

Why did they think he was sterile? I've never heard that before.

Her first Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, became an MP during the reign of her great-grandmother, Queen Victoria.

No-one knows for sure, but he and his brother both had mumps as children (it's thought King George also had trouble, hence only 2 children widely spaced)

He was 40 by the time of the abdication & had never got any of his mistresses pregnant; there was also gossip that he wasn't 'fully developed' - photos of him at 17 look like he is barely a teenager.

Elizabeth was trained up from a young age because it was known there was a good chance she would be queen.

That was George V. George VI died suddenly from a pulmonary embolism.

The theory is that Edward was so promiscuous because he knew he was sterile. He is reported to of said that there was 'something wrong with his gland'

Not a fact I didn’t know, but a fact that shocked me today.

My 88yo grandad informed me King Charles III is his 5th monarch!

DH’s Gran is also on her 5th.

I’ve just realised that if she hits 105 in March (which is a bit up in the air atm as she’s not very well) she’d get a birthday wish from the King, having got her 100th from the Queen.

That's interesting to think about. Anyone born prior to January 20th 1936 (the date George V died) will have lived during the reigns of five monarchs of the UK.

I wonder if any birthday cards have been delivered in the last few days? There must besome that were sent before she died.

What else do you get the person who had everything? 😅

Of course! This would apply to my 90 yo Nan, too.

Yes, there was a lady on the news who received one on Friday.

I'm sure I read that they had something like a £15 budget for family Christmas gifts.

There was a lady just on BBC breakfast who got her card on Friday.

I believe you have to order them a fair way in advance so I imagine there are several in the pipe line.

that must have been such an emotional moment to receive a birthday card from the queen after she had already died

He was 40 by the time of the abdication & had never got any of his mistresses pregnant; there was also gossip that he wasn't 'fully developed' - photos of him at 17 look like he is barely a teenager.

Only hearsay but a friend of mine lives in a village where one of the residents was long-rumoured to be an illegitimate son of the Duke of Windsor. She says he was a dead ringer for him!

To paraphrase Sir Winston Churchill, Wallis Simpson was the best thing to ever happen to the monarchy!