As we’ve mentioned previously, Heather and I happen to be in the UK this week, thanks to Visit Britain, and it’s been WONDERFUL thus far, but never more so than when this happened:
We were in Windsor for the day, but I had NO IDEA we’d end up on the front lines of Her Majesty’s birthday walkabout. It was, I must admit, extremely exciting to be present in person for such a milestone — as an Anglophile, a lover of history in general, and someone who’s written about royals both real and fictional for some time now. Heather and I both feel very lucky to have gotten to see her (and Philip, who is QUITE tall and spry in person). Lots of snaps from yesterday at Windsor in the slideshow, as well as other shenanigans. President Obama is here this weekend to have lunch with QE2 today, and then he and Michelle are having an event with Wills and Kate and Harry Friday night. I will definitely write about all of those events, but I’m not totally sure when I’ll get to tonight’s — possibly Saturday, depending on where I am when the photos come in. (I mean, I will be in Scotland. But I might not get to it until later than usual.) It’s going to be in their apartment in KP, so let’s all be on alert for piano pictures. In case you missed it here this week: — We’re voting on our favorite look from Kate’s trip to India and Bhutan. — Wills and Harry visited the set of Star Wars and it was awesome. Chewbacca dispensed hugs. – There were new portraits of the Queen released yesterday in honor of her birthday, and they involve tiny children, dogs, and Princess Anne. This post also has loads of pics from our trip. — And you can see more pics from our trip over at Facebook. (We will be posting more pics later!) — The paperback of The Royal We comes out on Tuesday, and you can still enter to win copies, and a prize pack from the UK! And in other news, I don’t know if we’re going to get better snaps of this, but:
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with Prince Harry on route to Windsor. pic.twitter.com/9jmALaGc5e — Niraj Tanna (@IkonPictures) April 21, 2016
Also, this happened:
Prince George meets The President and First Lady of the United States pic.twitter.com/HZxelhSSr4
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) April 22, 2016
More pics to come later, but I think I speak for us all when I say, “!!!!” The dressing gown! Obama with kids! The inside of the KP apartment!
– People has good coverage of the very interesting BBC interview with Wills, which we saw much of while we were in London earlier. (As you can imagine, being here this week was VERY helpful for my job, although we tragically missed Elizabeth at 90.) His face goes full Aggressively Pleasant at one point; I almost called him Nick when I saw it.
– Also at People, Prince Carl Philip and Sofia have had their son and taken him home. His name is Prince Alexander Erik Bertil Hubertus.
–Vogue UK has a good piece about this exhibit of QE2’s clothes that’s currently at Holyrood House, which we saw today, and which we are going to write about more in depth later. It is FANTASTIC and I highly recommend it; there’s going to be HUGE version of it at Buckingham Palace this summer, as well. It’s really, really well done. Also: so far, Holyroodhouse is the palace at which I MOST feel I could live, house-wise, thus far, in terms of the livability of its staterooms. DISCUSS. (I haven’t been to Balmoral or Sandringham.)
– I love this piece in The Telegraph about the Queen’s 90 years of style.
– Also at The Telegraph are 90 pictures for 90 years.
– ALSO at The Telegraph is a very interesting piece about the new recent stamps of Prince George.
– Via Harper’s Bazaar: Nine of the Queen’s unexpected powers and privileges
– At ArtNet: Celebrate the Queen’s 90th Birthday With Favorite Shots From Her Royal Photographer
– The Brits are hiring a new social media manager, which I feel like we all suggested. I want one of you to apply! (Mashable)
– At Order of Splendor, a salute to the Queen’s favorite tiara.
