General Chat

The Queen, God bless her, has the strength to stand through out the

during parades and her composure at the Cenotaph is very commendable.

She never flinches while younger men are fidgeting and buckling.

She's out most mornings riding horse before some are out of bed.

I think our Royal family do a very good job.maybe some of the younger ones use their positions to advantage,but The Queen takes her role very seriously.
How many 91 year olds would like to get up to some function when she would like a lie in?
I'm glad we have a monarchy and most countries envy us.

Regarding Gibraltar..I have lived very near the border and most of the Spaniards who live in LaLinea or thereabouts don't want it to be part of Spain as they are employed in shops and businesses there and benefit from VAT and tax free prices.
The Gibraltarians are a mixture of all religions,but get along very peacefully and are nearly 100%pro British.
Their argument is also that Spain have 2 Enclaves in North Africa,Ceuta and Melilla.that they guard very well with police and gunmen to stop entry from Morocco etc.there is no mention of them giving up their rights to them.

I like the Spanish Royal family and I don't think their government should get them to interfere in the political matters.

It will take more than a family reunion to sort out the Gibraltar / brexit problem. The Spanish see Andorra as a good model. The Brits refuse to grasp that the status quo is not an option.

Holà como estas

Stand corrected re 170 at the Banquet . ;-) Thanks for joining in my little thread Enjoy your weekend Barbra :-D

Well shes been awarded an extra 6 million just a week after the Grenfell fire so no cheapo vinegar tasting plonk for the spanish they would know the difference.. ;-) :-D.

The jewels may have been past gifts from previous spanish royality so wearing them would be respectful.....but who cares anyway.?

Oh I know they have casual meals for family but can't see the keg of beer and cheap wine for company....unless it's her PM and she doesn't like them.... :-D

well, they apparently have bbqs and picnics when they're up at Balmoral

Can't quite see our Lizzie doing that though can you? Phil yeah but not her. :-)

Would it be better to have a barbecue in the garden with a keg of beer and a few bottles of cheap wine.

Definitely tastes better! :-D :-D :-D

I understand all formal meals try to use local seasonal food whenever possible.

I've a feeling Charles would 'suggest' the food was local :-D :-D
If the queen is anything like her father - meals at home are simple 'plain' food - according to my late father in law, George VI's favourite meal was roast lamb followed by rice pudding - and the Royal family don't slip into Starbucks every day for an overpriced latte at our expense!
I know she keeps her cornflakes in Tupperware containers.

Don't forget, we pay for reduced prices at the House of Commons' restaurant and bar - MP's can eat food we wouldn't dream of, and get pished on the cheap at our expense :-|

The piece I read online about that banquet was really really confused .....

..... it jumped back and forth between talking about the State Banquet for the King and Queen of Spain with about 170 or so guests and the Annual Diplomatic Reception with around 1,000 attendees

The latter is when the Queen receives every senior diplomatic representative and their spouse to the UK from other countries at Buckingham Palace. If I remember correctly, it is not a State Banquet, or a banquet of any form or fashion, but a reception with nibbles being taken around.

The State Visit of the King and Queen of Spain is apparently an attempt to ensure that diplomatic relations remain good with Spain after Brexit .................. partly I presume because of financial concerns, but I wonder how much bad relations would affect all those Brits who have retired to Spain????

A State Banquet is a relatively rare event, and only given to the Head of a State.

Unfortunately, Trumpoid will have to be given one of he arrives in the UK next year while the Queen is in London.


Secondly, the jewels ............. if you read detailed descriptions of the tiaras and other jewels, some were wedding presents (the Queen's necklace from her father), some were bequests from people (eg, one was a bequest to the Queen Mother 70 or 80 years ago). The Queen's tiara goes back over a hundred years, etc etc etc


Third, be glad that you have the Royal Family as the major representative of what the UK stands for ................... think of Trumpoid being the major representative of the US. Would you like your views and values to be expressed to the world by someone like him?????

Imagine someone like Trumpoid's wife wearing one of the tiaras?


Living in Canada, I'm glad that we still have e Governor-General, and that many of my values are not expressed differently to the world as the Prime Minister changes. I'm also glad that there is a certain kind of dignity retained by the senior members of the Royal Family and by their representative in the old Commonwealth countries.


Before any one tells me that if other countries like having the Royal Family or representative then we should contribute to supporting them ....... we do!!

GGs are paid and housed by the country where they live.

The costs of every member of the Royal Family who goes on tour to another country, or certainly every Commonwealth country, are paid by that country while they are touring ........ costs that is except for their own personal staff and security they bring with them.

170 people, fairly simple menu, probably part sourced from their own estates?( salmon trout, Scottish beef).

"Guests at the Spanish state banquet gathered in the Buckingham Palace ballroom before dining on medallion of Scottish beef and truffles in a Madeira sauce.

To start, they also enjoyed poached salmon trout and fennel in a white whine veloute sauce - while a dark chocolate and raspberry ( tart) was served for dessert."

It's not like they all whipped out to Tiffany's for new jewellery, it's second/third/fourth hand lol.

Apparently " The UK is the number one destination for overseas Spanish investment, reaching an accumulated 82.5bn euros by the end of 2015."

I used to enjoy The Royle Family when they were on TV.

The Queen....God bless her <3

I think the figure of 1,000 guests is wrong, from what I can see it is more like 170.

Didn't she insist they didn't have any titles she knew they'd never be up in the high rankings...not to say having a mummy that's a princess hasn't helped but...

Yes Caroline you are right .Tradition .Prince Andrew must get a lot for his Role ? Princess Ann is every bit Royal as her Brother but her two Children don't have Royal tittles as does Andrews two Daughters . .& they seem to enjoy their life .without it .

Nobody seems to complain about the air miles of Liam Fox as he goes about his imaginary job.