No matter how much is written about the quirks, idiosyncrasies and facts about one of the world’s most famous and eccentric families, the British Royal Family, there’s always more to discover. And weirder.
The British royal family takes their Christmas traditions very seriously.
All weighed at Christmas
All guests who are invited to dine with the royal family weigh themselves, sources told The Sun newspaper. Actually twice. On arrival and on departure.
As everyone knows, this atypical family takes traditions very seriously and some of them are almost impossible to stop, no matter how strange and illogical.
This particular tradition dates back to King Edward VII, who established it during his reign in the 19th century.
Why, most people would ask?
The reason is no more logical than many other royal family traditions. This is to ensure that all guests are definitely well fed and leave the table satisfied. Not a gram lighter than they came, preferably heavier.
Another tradition, which is also still in place, is that all guests must wear cardboard hats. Except for the king or queen who is in power at any given time.
Beta and Bonds
One of the most memorable scenes from the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics was the scene with Daniel Craig, of course as James Bond, and Queen Elizabeth.
At first, the director, Danny Boyle, intended to cast a well-known actress like Helen Mirren as the queen. The British had a great deal of respect for the Queen, and Boyle felt it was more natural to ask the Queen if her character could be used in the intended “sketch”.
The Queen’s aide and, by many accounts, her closest friend, Angela Kelly, were brought in to ask Elizabeth for permission. After reading the script, which she found very entertaining, she asked if it wouldn’t be easier for her to play the part herself?
This is stated in a book that Angela Kelly published during her years with the Queen, but she was responsible for choosing all of the Queen’s clothes as well as fitting her shoes for over two decades.
Angela then asked the Queen if she only wanted to appear in a film or do a speaking role, Elizabeth replied. “Of course I have to say something to the man, otherwise it would be rude.”
The queen must have had a great time filming and was very happy with the result.
Here you can see the scenes from Bond and the Queen
Everything for pampered beets
It is no coincidence that a marathon is exactly 42.195 kilometers long. The word marathon comes from the Greek and refers to when the Greek soldier ran 41.9 kilometers to confirm the victory of the Greeks over the Persians.
But how did 41.9 kilometers become 42.195?
The answer is that when the Olympics were held in London in 1908, the royal couple’s children wanted to see the runners run. On the other hand, the starting line was not visible from the royal rooms of the children and this information was transmitted to the organizers of the tournament.
It was therefore decided to move the starting line back to ensure a view of the king’s offspring. And that’s where those extra meters came from, which became a tradition and was documented as the legal length of marathons in 1921.
Dirty Diana
When the late Michael Jackson performed at Wembley Stadium in 1988, he knew the then Prince and Princess of Wales, Karl, and the late Princess Diana would be in attendance. He then recently released the song Dirty Diana, which is about a cowardly groupie who persecutes Jackson.
He did not think it was appropriate to sing the song in Diana’s presence and therefore removed it from the concert’s playlist.
The singer and the princess have become great friends.
Jackson said in a 1997 interview that Diana asked to meet him before the concert, and of course the singer agreed. The princess was very excited to meet Jackson and repeatedly asked him if he was definitely going to take Dirty Diana. Jackson refused, explaining that he felt it was disrespectful to the princess. But Diana begged Jackson to record the song, so he sang it for the princess.
They then became great friends, talking regularly on the phone and trying to see each other as often as possible.
Many, many zeros
Renowned financial firm, Brand Finance, estimates the assets of the British royal family to be $88 billion, which is too many zeros to even bother to switch to the Icelandic krona. So only the total family assets are involved, not the huge assets of individual members of the royal family, but there will also be dizzying sums at stake.
The same company estimates its most famous family’s UK earnings to be £1.8billion a year.
Karl and Camilla in their younger years when they weren’t allowed to date.
Fred and Gladys
Royal couple Charles and Camilla had a decades-long romance before finally getting married, as we know. But what people may know less is that from the beginning they used special names for each other. Camilla calls Karl Fred and Karl calls his current girlfriend Gladys.
The names are derived from a British radio comedy show that was popular a long time ago.
Princess Diana, early in her marriage to Karl, caught wind of the nicknames and hated them with all her heart, especially when she came across an artifact in Karl’s possession, signed From G to F.
She knew then that her husband would never recover from his love for Camilla.
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