Change of Sovereign

Somehow i know where to find them :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

(79) Quackery, greenery and political interference. You’re not going to like this #KingCharles - YouTube

Australian Prime Minister, Albo says no referendum on republic during his first term in government, he was only recently elected, and he is pro-republic.

What a relief, greens sidelined on this topic for now.

1 Like

Things you probably didn’t know about the young Prince Charles, now HM King Charles III:

He also went to school down my way, not to my school but an AGS school like mine on the other side of the bay.

If only it had been an heir and a spare it would’ve been simpler than monkeyshines gone fair!

Not only in the UK is the passing of HM the Queen being marked with salut and flowers:

The ship named for and by her is seen as a fitting place to pay tribute;

1 Like

I was on course in 1972 with the then Sub-lieutenant, The Prince of Wales, as he was formally known and I was the same rank. The course was half British stubbies and the other half Aussies and Kiwis.

The Poms were quite deferential, but not us. We played all sorts of tricks on him eg booby trapping his Aston Martin DBS, continuous banter etc but damage control practical allowed the greatest fun. We could liberally spray him with full force fire hoses, lock him in the smoke chamber, undo his leak-stopping and ensure he goes underwater (in icy cold water), let him cook a bit near the fires ….

He took it , shall we say, with stiff upper lip … but held his fire for the most classy of get-backs in history. He was guest of honour at the end of course formal mess dinner, whilst we his classmates dined somewhat at the junior end of the mess. He got up to speak and delivered a stinging rebuke to us and said he’d asked ‘mummy’ to throw us in the Tower (of London). He said she refused. We cheered and heckle from the back. He then struck. He said, “Well, I’ve gone over her head.” He blew a whistle and the mess doors were flung open and in marched a squad of Beefeaters, the guards from the Tower, in full regalia. They look like this,


They marched to the rear, stabbed their pike axes into our backs and trooped us outside, shut the doors and others waiting there shot us (thankfully with blanks aimed upwards) to which Charles announced to the remaining officers, somewhat aghast that he could do this (did he just do that?), “Justice has been done.”

They rushed out to witness no actual deaths. But there were a bunch of Aussies and Kiwis eager to extract revenge at the subsequent boisterous (and somewhat violent) but traditional mess games like mess rugby, Moriarty, leg wrestling and boat races.

We won.

The blighter then got promoted rather higher up the tree than any of us.

He won.

11 Likes

There’s also an aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth.

For the coinage (numismatics?) experts.

Coins in the kings realms will now feature the king’s head facing the left. We suspected as much but stop worrying. It’s not political, the sovereign’s image alternates direction each time.

And one named HMS Prince of Wales:

1 Like

Awesome story @Jughead.

2 Likes

There’s one by that name (a battleship) on the bottom east of Singapore with her consort, HMS Repulse(battle cruiser) sunk by Japanese aircraft in a rather disgraceful error of judgement.

Thanks. So many stories I could tell. This one has much more detail than I could fit here

3 Likes

I watched some of State Funeral for the Queen with the critical eye of a retired naval officer and I couldn’t fault the drill. I thought the ratings towing the gun carriage were excellent.
The lead lined coffin weighed 265 kg and those pallbearers had to coordinate perfectly to make the transfers so smooth. Stopping the gun carriage in a single step from a slow march is one thing but they stopped it in one movement from a quick march and that took a lot of practice.
Queen Victoria’s funeral started off with horses pulling the gun carriage and the horses got spooked and the coffin was almost dislodged. Admiral Battenberg (changed to Mountbatten in WW I and Mountbatten’s father) pressed sailors in to service using the ropes to keep the crowds back to secure to the gun carriage and the tradition stuck.
Marching that far at a slow march is much more tiring than at an ordinary pace and a sword gets surprisingly heavy.

2 Likes

It’s not a proper British military dog and pony show until one of the guards swathed in a heavy layer of red wool passes out.
My dear old dad spent some quality time under one of those bear skin covers on his way up the chain of command.

They were lucky the Queen lasted through the summer they have just had . In August there would have been a few face plants

1 Like