Latest news with #QueenMother
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
The Castle of Maze! King unveils grand design for the Queen Mother's former home
It was a home beloved of his grandmother who would spend hours walking around her Highland estate. And now King Charles is to add to the beauty of the Castle of Mey, in Caithness, as he bids to attract tourists with a new maze. A garden maze is being created in the grounds of the castles which is owned by the King's Foundation. The royal residence became a favourite haunt of the late Queen Mother as she visited friends in the Highlands after the death of her husband, King George VI, in 1952. The monarch developed a love of mazes as a child. The one at Castle of Mey, which will have an ornamental tower in the middle, is aimed at attracting more visitors, particularly children and teenagers, to the site. A planning application for the development has been submitted to Highland Council and the local authority is due to make a decision by August. A design statement accompanying the application reads: 'The project proposes a new maze garden and folly located within a clearing in the woodland to the south east of the castle. 'The folly and maze will form part of the visitor attraction. The construction project itself will provide training in traditional skills with the opportunity for public demonstration and interaction. 'The hedges to the maze would be made from fuchsia like some of the hedges within the walled garden. The hedges would be grown to 1.2m height. This would be above the eye level of a child but would allow an adult to see over the hedges. 'The role of the new building is to be the central focal point of a new maze within the woodland. It is ornamental and provides seating for people at the completion of their visit to the maze. 'It should appeal to all visitors to the maze including children and teenagers and it should be accessible for people with various types of impairments, such as mobility, sight, hearing and autism.' As a child, King Charles spent hours hiding and playing in a maze on the Royal Family's Sandringham estate. In recent years he has had new mazes built at Sandringham and his other Scottish residences at Balmoral and Dumfries House. Speaking at the opening of the Dumfries House maze, he said: 'I'm afraid to say I'm rather indulging in my childhood fantasy of mazes. There's nothing more enjoyable than getting lost in a maze.' The Queen Mother first saw the 16th century Castle of Mey in 1952, when she was staying nearby with Commander Clare and Lady Doris Vyner. She was still mourning her husband, King George VI, but was immediately charmed by the building, then known as Barrogill Castle, despite half its roof having been torn off in storms. She purchased the castle, along with its walled garden and 24 acres of land.. The castle was opened to the public in 2002. Along with other local tourist businesses, it has benefitted from the success of the North Coast 500 driving route, around the north coast of Scotland.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Princess Eugenie left one chair empty at her wedding and this is the reason why...
Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank 's Great Gatsby wedding at St George's Chapel was pure sophistication from start to finish. The princess wore a low-back gown in an ivory brocade fabric with shoes by Charlotte Olympia. Her stunning emerald tiara is known as Margaret Greville's tiara and was inherited by The Queen Mother in 1942. Eugenie and Jack invited 850 royals, aristocrats, VIPs and friends - 150 more than Harry and Meghan when they married at the same venue five months prior. Among the guests were celebrities such as Cara Delevingne to Robbie Williams. Arriving on the arm of her father, Prince Andrew, Eugenie was beaming throughout the hour-long service, while Jack appeared overcome with emotion. But some eagle-eyed royal observers noticed one 'unusual' detail: One of the best seats in the church was left empty. People began to speculate why this was with some questioning if it was out of respect to a deceased relative, or that there was a missing guest. Some eagle-eyed royal observers noticed one unusual detail: One of the best seats in the church was left empty But the real reason was due to royal protocol - and to keep the late Queen happy. Traditionally the Queen and the rest of the royals sit in the right hand choir pews at St George's Chapel, closest to the altar. Royal protocol dictates that no one is allowed to sit in front of the Queen and obstruct her view. This specific seat is also said to be one the late Queen 'didn't find comfortable'. Instead it is thought that she preferred to be in the second row alongside her husband, Prince Philip. For this occasion, Prince Charles, Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle also joined her in the second row. The bride's mother, Sarah Ferguson, Princess Beatrice and Zara and Mike Tindall all sat in the front row. This gave the Queen - who stood at a mere 5 foot 3 inches - an unobstructed view of the nuptials. Eugenie had a close relationship with the late Queen, affectionately calling her 'Granny'. They often spent time together when Eugenie was a child, including summers at Balmoral. As an adult, they often attended various royal events together. Eugenie admired her grandmother's sense of duty, dedication, and love for her people, both in public and private. The Queen trusted Eugenie to wear the Greville Emerald Kokoshnik Tiara on her wedding day, as she had promised her as a child. It has been reported that Meghan initially wanted to wear this tiara for her wedding, but the Queen ultimately chose a different one. When Prince Harry married Meghan earlier the same year, he also left a seat vacant in front of the Queen. It was initially believed that this was in honour of his mother, the late Princess Diana but was later revealed to be for the Queen to have a better view. The Queen didn't need the accommodation at Prince William and Kate Middleton's 2011 ceremony, however, as she was seated in the front row then. According to Buckingham Palace sources, the spot in front of the Queen is always left empty. Queen Elizabeth memorably sat in the same spot at the 2021 funeral of Prince Philip, her husband of 73 years. Due to Covid restrictions that required social distancing, the monarch sat alone in the pew. Since Charles became king in 2022, this tradition has continued for him. At Queen Elizabeth's committal service, the chair in front of Charles was kept empty. There have also been occasions when the Royal Family has honoured the deceased by leaving a chair vacant. In 2021 following the death of his father, Prince Philip, Charles said there was a noticeably empty seat at his family's table, where his father would have once sat. The following year, in 2022, Charles left an empty seat opposite him in the Royal Ascot carriage in honour of the Queen's absence. Royal protocol is not a set in stone set of rules and is often broken for various reasons. Both King Charles and heir to the throne Prince William are much taller than the late Queen was, standing at 5 foot 10 and 6 foot 3 respectively. Their view is unlikely to be obstructed by somebody sitting in front of them but the tradition may remain for the sake of tradition. But for the wedding of Eugenie and Jack, this small detail meant that the Queen was comfortable and could get a full view of her granddaughter as she married the love of her life.
The Review Geek
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Review Geek
The Haunted Palace – K-drama Episode 12 Recap & Review
Episode 12 Episode 12 of The Haunted Palace begins with Gangcheori mourning his brother. Yeo-ri comforts him and blames herself for Bibi's death. Unfortunately, Kim Bong-in arrests them for trespassing. The King defends them and has them freed. Throughout the whole ordeal, Gangcheori is listless. It falls on Yeo-ri to tell the King about Kim being the mastermind. Shocked, the King gives Kim the benefit of the doubt and has Royal Guard Seo follow him. Kim confronts Pung-san for letting Gangcheori and Yeo-ri leave. However, Pung-san doesn't care as the 8-foot ghost has become much stronger after devouring Bibi's pearl. Yeo-ri brings Ga-seop to the palace to protect the Queen and Crown Prince while the gang travels to Yongdam Village to question Choi Won-u. However, everyone notices Gangcheori hurting and they worry for him. Even Head Eunuch Kim sends yugwa candy for him. As for Mrs. Yoon, she sneaks him snacks when Gangcheori has no appetite. He looks touched and promises to eat later. Back to the familial betrayal, the Queen Mother visits the King. From her own investigation, she has learned that Kim threatened Yeong-in's nanny into introducing Pung-san to the Queen Mother. She regrets everything and apologises for indirectly hurting the King's unborn child. On top of that, Seo confirms that Kim met with Pung-san's assistant, Se-wan. The King looks sad as he calls for Kim. After the previous king had died, a teary-eyed Kim had cleaned his bloody tonggae, his bow and arrow case, and offered it to the current king. The King believed it was a sign of Kim's protection. The King cries as he accuses Kim of treason. However, Kim smirks and claims the King is to blame with his absurd anti-slavery and anti-corruption reforms. Kim only backed him as long as he didn't change the 'natural order' of the nation. He is further gleeful that the King has no proof and he will have to arrest Yeo-ri, an illegal shaman should she procure one. However, the King has been hiding the court who all hear Kim's confession. Kim is exiled for treason but his assassins easily free him. He storms over to the shrine and threatens the ghost to kill the King. The ghost doesn't take kindly to threats and reveals he doesn't need the minister anymore. He possesses Pung-san and kills Kim. Gangcheori is back in commission as he assures Yeo-ri that he doesn't hate her. He only blames the ghost and is ready to destroy him. The gang arrive at Yongdam and so as not to spook Choi Won-u, they claim it is a retreat. Gangcheori wonders about In-seon's whereabouts and Yeo-ri is jealous. Head Eunuch Kim finds out that it has been 100 years since a king (King Yeon-jong) visited the village. While Choi hosts them, the gang share an inner joke as the King jests about Gangcheori's 'perfect manners.' Gangcheori finally tries the yugwa candy and even shares it with Head Eunuch Kim. The eunuch talks about how he too lost a sibling, hinting that he knows Gangcheori is mourning someone important to him. The King's plan is thwarted from the beginning when Choi Won-u shuts down on the mention of his 100-year-old ancestor, Choi Gil-sang. Then they are interrupted by In-seon who has again been possessed by the one-legged ghost. The King wants answers and Choi spins a tale that the ghost is Jang Eon-su, a book merchant who stole some important books 5 years ago. While punishing him, Choi accidentally killed Jang. Feeling guilty, he retired. Yeo-ri and Gangcheori exorcise the ghost and their usual antics follow. But this time, the ghost agrees to be captured, but with a condition. He wants a scandalous book about the Chois exposed; that has been his revenge plan all along. Yeo-ri tells Choi this, and also how Jang hid the book in the place where he died. Choi claims it is all lies. A flashback shows Choi Won-u actually selling all the books to Jang. It includes the scandalous 100-year-old book, The Anthology of Light and Darkness. It has royal state secrets and can ruin the reputation of the Chois. It also tells the story of King Yeon-jong and a military officer. Once Choi hears it, he offers to buy it back. Before the transaction, a greedy Jang hides it in Choi's granary and asks for more money. Enraged, Choi attacks Jang who falls on a rake, slicing up his leg. Choi hesitates before killing Jang. At present, he finds the book and is about to burn it when Gangcheori saves it. He tells the King that the book has the origin story of the ghost. At the end of The Haunted Palace Episode 12, the ghost seethes over the King's words. He expels Yoon Gap's soul and Pung-san laughs. The Episode Review With The Hauned Palace having such a strong run so far, it seems that Episode 12 has decided to mess things up a bit. It is primarily Kim Bong-in's character who is portrayed as this manipulative, scheming grandfather who has not an ounce of love or loyalty for his grandson. While we had grand ideas of why he may choose to betray his only family, the reality is quite disappointing. Had it been any other K-drama, we would have chalked off Kim as a secondary, flat character whose only purpose is to be the villain. But The Haunted Palace is abundant with three-dimensional grey characters such as Gangcheori, Yoon Gap, Bibi, the Queen Mother, Choi Won-u and the 8-foot ghost himself. Yep, even the main antagonist has a tragic backstory that hints that circumstances out of his control turned him into a malevolent spirit. Yet, here we have Kim Bong-in laughing while his grandson cries at his betrayal. It undermines Kim Ji-hoon's heartbreaking portrayal of the King in what is supposed to be a bitter reality check. It doesn't help that Kim decides to betray him and summon the ghost when the King is just a teenager and has yet to voice his 'unconventional' political ideals. The timeline doesn't back Kim's loathing for his own family. And like his weak characterization, he simply gets an unsatisfying off-screen death. This storyline overshadows an integral character development for Gangcheori in this chapter, as he bonds with humans, other than Yeo-ri, while mourning his brother. Previous Episode Next Episode Expect A Full Season Write-Up When This Season Concludes!
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Black museum in Gainesville again celebrates Florida Emancipation Day
Celebrating the freedom of enslaved Africans in Florida highlighted a Florida Emancipation Day event at a Black museum in southeast Gainesville. Billed as the 'Florida Emancipation Celebration' that is held as part of 'Journey to Juneteenth: Florida Emancipation to National Celebration,' the event was again held at the Cotton Club Museum and Cultural Center on May 24. It began with a few dozen people participating in the 'Freedom Walk' from Depot Park to the museum that is located just east of the park on Southeast Seventh Avenue. 'KKK' was scrawled on a real estate sign across from the museum. Guardian Newsletter: Haven't signed up for the Gainesville Guardian newsletter? Here's what you're missing. Leading the walk was Vivian Filer, a matriarch of the local Black community who is now known as Queen Mother Mangye Naa Amiami Osuowaa Okropong I after being enstooled, and Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward. Those walking entered the grounds of the museum singing the freedom song 'Ain't Nobody Going to Turn Us Around.' An enstoolment is an African and African Diaspora tradition of bestowing the title of Queen Mother upon esteemed women as a recognition of past, present and future service to the community. 'We have a long day to learn about what emancipation means,' Ward said during brief remarks he delivered to the crowd at the event in sweltering heat. History, especially Black history, has to be told with a louder voice now more than ever because the trend in America is to quiet the conversation about true American history, Ward said. 'There are some people who don't want the story told,' Ward said, adding that hearing, learning and telling history is 'very important.' 'We need to hear the truth,' Ward said. 'We are here to hear the good stories and the bad.' Juneteenth, which is observed on June 19 each year, is the oldest known celebration held to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers led by Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger reached Galveston, Texas, with the news that the Civil War and slavery had ended. However, Emancipation Day in Florida commemorates the end of slavery in Florida when on May 20, 1865, 11 days after the Civil War ended, Union Gen. Edward M. McCook read the Emancipation Proclamation in Tallahassee. Emancipation Day and Juneteenth took place two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which became official on Jan. 1, 1863. Before the walk, Filer said she talked to those participating in the Freedom Walk about the importance of celebrating Black history. The history of Florida Emancipation Day was taught in schools and celebrated in Black communities during segregation and became less popular after integration, Filer said. The best way to learn and study Black history is by reading the works of Black historians and writers such as Zora Neal Hurston, Langston Hughes and others whose stories about Black history are written from 'their guts,' Filer said. The re-emergence of teaching about Florida Emancipation Day began several years ago when the leaders of the Florida African American Heritage Preservation Network (FAAHPN) asked its members in cities throughout Florida to educate their communities about the subject, Filer said. The FAAHPN, based in Tallahassee, is a professional museum association providing management training and consultation for African American and other museums doing significant programming focused on the history of the African diaspora in the state of Florida, according to an article published in the Tallahassee Democrat. 'Tallahassee has the day off for Florida Emancipation Day,' Filer said. Other Journey to Juneteenth events to be held include: 'Silver Linings' Community Day, May 31, noon-4 p.m. Harn Museum of Art, 3259 Hull Road, UF campus. Free. GNV Film Festival, June 7, 6-10 p.m. 'When the Music Was Cheap and Darn Near Free," 6 p.m., Hippodrome Cinema; 'Bridging Troubled Waters: The Life of Coach Jessie Heard: Lincoln High and Buchholz High School," 6:30 p.m., Hippodrome Cinema; "Black Panther," 8 p.m., Bo Diddley Plaza. All events are free. Honoring the Past, Living in the Present, Building for the Future, June 18, noon-8 p.m., Santa Fe College Blount Center, 530 W. University Ave. Free Juneteenth Breakfast and Black Music Month Celebration, June 19, 7:30-9 a.m., Cotton Club Museum and Cultural Center. Ticketed event ($35). 'An Evening with Avery*Sunshine' Juneteenth Concert, June 19, 6-9 p.m., Bo Diddley Plaza. Free. Storytime at Depot Park, June 20, 10:30-11 a.m., Depot Park. Fest 2025, June 21, 3-9 p.m., Bo Diddley Plaza. Free. Tha Cookout: A Juneteenth & Fatherhood Celebration, June 22, noon-6 p.m. (Location TBD). This story and others like it are included in the Gainesville Guardian newsletter. This free newsletter arrives by email at 5 a.m. every Wednesday. Sign up for the newsletter today at If you have any questions, please email Guardian Editor Cleveland Tinker at ctinker@ This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Emancipation Day in Florida celebrated at Black museum in Gainesville
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
The Dowager Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, gregarious chatelaine of Glamis Castle
The Dowager Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, who has died aged 92, succeeded with her husband in turning Glamis Castle into a liveable family home, and later into one of Scotland's leading tourist attractions. When in 1956 she married Captain Fergus Bowes Lyon, a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, the castle of Glamis – childhood home of the Queen Mother – was not an inheritance she was expecting. It had passed to the Queen Mother's eldest brother Patrick, who became the 15th Earl, and then to his son Timothy, the 16th Earl. But when Timothy died unexpectedly in 1972, aged 54, the next in line was his first cousin Fergus (son of another brother of the Queen Mother), who by then was working as a stockbroker in Edinburgh; he duly succeeded as the 17th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. The many-turreted Glamis Castle in the Vale of Strathmore had been in the Lyon family for 600 years, although for much of the 18th and 19th centuries the family had deserted Glamis in favour of more comfortable houses in Co Durham and Hertfordshire. By the 1890s, however, the high baronial drama of the neglected castle was back in favour, with the family installed in a new Victorian wing. But the house was less well-suited to family life in the 1970s. As Mary Strathmore put it in a later lecture, 'Glamis was a daunting prospect for any woman to contemplate. It was a very long time since it had been a happy family home.' Her five-year-old daughter Diana summed up the general mood succinctly when she announced: 'I am not going to sleep in that horrible old castle.' Briefly daunted, and sad to abandon their happy home in East Lothian, Mary Strathmore sat in the warmth by the sundial at Glamis, felt suffused with peace and decided: 'On we go.' From that point, her resolve never wavered. The first problem to be tackled was that there was no division between the public and private sides of the castle, which left the family with no privacy. Another was that the kitchen, as she put it, 'had to be seen to be believed'. Moreover, all food had to be carried up a spiral stone staircase to be consumed on the floor above. There was no entrance hall: 'only a gloomy back passage leading from a garage'. They enlisted the architect James Dunbar-Nasmith who transformed the rambling back regions into a sensible private dwelling. A garage was demolished to create a new porch; the old boiler room became their front hall; the mouldering kitchen became an office for Lord Strathmore; and a new kitchen was made on the floor above, near their dining room. Mary and her children recalled those three years of building work as a very happy time, exorcising the gloomy spirit of the house and filling it with cheerful bustle. 'There seemed to be a transistor radio going in every room,' she recalled. The family moved in at Easter in 1975, and next set about making the castle more amenable to its thousands of annual visitors. A high-powered time and motion study was commissioned, but when Mary Strathmore asked Bert Tosh, who had worked at the castle for decades, what he thought of its suggestions, he replied: 'I don't know about all those statistics but what I do know is that the public wants tea and toilets, and in that order!' They were soon nicknamed 'Strathmore and Tosh', in homage to Steptoe and Son, for their energetic clearing of detritus from top to bottom of the castle. They transformed the enormous 18th-century kitchen into a tearoom, and gathered interesting objects – including the brooch that the future George VI had given to his bridesmaids when he married Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon – into a little exhibition room. Indefatigable, cheerful and a perennial tidier, she was extraordinarily friendly, habitually inviting people with whom she had fallen into conversation at bus stops to 'do come and see Glamis'. She was taken at her word by a good many of these new acquaintances, and she maintained long correspondences with several. Among her more exotic correspondents were several Nasa astronauts, who had come into her orbit in her capacity as president of the Tayside Space School. One, Colonel Jim Reilly, was married at Glamis – at Mary Strathmore's urging – and presented the chapel with a Celtic cross made out of metal that had been to outer space. Another, Colonel Alvin Drew, tried to ring Mary Strathmore at home in 2011 from the International Space Station during the shuttle Discovery's final flight, and ended up leaving a message on her answering machine. 'I think I must be the only granny in Great Britain who has had a call from outer space, which my grandchildren thought was pretty cool,' she observed. The youngest of three children, Mary Pamela McCorquodale was born on May 31 1932 at her grandparents' house in London. Her father was Brigadier Norman McCorquodale MC, of the McCorquodale printing family; her mother was Barbara, née de Knoop. Having lived near Edinburgh before the war, the family moved south when her father inherited Winslow Hall in Buckinghamshire, one of very few private houses attributed to Sir Christopher Wren. It was later requisitioned by the RAF, and Mary recalled wandering into the stable block to hear the whirr of their machines. While her father was away serving with the Scottish Horse, her mother ran their dairy farm, and Mary later described her 'war work' as milking the cows. Mary had lessons at home with a governess before being sent aged 13 to school at Brondesbury-at-Stocks near Tring. After a few months in Paris to improve her French, she attended the Wychlea House of Domestic Science, where she enjoyed bicycling around the city and following the Christ Church & New College Beagles. On a voyage to America with friends aged 20, she had shared a cabin at sea with a woman who advised her that she would be good at 'public relations'. She never knew what that was, but as chatelaine of Glamis she later discovered she had something of a genius for it, and recalled that stranger's prophesy. In 1987, however, her husband Fergus died of a heart attack, aged 58. The role she had never sought, but had found such a flair for, was suddenly redundant. Her son Mikie suggested she should carry on as before for another five years, rather than any abrupt transition, a gesture she much appreciated. In 1991 she moved to the dower house at Glamis, where she spent a happy 18 years, before moving to Melrose in the Borders to be closer to her daughters. A pillar of the county of Angus, she was Deputy Lieutenant in 1989, and a doughty supporter of numerous good causes including the Multiple Sclerosis Society, Age Concern, Cancer Relief, the Day Care Committee for the Elderly, the Nursing Benevolent Fund, the Brittle Bone Society and the Child Psychotherapy Trust. She enjoyed the theatre and theatrical life, and was delighted to befriend the crews whenever the BBC came to film at Glamis. She was also a supporter of the Whitehall Theatre, Tayside Symphony Orchestra and the National Theatre of Scotland. One friend recalled her as 'a walking treasury of history, life, experience and wisdom.' Having been steered away from formal examinations as a child, she was very proud in 2002 to be created an honorary Doctor of Laws by Dundee University. She is survived by her two daughters, Lady Elizabeth Leeming and Lady Diana Godfrey-Faussett; her son, the 18th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, died in 2016. The Dowager Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, born May 31 1932, died April 28 2025 Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
