Official Royal Wedding Photo Will and Kate and Charles And Diana, Charles & Diana Fab Mug

I found a great article in the London Mail Online today that compared the official wedding photo of William and Kate and their wedding party with an out take of the wedding party of Charles and Diana which I thought you might be interested in seeing. Pretty neat!

I noticed Prince Harry is missing from Will and Kate's...
Also of interest, Miss Grace Von Custem, the young lady to the left of William's knee is the daughter of Edward Van Custem who you can just see above the little girl on the right. 


To view the photos in a larger format, here is a link to the article:
Royal Wedding Pictures


Below is a mug I have just added at Antiques And Teacups that I especially like. The mug is from the wedding of Charles and Diana in 1981 and is a really lovely design. Especially because it has the rare graphic on the back of Prince Charles' organic estate Highgrove House which will come to Prince William some day. We acquired 5 of them, each numbered from a limited production. I think they are so cool! For more info, click on the photos.

Here is a photo of the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge heading off to a helicopter for a few days until Prince William returns to his "day job" with search and rescue on Tuesday, flummoxing the press who had expected a long honeymoon in warmer climes. I thought that was really cool of them. He is really taking his job seriously. They spent their wedding night at Buckingham Palace.

Remember we still have a few William and Kate Royal Wedding mugs and our 10% off coupon code BLOG can be applied at checkout. Just click on the mug photos on the sidebar to be taken to Antiques And Teacups.

Will and Kate in Aston Martin with Learners Plate - Harry Strikes Again

I had to mention this, as no one else seems to have noticed it and I cracked up. For the Yanks that don't know...the big red L on the front of the Aston Martin Prince William and Catherine drove off to Clarence House in means that the driver is a Learner. I think that was one more joke of Prince Harry's for his brother. The back license plate said Just Wed.


The Aston Martin which belongs to Prince Charles was a gift from the Prince of the Persian Gulf State of Oman when he visited with Princess Diana shortly after their marriage in 1981. Diana came home with an amazing suite of diamond and enamel jewelry....wonder if Kate will eventually get that.


I also loved the "Oh Wow!" Kate said to William when they came out on the balcony and she saw the crowd.


So...Now you have your British term for the day!
Okay...back to work. It has been incredibly busy the last few days with lots of orders for British Royal Memorabilia going all over the world from Antiques And Teacups and our other sites. Not too easy concentrating on getting the order right today when I didn't get to bed until 7am this morning and was back up for orders at 10. Early night tonight!
Cheers!

Off To Bed After Wedding

Well...we haven't been to bed yet. It's 4:30 am Pacific...afternoon in the UK and the wedding is finished. Will wait for the balcony then off to bed. Thought Catherine's dress was lovely...and the Halo 1936 Cartier tiara perfect.


Loved the John Rutter choral piece written for the wedding. John Rutter is a favorite of mine...love to sing his pieces. So many good choices in scripture and music for the wedding.
Cool!

Royal Wedding Downloadable Programme Released

William and Kate have released a PDF downloadable version of the official Royal Wedding Programme. We have  and have sold programs (the Brits spell it programme) for the Royal Weddings of Princess Elizabeth, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth when they wed prior to his becoming the king, Prince Charles and Diana, and other royal weddings. The programme will be sold along the route for 2 pounds with proceeds going to charity.
Royal Wedding Programme PDF


Below is a copy we have of Prince Charles and Princess Diana's wedding program from 1981.

The program includes the service, route, procession and photos.
Cool!

Teacup Thursday with Miss Spenser - Birth Of Prince William Miniature Teacup

Happy Teacup Thursday with Miss Spenser...I am sharing a miniature cup and saucer made for the birth of Prince William to Prince Charles and Princess Diana in 1982. It is so cute!  m Just had to share it.


If you need a great website...for the Royal Wedding tomorrow, the 2 best are:
BBC News Royal Wedding website
The Royal Wedding Official Website


Both of these will have live feeds if your TV fails.


We still have a few Royal Wedding William and Kate mugs left and have a 10% coupon until May 4th. The coupon code is BLOG...guess why???


For more info or to order either of the William and Kate mugs at Antiques And Teacups, click on the photos below.

I have scones for tomorrow...or rather later tonight...basically won't go to bed if I want to see it live...it starts at midnight here on the Pacific coast.  Still debating that...


Union Jack flag out tomorrow...so to the happy couple and all you friends watching and celebrating together...
Cheers!

Royal Wedding Wednesday - Procession Route -Royal Family Jewels - Discount Coupon

Only a few more days until the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. Haven't decided if I'll just stay up all night...the BBC America coverage starts at midnight Pacific time...or just see when I wake up, or set the alarm or....


I have found several wonderful bits of info from the specials and websites covering the upcoming wedding that I thought you may enjoy if you haven't encountered them already. 


The BBC News has some great features on their website that are well worth a visit. Some of the info includes the exact procession order and schedule, the route the procession will take with a video

a 360 degree tour of Westminster Abbey, other videos about the cavalry, seating plan and 3 different Royal Wedding quizzes. I aced one...Prince & Princess level...got a Duke & Duchess level on another and a Baron & Baroness level on the third...just above the stable boys! LOL!!!
BBC News Royal Wedding Website


I don't know how many of you have caught the special documentary on BBC America: Princess Diana: Her Life In Jewels which was mind boggling. My husband and I watched together. He was a registered English diamond setter for 38 years, having served a 6 year apprenticeship from age 15 in England...and was actually imported into America by a firm of jewelers in San Francisco.  So we were very interested in the jewelry. Every time we visit England we spend a week in London and ALWAYS go to the Jewel House at the Tower of London. 


The show was wonderful...did you know...the Crown jewel collection includes the 2 biggest diamonds in the world. The largest is 317 carats...the size of a duck egg...called the Cullinan or Star Of Africa which is in the scepter but can be removed and used as a brooch

The other story I found fascinating is about the Cambridge Emeralds  seen below

in 1811 when The Duke and Duchess Of Cambridge were visiting Germany, Augusta, the Duchess entered a raffle and won a box of...emeralds! The stones weren't set until the earl 1900s when her niece, Queen Mary inherited them. The queen is shown wearing some of them. Some of them were made into a choker and given to Princess Diana as a wedding gift from Queen Elizabeth II. It will be interested to see if Catherine ends up with those and some of the fabulous jewel suites Diana received as wedding gifts from gulf state arab princes.

Another Royal tradition...wedding bands of Welsh gold. Welsh gold is extremely rare, and the tradition began in the 1920s when the Royal family was gifted with a 2 pound (not carat, pound!!!) gold nugget from the Clogau mine. Prince Albert, later to be crowned King George VI had some of the Welsh gold used to make the wedding band Queen Elizabeth wore. The same nugget has fashioned a wedding band for each successive royal bride and the assumption is that Prince William will continue the tradition.


I found a great and comprehensive website with photos of all the major Royal jewels which is truly astounding! It's a Tudor Wicki called Jewellry of Today's British Royalty and is well worth a gawk...


So have a fabulous last days until the wedding...we will be flying our 5 foot by 8 foot Union Jack flag on Friday. Just cuz! We still have a few Royal Wedding mugs left on our website, Antiques And Teacups.  10% off on all Prince William items with coupon code BLOG!


The items below are available. For more info click on the photos.

Teacup Tuesday, Charles And Diana Teacup, Princess Diana's Bridesmaid India Hicks

Happy Teacup Tuesday during Royal Wedding week. How fun! I am joining these teacup blog parties among others, so visit them and join in the fun!

Teacup Tuesday

Martha for Teacup Tuesday

Sandi for Teatime Tuesday

Terry for Teacup Tuesday

Wanda Lee for Teapot and Tea Things Tuesday

Pamela for Teapot and Tea Things Tuesday

My teacup is a rare Canadian made Prince Charles and Princess Diana commemorative Royal Wedding 1981 cup and saucer. The bone china teacup was made by Canadian Classic, and very few of the Royal Wedding items were made in Canada. The photos are really attractive. The Welsh dragon for the Prince of Wales is on the back. For more info about the teacup at Antiques And Teacups, click on the photos.

One of the bridesmaids that Diana had at her wedding was India Hicks whose mother was also a bridesmaid for the Princess Elizabeth when she married Philip in 1947. I think they have the honor of being the only mother-daughter duo to share that distinction. I found a great online article from the Tatler (a famous British society magazine) in 2000 in which she shares her memories of the occasion which is wonderful reading. India was 13 at the time of Charles and Diana's wedding. India became a model and TV presenter in later life.

Here is the link for that story:

India Hicks The Bridesmaid's Tale

Easter Greetings

Wishing everyone a blessed Easter Sunday...He is Risen!

Greetings and love from Antiques And Teacups

Royal Wedding Guest List and Facts

Fo9r those of you interested in Royal Wedding facts for Prince William and Kate's wedding next week, the official (sorta complete) guest list is available with lists for the procession, etc. at  Royal Wedding official website. Royal Wedding Media Briefing


Some fun stuff...there are Westons going to the wedding...but not our English relatives, these are from Canada. Maybe distant cousins or something....And Mario Testino who was Princess Diana's favorite photographer and took the iconic engagement image above is a guest as well. The list is interesting to read. Also says where everyone will sit in Westminster Abbey & other stuff. A good read!


Also, the English website The Daily Mail Online reports that NBC is cutting back on their coverage because they think Will & Kate are "boring" and most Americans aren't interested.....
Read it here:

NBC scales back their royal wedding coverage 'because William and Kate are so boring'

Victorian Easter Egg Meanings - The Delineator Magazine

Recently, a member, Martha, of my Afternoon Tea Across America Yahoo group posted some information she found in a Victorian Delineator magazine from 1894. The article was called Fortune Eggs. The Delineator was a Victorian combination of Good Housekeeping, Vogue and Crafts and was a trend and style setter of the late Victorian period.


The article said:

The one who gets an egg of white
In life shall find supreme delight

A striped egg bodes care & strife
A sullen man or scolding wife

The one who gets a golden egg
Will plenty have and never beg

The one who floral egg obrains
Will go through life by country lanes

A Silver egg will bring much joy
And happiness without alloy

The one who gets an egg of brown
Will have establishment in town

A lucky one - the egg of pink
The owner ne'er sees danger's brink

The one who gets an egg of purple shade
Will die a bachelor or old maid

The one who gets an egg of blue
Will find a sweetheart fond & true

The one who gets an egg of green
Will jealous be and not serene

Well...that should give everyone something fun to think about if you have any Easter egg hunts in your future. We have one for the kids at church tomorrow followed by a barbecue potluck which we are looking forward to.

And here is an egghead couple -  a porcelain eggcup and salt and pepper set from stock at Antiques And Teacups I think are really cute! Perfect for dealing with those Easter eggs! For more info, click on the photo.

Have a great day tomorrow....we are expecting the warmest day this year! WooHoo!!!

Good Friday - by Brian Kalwat

by Brian Kalwat, Resonate Church, Pullman WA
www.experienceresonate.com

Guardsman In Uniform & Bearskin Faints during Royal Wedding Practice, Cavalry Practice

Okay...if you've seen my blog before you know that my husband was a Coldstream Guard with the Brigade of Guards that guards Buckingham Palace among other places. Well I just saw this news release on the Mail Online about a young Irish Guardsman who fainted during practice for the Royal Wedding of William and Kate. 


The poor guy...but, says my husband, happens fairly often. First of all the uniform is wool, the bearskin hat (yep..it's the real thing) weighs 7-8 pounds and it is unseasonably warm in London at the moment.  24 degrees celsius is 72-75 degrees farenheit with a fairly high humidity.  That isn't warm by a lot of world standards, but for the UK it's getting up there. Remember it's a country better known for fog and drizzle!  But what ads to the poor guy's trouble is, that he will get charged with a charge called "Idle On Parade" and will be sent to the guard house, taken before the Company Commander and bawled out. He may also get assigned KP or other not-fun duty plus he will be ragged by the other guys. Ahhh.....


My husband says they go over forward because you are told to stand with your weight  on the balls of your feet, slightly forward. If you have your knees locked and lean on your heels...not to do that...you go over backwards. 
So...now you know! Take that bearskin off & get out of the sun!!!


Household Cavalry rehearsals in Hyde Park

Teacup Thursday Royal Albert Dovedale Country Scenes, Royal Crown Derby Titanic Exhibit

Good morning and welcome to Teacup Thursday with Miss Spenser. I have a Royal Albert, England landscape cup and saucer today. The design is called Dovedale and the teacup is from a series called Country Scenes. I love it! Dovedale is a town in the Peak District of England not to far from the town of Derby where we have visited Royal Crown Derby.  The area is known for it's beauty and is a favorite holiday spot in England.

The teacup was made in the 1960s. Royal Albert is famous for doing series' of designs. I also have some from a series called Home Counties which is fun. They have done Language Of The Flowers sets, Garden Flowers, Birds, you name it. For more information on the Dovedale Royal Albert teacup at Antiques And Teacups, click on the photos.

Royal Crown Derby is presently running a Titanic Exhibition in connection with the 100th anniversary of the launch of Titanic as they supplied most of the china for the ship. Wish I were going to be there to visit.  


Today I have the joy of going to the dentist...it's life, isn't it? I hope you have a wonderful day visiting the other wonderful teacups and blogging friends. Cheers!

Royal Wedding Wednesday on our Time Was Antiques blog

It Royal Wedding Wednesday with and I invite you to visit my post on my other blog, Time Was Antiques,  for the last of my series on the gifts Prince Charles and Princess Diana received at their wedding in 1981.


The post is located at:
Time Was Antiques Family Blog Charles And Diana's Wedding Gifts

Princess Yourself for the Royal Wedding

Okay...this is pretty silly, but fun. Did you do the Office Depot Elf Yourself at Christmas a few years ago? WELL...TLC Channel has a "Princess Yourself" feature...you upload your photo and ...bingo...your Kate the Princess. So...if you wanna...here is the link!


PRINCESS YOURSELF


Smile...and remember to wave...

Teacup Tuesday, Shelley Bubble Flower Chintz Teacup, Antique Easter Card, Gibson's Teapot

Teacup Tuesday again! I am joining so many lovely teacup ladies today including:

Teacup Tuesday

Sandi for Teatime Tuesday

Terry for Teacup Tuesday

Wanda Lee for Teapot and Tea Things Tuesday

Pam for Tea Pot And Tea Things Tuesday

and so many others!

I chose this Shelley, England rarely seen bubble and flower chintz because it reminds me of a spring bouquet...drowning in the rain!!!  We have had 268% of our normal rainfall this year! That's wet...even for Washington state! The teacup is in the Ripon shape which is one of my favorites. To see more photos and information of the Shelley Bubble Flower Chintz teacup at Antiques And Teacups, click on the photos.

And to go with the teacup, a Gibson's, England vintage 1940-1950s teapot in the Georgian shape.  So elegant! 


Today it was mostly sunny and we really enjoyed it.  I hope everyone stayed safe during all of the tornados in the midwest over the last few days. Our prayers have been with all you folks.

This is a neat antique Easter greeting card from 1914 that is one of the reasons I am fascinated by old cards. The card tells of asking about the making of maple sugar and of a mumps epidemic in Michigan..."Every house on our street has them".  For more info, click the photos.


The poem on the front, which features embossed lilies and the title A Glad Easter Tide reads:

Easter morn is the herald of joyful news in mankind

Rejoice! We are this day called to share in the glorious triumph of our Conqueror and Redeemer! The gates of heaven are thrown open wide to man.

A new Kingdom is heralded into this world, and like the lilies of the field,

the sweet fragrance of righteousness, peace, purity

and love ever ascends from the souls of the redeemed.

This is the glad song of Easter in you.

Rev. W. Foyle

Have a wonderful Holy week or Passover and visit the lovely teacup parties.