Yes, Friends, have YOU ever rescued a princess from a forest castle? Some of you will have, I'm sure, although my medium-to-long-suffering wife Lois and I have to hold up our hands here, and confess that, sadly, we've only read about doing it in story-books, and, for one reason or another, have never got around to doing it in real life - it always seems to be "something for next week, perhaps". A pity!
That's why, however, Lois and I felt a special bond with local 8-year-old "tearaway" Travis McFarland, from nearby Cheesefoot Head, Hampshire, who, like Lois and me, has only heard about princesses in stories.
In Travis's case, this means his father's bedtime "narratives" (!), at least according to this morning's Onion News for East Hampshire. Check it out, why don't you!
And speaking for myself, although I've never met a princess, I personally have a memory from 1980 of being in a small group of well-wishers standing within about 10 feet of Prince Charles (as he then was). He had come for the 700th anniversary of our local parish church of St Mary's, in the village of Prestbury, just outside Cheltenham. The church was actually much older than 700 years, but 1280 is the earliest date for which we know the name of the vicar.
[What WAS that vicar's name, Colin? - Ed]
[Sorry I've forgotten - well, it was a long time ago! - Colin]
This sighting of Prince Charles in 1980 was a particularly memorable moment for me, because it was just around the time that the stories about Charles seeing a certain Lady Diana Spencer had first started to surface in the press.
flashback to 1980: early press pictures of "Lady Di"
But as for princesses, well, Lois and I can recall that we once saw Princess Anne flash by in her car in London, but that's the best we can say. Even though for over 30 years Anne lived in the same county as us - i.e. Gloucestershire, we were just never in the right place at the right time - a pity!
Anne is known as a bit of a "horsey" princess, to put it mildly: in 1976, for instance, she represented Great Britain in equestrian events at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada. And in 2023, she took part in Charles's Opening of Parliament, accompanying the coach on horseback in her role as "Gold Stick in Waiting", a ceremonial bodyguard.
And memorably, the BBC commentator covering the event said, at the end of proceedings, that "...Princess Anne slipped out of a side door and was quickly mounted".
Oops! I wonder who did that, then? Perhaps we should be told, and quickly!
11:30 And by coincidence, Lois and I are talking princesses again this morning, when our daughter Alison comes to call. Since we moved here to Liphook, Hampshire a couple of months ago, we've been benefitting from Ali's frequent visits, as she lives only about 5 miles away from us now, in Headley.
flashback to January: (left) our daughter Alison, helping Lois and me move into
our newly acquired house in Liphook, Hampshire, and (right) our first meal in our new home
Ali's family - herself, husband Ed and their 3 teenage kids - have quite a menagerie of pets: 2 dogs, 2 pets not to mention a bunch of tropical fish (!). And one of their dogs, ageing spaniel Sika, a dog that they acquired during their 7 years in Copenhagen (2012-2018), has to make frequent visits to his vet here in Liphook, just like Lois and me do - not to the vet, just to our NHS doctor (!), but the principle's the same.
Well, we're now both 78 (and counting!), which in dog-years is a bit similar to Sika. Oh dear!
our daughter Ali's ageing Danish dog Sika after a stressful visit to his Liphook vet's
Poor Sika !!!!!
Over a cup of tea in our living-room, Ali tells us a bit more about their recent 6-night nostalgic stay in Denmark, where they revisited many of their old haunts in and around Copenhagen.
flashback to last week: our daughter Alison, with husband Ed and two of their
3 teenage kids, Rosalind (16) and Isaac (14) at London's Heathrow Airport,
about to catch their flight to a nostalgic 6-night break in Copenhagen, Denmark
And this is where the subject of princesses comes up again, because during the family's seven years in the city, a favourite spot from them all to "chill out" was Books and Company, the English Bookshop in the Hellerup district, near where, for 7 years Ali and Ed's 3 children attended the Rygaards International School.
flashback to last week: our grandson Isaac (14) paying a nostalgic
visit to Books & Company, the English bookshop in Hellerup, Copenhagen
During their time in Copenhagen, Ali got to know one of the assistants at the bookshop really well, a woman fanatical about horses, Ali says. And this month Ali "caught up with her" as people say on TV nowadays (!), in a coffee-shop just north of Copenhagen, for a chat about "the old days" (!).
And guess what? That Englishwoman, Ali's friend, is now "mistress of the Queen's horses". What are the chances of that happening, eh?
It sounds like a big job, but Ali thinks the Queen of Denmark's only got 2 horses - well, it's a much smaller country than Britain, isn't it, to put it mildly haha!
included for comparison purposes: infographic showing the relative
sizes of the UK and Denmark - UK being7 times bigger, if you don't count
Greenland, which could soon be becoming the legendary "51st state" anyway,
if a certain President Donald Trump has anything to do with it (!)
Yes, the Australian-born Queen Mary of Denmark, formerly little Mary Donaldson from Hobart, Tasmania, happened to see Ali's friend-from-the-bookshop looking after a bunch of horses north of Copenhagen. And the then Princess Mary was so impressed enough with the Englishwoman's horse-managements skills (!), that she asked her if she'd like to get a job working for the Danish Royal Family, surely a no-brainer if ever there was one (!).
And that's what she'd doing now, she's officially Mistress of the Queen's horses, 7 days a week !!!!
What a crazy world we live in !!!!!
Queen Mary of Denmark, formerly little Mary Donaldson
of Hobart, Tasmania, loves horses as much as Princess Anne
- see this YouTube video!
Will this do?
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzz!!!!!
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