June 2012
4 posts
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The Two Towers: Victoria and Elizabeth
It’s official; the Daily Mail reports today that Parliament has agreed to rename the Clock Tower of the Houses of Parliament “The Elizabeth Tower” in honor of the present Queen. (This tower houses the famous “Big Ben”—which will retain its name.) The act mirrors the honor done early during her great-great-grandmonther Victoria’s reign, when the...
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Shooting Victoria: early release
Although copies won’t be hitting the bookstore shelves until July 15, Shooting Victoria has begun to make its way in the world. Amazon.com jumped the gun over last weekend and has shipped out its pre-orders. Among the very very first readers of the book: Mary Van Doren, and Randy Holmes.
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On this day...
On 10 June, 1840, outside Buckingham Palace, Edward Oxford was the first man to shoot at Queen Victoria. The Queen was at the time four months pregnant with her eldest child. Had she died, there would have been no Victorian era to speak of (since she would have reigned for only three years), and no progeny to succeed her: rather, her reactionary and generally unpleasant uncle Ernest would have...
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Victoria--Second Place?
The Telegraph yesterday published the results of its poll to discover the greatest British monarch of all time. The winner, hands down—and not surprisingly, as the poll was taken at the moment of her diamond jubilee—is Elizabeth II, with 35% of the vote.
Queen Victoria came in second in the poll, with a solid 24%.
Interestingly, as third place went to Queen Elizabeth...
