A very happy Christmas to one and all. Have a great time celebrating the remaining weeks of 2005, and enjoy your fresh new start in 2006!

God Save The Queen!

+ Mandy +

Queen Elizabeth II, Irish President Meet

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK
Associated Press Writer

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II and Irish President Mary McAleese shook hands on Northern Ireland soil for the first time Thursday – a symbolic milestone following years of peacemaking in this long-disputed British territory.

The British monarch and the Republic of Ireland’s head of state chatted and posed together at Hillsborough Castle, outside Belfast, for an occasion that would have provoked hostility within Northern Ireland’s Protestant majority just a few years ago.

But their trouble-free meeting became inevitable once Ireland dropped its territorial claim to Northern Ireland as part of the landmark Good Friday peace accord of 1998.

It also fueled speculation the queen soon could make her first official visit to the neighboring Republic of Ireland, where the Irish Republican Army assassinated Lord Louis Mountbatten, the uncle of her husband, Prince Philip.
[more...]

The new little prince of Denmark is as sweet as pie. New photos of the wee one are spectacular! He looks incredibly intelligent, and very alert. Adorable!

There was a movie on television last night. It was entitled “Prince William”, based on the prince’s life up until the age of 19.

This made-for-telly movie (I guess the popular term is “docu-drama”) is so awful that I had to turn it off part of the way through. It is total, unmitigated awfulness. ugh. Please, to all intelligent royalists out there, do not even give this tripe five minutes of your time.

The youngest member of Norway’s royal family has been named Prince Sverre Magnus, the palace announced today. The prince was born in Oslo on Saturday to Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit. He is their second child and is third in line to the throne.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg announced the name after a special Council of State was held at Oslo’s Royal Palace this morning.

Stoltenberg, who had the official privilege of publicizing the name after King Harald announced it to an assembled government, said the name has “long and good traditions in Norway,” and also reflects the names of family members on both his parents’ sides.

Congratulations to Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Crown Prince Haakon! Their son weighs in at 8 lbs and 11 oz., and his name will be announced tomorrow.