The Royal Handbag Code

While on a lecture tour of the United States in 1990, Raymond Fullager, an expert on the British royal family, revealed the existence of a royal handbag code. According to him, the Queen of England used her purse to communicate secret signals to her staff.

Fullager claimed to have identified 23 different signals she used. For instance, if she moved her purse from her right to her left arm it meant that she was bored and needed to be rescued. A lady-in-waiting would then approach and say, "I'm afraid, ma'am, that you are running 10 minutes behind schedule."

If the handbag was securely gripped on her left arm, it meant that all was well.

Fullager refused to reveal all 23 signals, insisting that they needed to be kept a royal secret. But he did share some of the Queen's other body-language code. For instance, if she rubbed the middle finger on her left hand, it meant that a spectator was getting too close.

However, other royal experts were skeptical of Fullager's handbag-code theory. Gossip columnist Nigel Dempster declared that the code theory was "silly" and "just rubbish."

Andrew Morton said, "Frankly, you've got to wonder if anyone can actually do 23 different things with a handbag."

More info: Philly.com (Sep 14, 1990)

LA Times - Aug 8, 1990

Posted By: Alex - Tue Aug 23, 2016 - Comments (4)
Category: Languages, Royalty

Three Thousand Deer Trophies

[Click to enlarge]

Original pic here.

Wikipedia entry here.

Posted By: Paul - Fri May 27, 2016 - Comments (8)
Category: Animals, Hunting, Trapping and Other Wilderness Activities, Royalty, 1930s, Europe

The Jokes of King George VI

Thanks to the recent movie The King's Speech, King George VI is now best known as the king who stuttered. But apparently he also occasionally told jokes. Several of them are reproduced below. They're not bad, for a royal. [Milwaukee Journal — Apr 25, 1937]

• [In response to a speaker who was praising him in extravagant terms]. "I am reminded," he said, "of the woman who went to her husband's funeral service. The couple had never got on well together, but the minister devoted his long sermon to a panegyric of the husband's virtues. So glowing a picture did he paint that the widow completely failed to recognize her late husband. 'Milly,' she nudged her friend and whispered loudly, 'is there another corpse about?'"
• There was a petrol dump where men sent a canary down into the empty tank to see if the atmosphere was safe for them to go down and clean it out. One day the foreman saw a man walking about in the bottom of the tank before the canary had been let down. "Hey, what are you doing there?" he yelled. In all seriousness the man below shouted back: "I'm just seeing if it's all right for me blinkin' canary."

Posted By: Alex - Sat Apr 27, 2013 - Comments (0)
Category: Humor, Jokes, Royalty, 1930s

King Ding Dong

If only the psychedlic-era King Ding Dong had been allowed to rule the Hostess company, they might still be with us today.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Apr 11, 2013 - Comments (6)
Category: Anthropomorphism, Royalty, Advertising, Chocolate, Junk Food, 1970s

Queen Elizabeth, Teenybopper

[Original article here.]

Courier Mail Wednesday 19 September 1956

The Queen sees Rock 'n' roll Film

London. September 18. (AAP)- Queen Elizabeth has asked to see the film “Rock Around the Clock” which has led to rock 'n' roll disturbances in several British towns.

A copy of the film was sent from London yesterday to Balmoral, where the Queen is on holiday, the Daily Mirror said today.

The Daily Express reported that showings of “Rock Around the Clock” has been banned by country councils in Stockport, Cheshire, and Gloucestershire yesterday.

But at Burt St. Edmunds in Suffolk, no objections were raised by members of a watch committee after a private showing of the film.

Sir Malcolm Sargeant, conductor of the BBC symphony orchestra, said to day that rock 'n' roll music was “nothing more than an exhibition of primitive tom tom thumping, and was ‘centuries old’. It was not ‘new and wonderful’ as many young people thought. It had been played in the jungles for centuries.”

At age 86, Queen Elizabeth reminds no one of a rocker--although she does hand out a lot of knighthoods to musicians. But in 1956, at age 30, she could really groove.



She was obviously remembering those days in 1979, when she and Bill Haley reconnected for the first time in nearly 25 years.




[Original text here.]

Posted By: Paul - Tue Dec 04, 2012 - Comments (3)
Category: Music, Royalty, 1950s, Europe