Posted on 06/11/2011 12:51:33 AM PDT by naturalman1975
On his 90th birthday, the Queen has honoured her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, with the title of the Lord High Admiral of the Navy - a role that, until now, was hers.
The office of the Lord High Admiral dates from the 14th century and has been held by the Queen since 1964.
She has now handed it over to her husband as he celebrates his milestone age and in recognition of the fact that he gave up his promising naval career to devote his life to royal duty and support his wife in her role as Sovereign.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.sky.com ...
Now, the Queen has appointed him Lord High Admiral - a traditional ceremonial position in the UK, that she has held herself since 1964.
In so doing she's spoiled one of his favourite jokes (I've heard it about half a dozen times) - he liked pointing out to people that the Lord High Admiral was married to an Admiral of the Fleet.
He looks great for 90.
So what the heck does a Lord High Admiral do anyway?
Sounds like another fluffy, meaningless title to me.
Yawn.
Does HMS now mean HIS Majesty’s Ship?
Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!
In 1936, the Lord High Admiral of the Royal Navy resigned to become third mate on an American tramp.
I'n here every night. Try the veal!
It’s a ceremonial title. The Brits don’t even have an aircraft carrier at present so the Royal Navy can’t be all that fun to be head of anyway!
Philip holds the Record for being on the dole longer than anyone else in England, 64 years and counting.
Do they still have a navy? Haven’t they sold all their ships to India?
:)
Lol!
Welfare on steroids? :)
Though certainly smaller than it used to be, the Royal Navy is still the third largest navy (by tonnage) in the world, after those of the United States and Russia. It’s still over twice the size of any European navy, and 50% larger than those of China or Japan - more than three times the size of India’s.
I know it’s popular to run down the British military capability, but the Royal Navy could still match the combat strength of any Navy except the US Navy - and as it’s unlikely it will need to match the combat strength of the US Navy in the near future, that is probably sufficient for most purposes.
It might be worth actually informing yourself about where the Royal Family’s money comes from, rather than spouting statements like that one (I’ll give you a hint - the Crown provides the British treasury with more than ten times the revenue it gains from the treasury - an effective income tax rate of 80-90%).
Besides Philip is 'His Royal Highness' not 'His Majesty'.
Congratulations to the Duke of Edinburgh. I’m a huge Prince Philip fan. It was interesting to hear the 90th birthday tributes to him in the House of Commons. He has generated so many anecdotes and stories over the years.
I love this exchange between HRH and a rather ‘chippy’ ex-union leader:
Philip : So, what did you do before this job?
Union L: I was a union leader, sir.
Philip: So ‘bugger all’ then?
Union L: (indignantly) well, what did YOU do before YOUR present job?
Philip: Fought in the Second World War.
I once had a great conversation with him about whether or not he could successfully steal an Australian warship (he is also an Admiral of the Fleet in the Royal Australian Navy). I was doubtful until he asked me if I’d obey an order if he gave it to me (I was still a serving Commander at the time) and I had to concede I would be hard pressed to explain why I hadn’t if he gave one.
If it wasn’t for the press (and the Queen), I think he might have tried it :).
Magnificent. I love the imagine of a rogue Prince Philip sailing the seas in command of a stolen Australian warship. That could be the answer to the Somali piracy problem though....
A few more Duke of Edinburgh quotes:
“I’d like to visit Russia very much - although the bastards murdered half my family.”
“Oh, it’s you that owns that ghastly car - we often see it when driving to Windsor Castle.” (to Sir Elton John, referring to the singer’s gold aston martin)
“If you see a man opening a car door for a woman, it means one of two things: it’s either a new woman or a new car!”
“You have mosquitos. I have the press.” (to a matron at a caribbean hospital)
“If a cricketer, for instance, suddenly decided to go into a school and batter a lot of people to death with a cricket bat, which he could do very easily, I mean, are you going to ban cricket bats?”
There are so many.....
The Duke is currently at ‘Trooping the Colour’ which, as usual, is a splendid sight.
and when asked about it later said: "we are not amused"
"Off with his head"
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