Sunday 19th

Big thing going on over here has been the Queen and Prince Phillip's 70th wedding anniversary, everyone gushing over it.

Forgive my cynicism but I really don't buy into all the 'fairy tale romance' nonsense that is written about them.   Royal marriages are arranged for dynastic reasons, some might work better than others, and I think the Queen and Prince Phillip seemed to have made a go of theirs, but 'fairy tale' it wasn't.

I have just finished a book about Prince Charles' wretchedly unhappy marriage to Diana Spencer, and I hope that whoever was responsible for that marriage made in hell felt, or feels thoroughly guilty at the misery it inflicted on two decent people who might have been happy, married to different partners.

Prince Charles is very serious minded, has many interests and reads a great deal,  He tried to persuade Diana to read so that they would have some shared interests, but she refused his suggestions, the only books she would read were romantic fiction.  She was  only interested in shopping and lunching with her girl friends, she hated the countryside generally and Balmoral in particular, whereas  Prince Charles loves Balmoral and is never happier than when he is hunting, shooting and fishing there.

For those who may not know, Balmoral is up in Scotland and has been one of the residences for members of the Royal Family since 1852, when the estate and its original castle were purchased privately by Prince Albert, consort to Queen Victoria.   It was inherited by Edward VIII on his accession in 1936, and when he abdicated later in the same year he retained ownership of it, but in a financial settlement it was later purchased by his brother George VI  and currently the estate is still owned outright by the monarch, 

I didn't make it to the 8 o'clock service this morning with Tim - I'm still recovering from all my travelling last weekend to Surrey, ha ha.    I did however go to the evening service which was a baptism and confirmation, it was a lovely service and the church was absolutely packed.    The baptism was by total immersion in an inflatable pool, similar to that in Seaford Baptist, the church I belonged to when Roy was alive.