Q: Ndyebo R. Nghona - Durban, South Africa
In the pictures of the national service of remembrance and commemoration in Westminster Abbey to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, 10 July 2005, The Earl of Wessex is dressed in a military uniform. The puzzling thing, is that for the late Queen Mother's funeral procession he was dressed in a suit rather than a uniform. Please explain.

At the time of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's funeral procession in 2002, The Earl of Wessex did not hold any military appointments in the UK, and therefore he was not have eligible to wear a military uniform.

In 2003, His Royal Highness became Honorary Colonel Royal Wessex Yeomanry and wears his uniform on appropriate occasions such as services of remembrance.

Q: Nathan - Texas, USA
Does The Queen do the procession of the Order of the Thistle every year like the Garter? Or does she only do it when she appoints someone new to the order?

When practicable, and when there is to be the installation of a new knight, a service of the Order is held during the week spent by The Queen at Holyrood. There is no service if there have been no new appointments to the Order that year.

Services and ceremonies for the Order take place in the chapel of the Order, which is adjacent to St Giles's Cathedral in Edinburgh.
The most recent appointments were announced in November 2004. The Right Honourable the Lord Steel of Aikwood, and The Right Honourable the Lord Robertson of Port Ellen became Knights of the Order. 

The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle represents the highest honour in Scotland. Revived by James VII (James II of England), the Order has a complement of 16 Knights (KT). In 1987, The Queen decided that Ladies should be eligible for the Thistle in the same way as men.

The Motto of the Order is Nemo me impune lacessit ("No one provokes me with impunity").

Q: Sophie - Essex
I am a member of the Girl Guides and I understand that The Queen was too! Can you tell me more about this?

The Queen, as Princess Elizabeth, enrolled as a Girl Guide in 1937 and the 1st Buckingham Palace Guide Company was created.

The pack included some 20 Guides and fourteen Brownies - children of Royal Household members and Palace employees. They made a summerhouse in the garden their headquarters but with the outbreak of the Second World War the Company was closed down.

While at Birkhall on the Balmoral Estates, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret joined the local Guide Company. In 1942 their own Company was re-opened at Windsor.

Although air raids restricted them to daytime camp activities, the Guides used to camp out in the grounds.

Princess Elizabeth became Vice- Patron of the Girl Guides Association in 1944. On becoming Queen, Her Majesty retained her interest in guiding and scouting, becoming President of the Girl Guides Association and of the Scout Association. As the latter, she sometimes takes the salute at Windsor when the parade of The Queen's Scouts takes place on the Sunday nearest to St Georges Day.

Q: Jane - Northants
Who is the Master of the Horse and what does he do?

The titular head of the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace, the Master of the Horse is in attendance on important ceremonial occasions when the Sovereign rides on horseback or travels by horse-drawn carriage, such as at Trooping the Colour and the State Opening of Parliament.

He also makes a periodic inspection of the Royal Mews.

The third Great Officer of the Household, after the Lord Chamberlain and the Lord Steward, the Master of the Horse has held this position since the fourteenth century.

He had the charge of directing all matters relating to the Sovereign's stables, including the provision of horses for the Sovereign, whether for war, travel, hunting or racing; the maintenance of Royal Studs; and responsibility for carriages and for the transport of the Royal Household in its travels. He presided over a large stable establishment, and equerries, pages of honour and certain footmen also belonged to his department.

Q: Thomas - Norway
I understand that London Zoo, which I recently visited, has Royal connections. What are these please?

By donations of rare animals (received as official gifts during official overseas visits), and as Patrons, Fellows and Presidents of the Zoological Society of London, the Royal Family has played an important role in fostering both the scientific importance of the Zoo and its popularity over the years.

In 1829 George IV granted a Royal charter to the Zoological Society, which had been founded three years earlier with Sir Stamford Raffles as its first President. The charter declared the two main aims of the Society to be the advancement of zoology and animal physiology, and 'the introduction of new and curious subjects of the Animal Kingdom'.

New and curious subjects came to the zoo from all corners of the British Empire and Commonwealth, often as gifts received by the Sovereign.
 
Since William IV became Patron in 1830, each reigning monarch has been a Patron of the Society. Prince Albert was President from 1851 until his death in 1861, and a reception was held in the Zoo in 1887 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria and to honour the support she had given as Patron.

Gifts of animals were regularly made to the Royal Family by foreign countries, and these were later passed on to the Zoo. In the nineteenth century the most significant of these was the rich and varied collection of beasts assembled by the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) on his State visit to India in 1876.

Throughout the twentieth century, the Royal benefactions continued, though diminishing in recent years due to greater restrictions on the movements of rare animals.

A major collection of animals from South Africa given to King George V as a coronation gift was entrusted to the Zoo in 1911.

The Duke of Edinburgh was President from 1960 to 1977 and personally attended annual general meetings.

Notable donations during the current Queen's reign include two pygmy hippopotamuses (1962), an elephant (1972), a family of beavers paid to The Queen by the Hudson Bay Company of Canada as a symbolic rent (1970), and jaguars and sloths (presented to The Queen on a State visit to Brazil in 1968).

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