Q: Katie - New York City
What does the Queen's cypher look like?
The Sovereign's personal device or monogram, the Royal cypher is impressed upon Royal and State documents and is used by government departments. It can be seen on such diverse subjects as old coins of the realm, Post Office pillar boxes and Royal Mail vans.
The public use of the royal initials dates at least from early Tudor times, and early on was simply the initial of the Sovereign with, after Henry VIII's reign, the addition of the letter R for Rex or Regina. The letter I for Imperatrix was added to Queen Victoria's monogram after she became Empress of India in 1877. The initials - which had no set pattern or form of lettering laid down - were usually shown in company with the Royal arms or crown as on the King's manors and palaces, such as those of Henry VIII on the gatehouse of St James's Palace, and the purpose seems to have been simply to identify a Sovereign. Since a Sovereign often uses the same arms as his or her predecessor, a particular Sovereign cannot always be identified by the arms alone. The initials were used mostly on government papers, duty stamps and similar objects, and were sometimes surmounted by the Royal crown.
Distinction continues to be made between the personal cypher and the simpler, more workaday public initials, the former being the Sovereign's own monogram and the latter simply a means of identifying a reign. Nowadays, the initials are also called the royal cypher, but to aid clarification the monogram is referred to as the royal cypher interlaced and reversed.
The Queen's cypher consists of 'E II R', standing for 'Elizabeth II' and for 'Regina', meaning 'Reigning queen'.
Cyphers for other members of the Royal Family are designed by the College of Arms and subsequently approved by The Queen.
Q: Jim Patrasq - Eagle River Alaska
I have heard The Queen referred to as "Lord of Man". Could you explain what this title means?
Since the eighteenth century this title has been held by the British Sovereign. On the Isle of Man the loyal toast is 'The Queen - Lord of Man'.
England acquired the Isle of Man from the Scots during the reign of Edward I; and the English Kings handed over the kingship of the Isle of Man, subject to tribute, to great lords of their own, finishing in 1406 with the Stanley family (later the Earls of Derby), who remained Kings of Man and later Lords of Man for over 300 years. The succession then passed through the female line to the Dukes of Atholl. Eventually the island was such a stronghold of smugglers and such a thorn in the flesh of the English Revenue Department that in 1765 the United Kingdom government stepped in and bought the lordship back for the Crown. Thus George III became Lord of Man.
Q: Mary Walker - USA
What is the oldest piece of jewellery or regalia still in possession of the Royal Family? Is it privately owned or part of the Crown's jewels?
The oldest piece in the collection of the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London is the Coronation Spoon which dates from the 12th century. This silver-gilt Coronation Spoon is the only piece of the medieval coronation regalia to survive the Interregnum. Already considered to be 'of ancient form' in the mid-14th century, the spoon was probably made in the second half of the 12th century and is the only piece of royal goldsmith's work to survive from that century. Since the Restoration, it has sometimes be known as the Anointing Spoon and the archbishop has poured holy oil into it from the Ampulla for the anointing. It was last used in the Coronation of HM Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, and can be seen by the public on permanent display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London.
Q: Kyle Marsh - North Bay, Canada
Can you please tell me more about the insignia Sir Clive Woodward is holding in the 29 October 2004 photograph of him at Buckingham Palace?
As part of being knighted by The Queen, Knights Bachelor are touched on the shoulder by the Monarch with a sword (this is known as the accolade) in a ceremony dating from before the Norman Conquest in the eleventh century.
The badge presented nowadays by The Queen after she has given the accolade to a new Knight Bachelor is an oval made of hallmarked silver gilt hanging from a vermilion and gold ribbon. In the oval is a cross-hilted sword in its scabbard, the sword-belt is arranged in a decorative fashion around the edge of the badge, its buckle to the left; also in the oval are two spurs, one on each side of the sword, each with its rowels pointing upwards. These all have a red enamel background. The sword, belt and spurs were, of course, the emblems of the medieval knight.
The design was granted by King George V in 1926 and extended by Royal Warrant of The Queen for wear as a neck badge in 1973. When The Queen places the badge around the neck of a new knight, it hangs from a long broad ribbon; this is never used again for, in the red box which comes with it, is a narrow ribbon which is to be used for future wear.
Q: Cherisse - New York City, New York
Who cuts all of the lawns at Buckingham Palace? Is there a gardener?
There are currently seven gardeners at Buckingham Palace dealing with all aspects of the upkeep of the gardens. The lawns are cut once a week over the season when garden parties take place, and then as and when it is required for the rest of the year.
Obviously, after garden parties have taken place on the lawns, they are in need of some repairs, and the gardeners have to fill in holes left by marquee tent pegs, as well as scarify and re-plant patches of the lawn left bare by the footsteps of garden party guests.
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