Q: Gladys Parker - Boston USA
I collect commemorative items celebrating Royal events and was wondering what will be on sale for the wedding of Camilla Parker Bowles and Prince Charles?
The Royal Mail has unveiled two stamps showing Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles to mark their wedding. The Prince and Mrs Parker Bowles chose the photographs, which were approved by The Queen.
The 30p first class stamp shows an image of the couple taken at the Mey Games in Scotland last year; a more formal photograph taken at Birkhall on The Queen's Balmoral estate is in evidence on the 68p stamp, the most common price for posting a letter abroad. Both will go on sale on 8 April.
In addition, the Royal Collection has produced two English bone china tankards.
The exclusive design, available in two colours (white and blue), shows entwined letter 'C's surmounted by the feathers of the heir apparent, and the date 8 April 2005. The inscription inside the tankards reads Charles ~ The Royal Wedding ~ Camilla. Handmade in Staffordshire and decorated with 22ct gold, each tankard is individually gift-boxed and contains a leaflet of authenticity marking this special event.
The tankards cost £20.00 each and are available from the shops at the official residences and The Queen's Galleries.
Q: Bertil Lindström - Floda, Sweden
I have some questions relating to Clarence House which I hope to visit this summer. I know that Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother lived there until her death and I know also that the present Queen lived there from 1949-1952. But who lived at Clarence House before these years?
Clarence House was built in 1825-8 for William, Duke of Clarence (later William IV). After his accession in 1830, William IV and Queen Adelaide continued to live in Clarence House - Buckingham Palace being not yet finished - and a gallery of communication was built to connect it to the quarters they also used in St James's Palace.
When William IV died in 1837 the house became the home of his sister, Princess Augusta. From 1841 to 1861 the Duchess of Kent, Queen Victoria's mother, lived in it.
After her death it became the London residence of two of Queen Victoria's sons: from 1866 to 1900 it was used by Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, during which time a Russian Orthodox chapel was incorporated for the Duchess of Edinburgh's worship, then from 1900 to 1942 by Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught.
For the rest of the Second World War years it became headquarters for both the Red Cross and the St John Ambulance Brigade. When its post-war renovation was complete, Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh lived in the house until her accession as Queen Elizabeth II.
In 1953 The Queen Mother moved into Clarence House along with Princess Margaret, who lived there until her marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones.
It remained The Queen Mother's London residence until her death in 2002 when it became The Prince of Wales's official London residence, housing the offices of his Household.
Clarence House is open to the public 2 August - 14 October 2005. Find out more information about visiting.
Q: Nic - Pretoria, South-Africa
Can you please give us more information on the life of Princess Mary, daughter of King George V and Queen Mary?
Princess Mary was born on April 25, 1897 at York Cottage on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, England.
Her father was His Royal Highness Prince George, Duke of York (later King George V), the second eldest son of King Edward VII. Her mother was Her Royal Highness The Duchess of York (later Queen Mary), the only daughter of The Duke of Teck.
As a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, Mary was styled Her Highness Princess Mary of York from birth.
Princess Mary was educated by governesses, but shared some of lessons with her brothers, Prince Edward (later Edward VIII), Prince Albert (later George VI), and Prince Henry (later Duke of Gloucester). She became fluent in German and French and developed a life-long interest in horses and horse racing.
She was the sixth holder of the title of Princess Royal. As a daughter of the British monarch, Mary held the title of princess with the style Her Royal Highness from her birth. After her marriage she held the title of Countess of Harewood.
On 28 February 1922, Princess Mary married Henry Charles George, Viscount Lascelles, K.G. (9 September 1882-23 May 1947), the elder son of Henry Lascelles, 5th Earl of Harewood, and Lady Florence Bridgeman.
Their wedding at Westminster Abbey was the first royal occasion in which Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother), a friend of Princess Mary's and one of the bridesmaids, participated.
She and her husband made their home in Yorkshire, first at Goldborough, and later at Harewood House. She took a keen interest in the interior decoration of Harewood House, the Lascelles family's seat, and in farming pursuing, becoming an expert in cattle breeding.
Princess Mary and Lord Lascelles had two sons; George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood and The Honourable Gerald Lascelles.
During World War I, Princess Mary visited hospitals and welfare organizations with her mother, assisting with projects to comfort to British servicemen and assistance to their families.
She took an active role in promoting the Girl Guides movement, the VADs, and the Land Girls. In 1918, she took a nursing course and went to work at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
At the outbreak of World War II, the Princess Royal became chief controller and later controller commandant of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS, renamed the Women's Royal Army Corp in 1949). In that capacity she travelled Britain visiting its units, as well as wartime canteens and other welfare organizations.
After her husband's death in 1947, the Princess Royal lived at Harewood House with her elder son and his family. She continued to carry out official duties at home and abroad.
She attended the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953 and later represented the Queen at the independence celebrations of Trinidad in 1962 and Zambia in 1964. One of her last official engagements was to represent The Queen at the funeral of Queen Louise of Sweden (formerly Lady Louise Mountbatten) in early March 1965.
The Princess Royal suffered a fatal heart attack during a walk with her elder son, Lord Harewood, and his children on the grounds of the Harewood House estate. She was buried at Harewood after a private family funeral at York Minister.
Q: Philip A. Kaplan - Atlanta, Georgia, USA
How did Frogmore House get its name?
Standing about half a mile south of Windsor Castle in Windsor Home Park, Frogmore House was built in 1680-4 by Charles II's architect Hugh May for his nephew Thomas. It stood on the estates of Great and Little Frogmore, which were bought by Henry VIII in the sixteenth century and let to various tenants.
The name derives from the preponderance of frogs which have always lived in this low-lying and marshy area.
In August 1990 Frogmore House was opened to the public for the first time in over 200 years. It is open from the second week in August to the end of September each year. Find out more information about visiting.
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