Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Swan upping

Yes, it's that time of year again. It's time to go count the swans.

Quiet please -- Britain's Queen Elizabeth is preparing to have her swans counted.

Buckingham Palace has announced that the annual Swan Upping, a tradition dating back to the 12th century which involves a census of the swan population on the River Thames, will be conducted by the queen's official Swan Marker from July 20-24.

It's a little sad that Reuters can't actually get the title right: she's not "Britain's" Queen. She is Queen of England and Wales and she is also Queen of Scotland: or you can call her the Queen of the United Kingdom....but these are not all the same thing as "Britain".

But it is true that swans are a royal bird: very bad form indeed to try and eat one unless she says you may.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hate to tell you this but QE2 is not Queen of Wales, Wales is a principality. It has an appointed Prince of Wales, the last native PoW is considered to be Owain Glyndwr (proclaimed 1400). QE2 is Queen of those Commonwealth countries which are not republics.