The Diamond Jubilee

[Paul Carl]

I noticed one of the two ORC behind the Royal barge was flying a Canadian flag........ does anyone now what unit/service was that.

[Blackbuck]

My guess is that it was possibly a Canadian honour guard same as the RNZN dudes that were there in the ORCs.

[Paul Carl]

Thanks

[Portsmouth Bill]

For anyone who watched the river pageant:

1) Apologies for the trully terrible BBC coverage; unfortunately the 'Beeb' is now being run by 'teenagers' with attention deficit syndrome, so we get what you saw on Sunday. sadly, very little about the many different boats.

2) The British are rather 'special', in that we love a disaster and the pouring rain gave us an opportunity for the 'stiff upper lip'. Really, we only feel united in the face of disaster, aka Dunkirk. But, fortunately we have a Monarch who (with her Consort) stood up for hours in cold wet weather - she's 86 and he's about to turn 91.

In most way's I'm a republican, but in Blighty we have a very special culture that only really works with a monarchy.

[travestytrav25]

Someone needs to do an SB drawing of the Royal Barge.

[Portsmouth Bill]

Sure, and, it is actually Dutch built, so..................

[TimothyC]

I call upon the Dutch Youth Brigade!

[Dreadnaught]

I have to confess that I would like to know what was going through the Queen's mind during the trip on the Thames. In 1953 the Royal Navy formed up in Spithead for review by the newly crowned Elizabeth. There were 197 vessels present not counting foreign warships. Now the RN is so small they decided to not have a fleet review because they could only muster a half dozen ships that weren't deployed or refitting. Makes me wonder during that boat trip if she thinking back to 1953 and receiving salutes from Vanguard, Eagle, Superb etc and looking at the collection of small boats traling the Royal Barge and wondering what the hell happened.

[rifleman]

saw none of the celebrations as the NHS was working normally, not even bank holiday pay rates. Prorata time of in lieu so the 12hour shifts I worked = 7.5 hrs time back in lieu. Hey Ho.

[Portsmouth Bill]

I have to confess that I would like to know what was going through the Queen's mind during the trip on the Thames. In 1953 the Royal Navy formed up in Spithead for review by the newly crowned Elizabeth. There were 197 vessels present not counting foreign warships. Now the RN is so small they decided to not have a fleet review because they could only muster a half dozen ships that weren't deployed or refitting. Makes me wonder during that boat trip if she thinking back to 1953 and receiving salutes from Vanguard, Eagle, Superb etc and looking at the collection of small boats traling the Royal Barge and wondering what the hell happened.

I think there is a confusion here between the Spithead review and the Thames pageant; the former being strictly ocean going naval ships, and the latter being a London celebration in the spirit of river pageants from bygone days. That said, the recent pageant was fine, apart from the woleful coverage.