Tag Archives: Queen

British government reject calls to prevent Trump from meeting the Queen

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The British government on Tuesday rejected a petition which argued that receiving President Donald Trump as a guest would embarrass the Queen.

The British foreign office recommended that Trump “should be extended the full courtesy of a state visit’’, but lawmakers are to debate the petition on February 20.

The petitioners suggested that Trump should be allowed to enter Britain as the head of the US government, but should not be invited for a state visit, which would involve a reception by Queen Elizabeth II.

Those behind the petition were able to garner 1.8 million signatures.

“Donald Trump’s well documented misogyny and vulgarity disqualifies him from being received by Her Majesty the Queen or the Prince of Wales,’’ the petition read.

The British parliament is planning to debate the petition alongside a counter-petition set up a few days later, which argued that Trump should indeed make a state visit to Britain.

British parliament says Trump is the leader of a free world and the UK is a country that supports free speech and does not believe people opposed to its point of view should be gagged.

The government is obliged to respond to any petition which is signed over 10,000 times.

Report say the date of Trump’s first visit to Britain as president has not yet been finalised.

Donald Trump set to meet the Queen on state visit.

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The Queen is reportedly set to invite Donald Trump to Windsor Castle on an official state visit to the UK.

According to several newspapers, senior government officials are said to be drawing up plans for the visit as early as next year, as they ponder how to cement the “special relationship”.

The President-elect reportedly told Prime Minister Theresa May during a phone call last week that his late Scottish mother was a “big fan” of the Queen, according to the Sunday Times.

Mrs May could use the state visit to curry his favour, the newspaper added.

The move would also allow Mrs May to swat away claims that UKIP acting leader Nigel Farage has closer links to the tycoon, which have been dismissed by Downing Street.

A spokeswoman for No 10 said: “No visit has been organised but the Prime Minister is looking forward to welcoming the president-elect to the UK when he chooses to visit.”

Mrs May has been invited to visit Mr Trump at the earliest possible opportunity and she is expected to travel to the US after he is inaugurated on 20 January.

But a state visit by Mr Trump to the UK would allow her to roll out the red carpet and offer a meeting with the Queen.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “State visits and other meetings with overseas heads of state are organised on the advice of the Government.”

The reports came as Mrs May faced fresh calls to deliver what will be seen as a “hard Brexit” from a group of 60 Conservative MPs including prominent former cabinet ministers.

Michael Gove, Iain Duncan Smith, John Whittingdale and Theresa Villiers urged the PM to pull Britain out of the European single market and the customs union.

They claimed getting out of the single market free trade zone was crucial for the UK to become free of Brussels regulations.

Eleven Labour, DUP and UKIP MPs also reportedly backed the call.

A Government spokeswoman insisted there were “no binary choices” in the UK’s future trading relationship with the EU and that the Government would pursue a bespoke deal rather than an “off the shelf” solution.

She added: “That’s why the Government is painstakingly analysing the challenges and opportunities for all the different sectors of our economy.

“The Prime Minister has been clear that she wants UK companies to have the maximum freedom to trade with and operate in the single market – and to let European businesses do the same here.”

Queen Marks 90th Birthday, As Popular As Ever

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Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her 90th birthday on Thursday with a family gathering and a cake baked by a reality television star, as a new poll finds Britain’s longest serving monarch is as popular as ever.

The queen has reigned for more than 63 years and shows no sign of retiring, even if she has in recent years passed on some of her duties to the younger royals.

A new poll suggests the British public want it to stay that way, with 70 percent saying she should reign for as long as possible, the highest proportion since 1981.

Support for the monarchy remains high at 76 percent, according to the Ipsos-Mori poll for King’s College London.

“The queen is hugely popular, she is liked personally and is felt to have done an excellent job,” Roger Mortimore, a professor at the Institute of Contemporary British History at King’s College London, told AFP.

Thursday’s celebrations will be low-key, with the main public events, including a military parade and lunch for 10,000 guests on The Mall outside Buckingham Palace, taking place as part of her official birthday celebrations in June.

With her husband Prince Philip, she will meet members of the public near Windsor Castle, her weekend residence, before lighting the first of a chain of beacons stretching across Britain and its overseas territories.

At an event in Windsor’s town hall, the queen will be presented with a cake baked by Nadiya Jamir Hussain, the winner of the “Great British Bake Off”, a hugely popular television cooking competition.

The Muslim mother-of-three will present the orange drizzle cake, with orange curd and orange butter cream, to the queen personally — a prospect she said has left her “so nervous I can’t even look at the oven”.

The queen will also attend a family birthday dinner organised by her heir Prince Charles, emphasising her role as the head of four generations of the House of Windsor.

Charles and his son William are increasingly taking over the queen’s duties, although she still carried out 393 engagements last year, including state visits to Malta and Germany.

William, who with his wife Kate and two young children has brought fresh energy to the royals, paid tribute to the matriarch he and his brother Harry describe as “the boss”.

“I am incredibly lucky to have my grandmother in my life. As she turns 90, she is a remarkably energetic and dedicated guiding force for her family,” William said.

Credit: Guardian

Ken Olisa: The Most Powerful Black Man In Britain

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He’s the Queen’s escort in London who locked horns with John Bercow and has a library named after him at Cambridge – not bad for a boy who grew up without a loo in Nottingham

Today Ken Olisa is officially named as the most powerful black person in Britain, not that any of the commuters on the 8.10am from Hampton Wick would know it.

Unassuming and usually dressed in the commuter’s favoured uniform of suit and raincoat, the only thing that hints at his influence is his trademark bow tie – he owns more than 100.

Otherwise, there is little to suggest that Mr Olisa is, according to the annual Powerlist – which names
the most influential black people in Britain, more important than Sir Lenny Henry or Mo Farah or the Oscar-winning film director Steve McQueen. How could anyone know that this quiet man from Nottingham wields more power than Lewis Hamilton or Baroness Lawrence?

But wield power Ken Olisa does. The 63-year old was the first British born black man to serve on the board of a public company (Reuters), has his own merchant bank (Restoration Partners), and a library named after him at his Cambridge alma mater (Fitzwilliam).

He is a keen philanthropist (the library came after a £2 million donation), a former governor of the Peabody Trust, a chair of not one but two charities (Thames Reach, which deals with the homeless, and Shaw Trust, which helps the disabled), and is on the board of the Institute of Directors.

And as if all of that weren’t enough, in April, he was made Lord Lieutenant of London, appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister. The title gives him an office in Whitehall, a staff of 90, and puts him in charge of all visits made by the royal family within the city – with him even standing in for them on occasion.

So he escorted the Queen to the Home Office last week, and had the miserable task of accompanying the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to the Spectre premiere last month, along with Prince Harry. The next morning he was up early to spend yet more time with the Duchess – this time, on a charity visit to Islington Town Hall.

“I do a lot of calming down in the moments before their arrival,” he explains. “People tend to get very wound up and stressed.” Not so Olisa, who is as cool as the proverbial cucumber, even when wearing the heavy military-style uniform of the Lord Lieutenant.

Source: TelegraphUK

Kate Middleton & Prince William’s Lavish Lifestyle Reportedly Upsets The Queen

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Kate Middleton and Prince William are spending too much money, and Queen Elizabeth is really upset about their wasteful ways. Celeb Dirty Laundry cites a Life & Style report that claims the Queen is outraged by the Duchess’ spending habits, which she finds “vulgar” and “frivolous.”

As for her grandson, his desire to fly his family of four around in a private jet is also a problem because it’s on the taxpayer’s dime. And last year Middleton faced backlash after using public funds to install two kitchens in their apartment. How many people really need two kitchens?

The couple reportedly spent $2.5 million renovating their country home and an additional $1 million on furniture and decorations. And guess what? The place costs $400,000 a year to maintain. Kate and William have reportedly spent a total of $6 million to redo all of their properties.

Read More: starpulse

4 Nigerians Bag Queen’s Young Leaders Awards

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Nigeria, with four winners top the list of the inaugural Queen’s young leaders awards. Isaiah Owolabi, Kelvin Ogholi,Nkechikwu Azinge and Oladipupo Ajiroba made the list from Nigeria. Canada, India, Cameroon and South Africa have three winners each.

Her Majesty, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary will present the inaugural Queen’s Young Leaders Awards to exceptional young people from across the Commonwealth, at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace on 22nd June.

The award winners, aged 18-29, have been recognised by The Queen for taking the lead in transforming the lives of others and making a lasting difference in their communities.

With this support, award winners will be expected to continue and develop the amazing work they are already doing in their communities to raise awareness and inspire change in areas of education, climate change, gender equality, mental health and disability equality.

The winners will receive a unique package of training, mentoring and networking, including a one-week residential programme in the UK in association with Cabridge University.

Before receiving their awards at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace, they will meet Prime Minister David Cameron at 10 Downing Street. They will then visit the UK headquarters of global social networking company Twitter and meet with senior executives at the BBC World Service.

Dr Astrd Bonfield, Chief Executive of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust said: “We are very much looking forward to welcoming the first Queen’s Young Leaders to London on 22nd, for may of whom it will be their first visit to the UK. It will be such an honour to witness these exceptional young people receiving their awards from Her Majesty The Queen for their incredible work in their countries and across the Commonwealth.”

The Queen’s Young Leaders Programme is an initiative established by The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust in partnership with Comic Relief and the Royal Commonwealth Society in recognition of The Queen’s lifetime of service to the Commonwealth.

The awards were launched by The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry, who used social media to help spread the message that #TheSearchIsOn, calling on young people from across the Commonwealth to apply, or be nominated for the opportunity to become a Queen’s Young Leader.

Credit: vanguardngr

Barbados PM Seeks To Remove Queen & Turn Nation To Republic

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Barbados is planning to remove Queen Elizabeth II as the head of state, over 400 years after it was colonized by Britain, and become a republic.

During a meeting of the Democratic Labor Party late on Sunday, Prime Minister Freundel Jerome Stuart officially stated his plans for the country to become a republic by the end of November 2016, the 50th anniversary of the country’s independence.

“It’s a little awkward in the year 2015 to still have to stand up and instead of pledging allegiance to Barbados to be pledging allegiance to ‘her majesty the queen,’” Stuart said, adding that his administration does not expect any opposition to the move.

Meanwhile, George Pilgrim, general secretary of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), said the parliament would vote on a draft bill suggesting the Queen’s removal in the near future. “This will move the country through to the next major step in the process of nationhood.”

A Barbadian historian, Trevor Marshall, welcomed Stuart’s announcement, arguing there is “nothing to be gained by remaining as a dominion.”

To authorize the constitutional change, a two-thirds majority is needed in the parliament.

There has long been a republican dispute in Barbados between elder islanders who think of the queen as a symbol of stability, and mostly youngsters who call her an anachronism.

The Carribean Island of roughly 300,000 people, which was colonized by the British in 1605, became independent in 1966, but remained a constitutional monarchy.

Credit: presstv