hey england--

[slumber]

Does your royal family have a last name? It can't just be Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth and a string of first names with tagged-on nths to identify how original the name was, right? Can it? Am I to assume they are all Tudors? Or is Tudor not a last name but, like. A place of birth or something?

ETA: Windsor! It wasn't in Wikipedia when I checked, but it doesn't mean it isn't somewhere. :| :P

I don't even know why I started wondering, but I am direly uneducated and need immediate rectification. Will a Brit please educate me? Like, about the whole monarchy system thing.

Thanks!

***

In other news, did you know that in France, women who wanted their marriages annulled used to bring matters to court, charging their husbands with impotence, so that the only recourse would be for the husband to prove in court that he was not impotent, and so therefore, as part of the court proceedings, masturbate in front of a so-called team of experts?

Of course, hardly (haha, no pun intended :|) anyone would actually be able to do that, so husbands who didn't want the humiliation that came with being proven to have a flaccid penis would demand a Trial by Congress, which is, essentially, a live show. Husband and wife had to show up at a ~neutral~ spot, and perform the act in front of the ~experts~, and there must be sufficient proof that they ejaculated, too.

I don't know how they thought that would help. :|

Let that sink in for a bit, and then I'll return to this wonderful, glorious, fantastically hysterical historical book.

PS. It's Napoleon's Privates. Tell your friends. :|

Comments

[wenelda.livejournal.com]

Scratch that. Here:

Yes, it's true, the British royal family changed their last name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor in 1917. The reason? World War One broke out in 1914 and anit-German sentiment was at its height in 1917. In protest, King George V renounced all the German titles belonging to him and his family and adopted the name of his castle, Windsor.

[slumber.livejournal.com]

Oooh, thanks! I HAVE heard Windsor around, funny how I just never connected. And of course, sometimes it surprises me how Wikipedia still does NOT have the answer to everything. :P Thanks!

[wenelda.livejournal.com]

I have to say I find it kind of ironic that you asked, because I wondered myself several months ago and went on an internet search. It's how I found that link, actually. It's kind of amazing what google can come up with from random searches.

[slumber.livejournal.com]

haha, you know, it's funny. I Google a lot, but these days I've been going to Wikipedia first for info-- it only had Prince Charles' first four names, so I assumed the information would have been hard to go by.

I do love the internet. :D

[daniellafromage.livejournal.com]

It's Windsor right now, and has been since...I think around WWI? It was Saxe-Coburg during Queen Victoria's reign, but was changed to Windsor in around 1914 because S-C is a German name and we were at war with them.

I think William and Harry used "Wales" while they were at school/uni (maybe as a way of going INCOGNITO?).

[slumber.livejournal.com]

Ohh, haha, that's kind of funny. :| They'd have been recognised anyway, though I guess when they want to, they CAN sort of keep things quiet, case in point Harry's little stint in the army. (Except, that wasn't a secret for very long either. :|)

[souliesoul.livejournal.com]

Harry is still in the army - it was just a deployment to er Afghanistan or Iraq that they wanted to keep quiet to prevent extra risk to him and his troops. William is also still in the military, but instead of selecting just one force, he seems to be giving them all a go. Presumably in preparation for when he's King, so that he can say he understands them all...

[slumber.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's what I meant-- except I didn't remember exactly where he went so I didn't mention it, lol. (Must've been Afghanistan because they didn't want him in Iraq, that part I knew.)

And totally off-topic-- is that Billie Piper in your icon?

[souliesoul.livejournal.com]

Yes, it is! :D (Er, in the above comment anyway. This is Katee Sackoff.)

[slumber.livejournal.com]

She's pretty there! Like. Sixties/seventies pretty! :P

[squishtoy.livejournal.com]

vive le france?

[slumber.livejournal.com]

indeed. :|

[ensemble.livejournal.com]

LMFAO, I did NOT know that, but am glad that you have enlightened me!

IDK anything about the monarchy, even though I live there o__O I pretty much hate the whole thing.

[slumber.livejournal.com]

Haha, am glad it's not common knowledge, then. :P

*pets* I have no opinions currently, but that's me. I must know everything before I can have an opinion on it, which explains why I have barely any. :| :D

[idroppedarice.livejournal.com]

Haha, a part of me doesn't believe you when you say Wikipedia doesn't have the answer. All I can think is, nah, she just didn't look in the right place! It must be there!

And you're kidding about the French thing right? Ha! Wow.

[slumber.livejournal.com]

*giggles* I know the feeling! I'd have said the exact same thing!

Well, I don't think I am. :P I love this book-- it's made me want to read about Casanova more. I saw the David Tennant version and didn't take half the things in it seriously, but dear god imagine my surprise when apparently all of it was true! I love history like this. ♥ :D