Some guy in a British general's uniform

[Dave Danner]

Since when is this guy a Lt. General?

For the UK experts, does this denote a particular regiment he's chief of or is this a generic general's uniform? There appears to be a device below the crossed saber & baton, but I can't make it out.

[Dave Danner]

You can see the shoulder strap fuzzily in the background, with Andrew and his South Atlantic War Medal with rosette in the foreground.

[Dave Danner]

On closer examination, I can't even tell if that's a pip or crown above the general's device, so maybe a Major General?

Here are the rest of the royals. Princess Anne, Commodore Tim Lawrence, Edward, Earl of Wessex and Sophie (baby got back or preggers?)

[Rick Research]

Old pix?

It was my understanding that Whiny Edward of the grotesquely ill-fated revived title had long severed ANY military connection, having washed out of officer TRAINING... so what's HE doing in a cavalry uniform????

What's Charles doing with an O.M.????


And WHAT is that GROTESQUE petunia with the childish crayon squiggles ribbon in first place on Chuck's bar that he and his pa, at least, seem to turn up in all the time???


Canst tell my British references fossilized in Edward Heath's day?

[Dave Danner]

These are from today's Remembrance Day ceremony at St. Paul's. And apparently Sophie Wessex is pregnant.

As for the petunia with crayon, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and HRH The Prince of Wales are, since 1981 and 1983 respectively, "Extra Companions" of the Queen’s Service Order (that would be Her Majesty Elizabeth II, the first Queen of New Zealand)

http://www.dpmc.govt.nz/honours/overview/qso.html

[Dave Danner]

The last two medals on both Charles' and Andrew's bars are from the other senior members of the Commonwealth. They are the Canadian Forces Decoration, for 12 years service in the Canadian Armed Forces (Charles has a bar for an additional 10 years) and the Anniversary of National Service 1951-1972 Medal from Australia, created in 2001 and open to all Australian servicemembers in that period. So presumably both have held Australian and Canadian appointments for and in the qualifying periods. Edward has the Australian medal too, which is odd, since he would have been a child before 1972.

The others are coronation and jubilee; Charles has all his mum's: 1952 Coronation, 1977 SIlver Jubilee and 2002 Golden Jubilee.

Dave

[Dave Danner]

Prince Edward is Colonel-in-Chief of The Saskatchewan Dragoons and The Royal Wessex Yeomanry. The latter is the uniform he's wearing.

[Rick Research]

Omigawd! That THING is even uglier than I had imagined! The scribbly... COOKIE thing, that is!

Harold Godwinson's unfortunate successor is an Honorary Colonel? Tacky, very, very, VERY tacky!!! MOST inappropriate!

OK, but still... what has earned Dutiful Chuck an O.M.? Has THAT gone right down the drains, too?

[ChrisB]

And WHAT is that GROTESQUE petunia with the childish crayon squiggles ribbon in first place on Chuck's bar that he and his pa, at least, seem to turn up in all the time???

Hello,

Being a Kiwi I can take a little bit of umbrage at this quote, I mean some of those yank medals and ribbons are fairly horrendous. I believe that “cookie” represents the white rose of England. The ribbon represents the pattern present in many of the rafters of Maori Marae (meeting house) so isn’t just a squiggle. In whole the medal and ribbon is representative of New Zealand.
Oh and I think you will find that queen Vic was the first Queen of NZ.
Cheers
Chris

[David B]

Hello,

Being a Kiwi I can take a little bit of umbrage at this quote, I mean some of those yank medals and ribbons are fairly horrendous. I believe that “cookie” represents the white rose of England. The ribbon represents the pattern present in many of the rafters of Maori Marae (meeting house) so isn’t just a squiggle. In whole the medal and ribbon is representative of New Zealand.
Oh and I think you will find that queen Vic was the first Queen of NZ.
Cheers
Chris

Chris, I'm a Kiwi too, I personally think it looks awful. The Order of New Zealand looks bad too, I just don't think the designs don't really look like your tradional Order or Decoration. At least our military awards and bravery awards make up for our civilian/non mil ones.

Does anyone know how the QSO ends up first on many of the Royal's medal bars?

By the way - QE II is the first Queen of NEW ZEALAND. Queen Vic. was Queen of Great Britian (etc.) and the British Empire (ie. us).

[Rick Research]

OK, ours of recent years HAVE been icky. No contest there. And I will grant you that if this award from the land of small flightless hairy green egg sized fruits IS...

more three dimensional than the HIDEOUS cereal box press-outs that the Land of Oz has been churning out these last 30 years...

...


it still looks like something Bobby Mugabe would present to himself for his own birthday. It's... rather Idi Amin-ish, size and style and all.

[NavyFCO]

Must be nice to be royalty... I've had to earn all my medals, and none of them are nearly as cool looking as the ones here! (Even the "petunia cookie" that Rick dislikes!)

--Dave

[Allan H.]

I believe that Chuckie is the Colonel in Chief of the Parachute Regiment, and is probably CiC of a couple of other regiments as well.
I recall that Sir Winston used to like to dress up as an RAF Air-Commodore during the war.
Of course, Mr. Churchill never wore ugly cookies.
Allan

[Paul B]

Para Wings

Charles is, as Allan says, Colonel-in-Chief of the Parachute Regiment, as well as one or two other units. He did actually complete the jump course in the late 70's -hence the wings- so full respect to HRH. No P-Company though, not a good idea to force the heir to the throne to run around with a telegraph pole or go tabbing up and down the Brecon Beacons...
All the best, Paul.

[Dave Danner]

A few more than one or two.

The Prince of Wales is regimental Colonel of the Welsh Guards and Royal Honorary Colonel of the Queen's Own Yeomanry. He is Colonel-in-Chief of The Royal Regiment of Wales (24th/41st Foot), The Cheshire Regiment, The Gordon Highlanders, The Parachute Regiment, 2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles (The Sirmoor Rifles), the Army Air Corps, The Royal Dragoon Guards, The Royal Gurkha Rifles, 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards, The King's Regiment, and The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders). He is Deputy Colonel-in-Chief of The Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordons and Camerons). For the RAF, he is Colonel-in-Chief, Air Reserve Group of Air Command and Honorary Air Commodore, RAF Valley

For Canada, he is Colonel-in-Chief of Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians), The Fort Garry Horse, The Royal Regiment of Canada, The Royal Winnipeg Rifles and The Royal Canadian Dragoons. Down under, he is Colonel-in-Chief, Royal Australian Armoured Corps, Air Commodore-in-Chief of Royal New Zealand Air Force and Colonel-in-Chief of The Royal Pacific Islands Regiment of Papua New Guinea.
_____

Prince Andrew is a Personal Aide de Camp to the Queen and Colonel-in-Chief of The Staffordshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's), The Royal Irish Regiment (27th (Inniskilling) 83rd and 87th and The Ulster Defence Regiment), the 9th/12th Lancers (Prince of Wales's), The Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Margaret's Own Glasgow and Ayrshire Regiment) and the Small Arms School Corps. He is Honorary Air Commodore, RAF Lossiemouth and an Admiral of the Sea Cadet Corps. For Canada, Andrew is Colonel-in-Chief of The Queen's York Rangers (1st American Regiment)and he was, before it was disbanded, Colonel-in-Chief of The Canadian Airborne Regiment. He is Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal New Zealand Army Logistic Regiment. I have no idea what his Australia connection is.
_____

The Duke of Edinburgh is Colonel of too many regiments to list. He is also a Field Marshal, Admiral of the Fleet and Marshal of the Air Force of the UK, Australia and New Zealand. He also has the QSO petunia in first place: