Happy Holidays!!

I'd like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Please note that I will be away until January 3rd and I will not be updating my blogs during that time. In the interim, my archives are chock full of interesting, funny, and informative articles, like this one.

Also, there will be no Royal Report on December 30th. The show will resume on January 6th, 2008 (2008, can you believe it?).

The topic will be: Why do the royals complain about their lot in life? Should they complain or is it just another day at the office for them?

Thanks for visiting.

© Marilyn Braun 2007

The Royal Report for Sunday December 23rd, 2007 - Should Kate Middleton be picking up after Prince William?

Upcoming Royal Report - Should Kate be picking up after Prince William?

A recent news story shows photos of Kate picking up pheasants for William. But should she be picking up after him?

Tune in to The Royal Report on Sunday December 23rd.

This show will be broadcast at a special time - 11:00AM PST (2:00PM EST)


© Marilyn Braun 2007

Royal Children Trivia

In honor of the birth of a son to The Earl and Countess of Wessex, some royal trivia.

Did you know...

• Peter and Zara Philips are the Queen's only untitled grandchildren.

• Peter Philips was the first royal baby to be born a commoner in more than 500 years.

• Peter Philips is the first grandson of a British sovereign to be born in a hospital.

• Prince William is the first direct heir to the throne to be born in a hospital.

• Princess Beatrice's date of birth 8/8/88 is considered to be extremely lucky in the Chinese calendar.

• Except for Princess Anne, the Princess Royal , all of the Queen's children have been born at Buckingham Palace. Princess Anne was born at Clarence House.

• Princess Eugenie of York, daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, was the first royal baby to have a public christening. This occured during morning service at St. Mary Magalene, Sandringham, in December 1990.

• In 1960, Prince Andrew was the first royal baby born to a reigning British sovereign since 1857.

• The Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen are both great-great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria.

• Princess Margaret was the first royal baby, so close in the line of succession, to be born in Scotland since Charles I in 1600.

• Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was born on a dining room table.

© Marilyn Braun 2007

Related articles

Royal Christenings
Royal Baby Names
Royal Baby Boom
Royal Births

The Royal Report for Sunday December 16th, 2007 - Royal Collectibles

Upcoming Royal Report - Sunday December 16, 2007

Join me for tonight's Royal Report 5:00PM PST (8:00PM EST).

The topic will be Royal Collectibles. What do you collect? Why do you collect?

A Royal Gratitude Meme

I've been tagged in a few blog memes over the last few years but I almost never participate. Why? Because usually the topic of the meme is not relevant to my blog's subject. I don't really think that people want to visit my blog to read about the "10 least known things about me." So I don't detour because my royal blogs are exclusively about royalty and a meme just isn't part of that.

But in this case, I'm going to make an exception.

I belong to a writing community called Absolute Write and currently I am participating in a comment chain; 14 blogs - 7 days to comment on each of them. It's fun, interesting and it can start some interesting discussions, not to mention discovering new blogs. One particular blog called The Writer's Round-About has a post called A Gratitude Meme where she shows gratitude towards various people. I'd like to do the same.

For my husband Karl. While he may not always understand my interest in royalty or my show, he realizes that these things are important to me and asks about my writing, encourages me to enjoy it, and takes care of the kids when I'm doing my show, The Royal Report.

To all the other royal blog owners out there. Each of your blogs brings a different perspective to a subject we share a passionate interest in. It's good to know I'm not alone.

To Cinderella, owner of the World of Royalty website, World of Royalty Blog, Royal News blog, World of Royalty Network and for contributing to the success of The Kate Middleton Report. You gave me the idea to create Marilyn's Royal Blog, you were the first person to comment on it and you have been extremely supportive of it and the rest of my royal projects. I can't thank you enough for that.

To the people who comment on this blog, particularly Claudius. Your comments are wonderful and I look forward to them.

To all of the people who visit from around the world, I appreciate your visit. And I hope that you will return and find this blog a good resource for your interest in royalty. Feel free to say Hi every once in a while.

To June who emails questions and keeps me on my toes with challenging ones.

To all of the people who have given me positive feedback about my blogs and my show. It's very encouraging to know that people are reading, enjoy what I write, and enjoy my show.

And last but not least, to the British Royal family who continue to provide me with material. Keep up the..err..great work!

© Marilyn Braun 2007

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Like royal books? Visit Marilyn's Royal Bookstore!
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The Royal Report for Sunday December 9, 2007 - Is Kate Middleton qualified to marry into the royal family?

Upcoming Royal Report - Sunday December 9th

Join me for the next Royal Report on Sunday December 9th 5:00PM PST (8:00PM EST).

The topic will be: Is Kate Middleton qualified to marry into the royal family? Is it no longer enough to be beautiful and wear stylish clothes?

Can Prince Charles handle becoming King?

Periodically you will see a variation of this question in media articles, usually when there's no news to report. However, by asking this question I'm not trying to follow the crowd.

I hope that the Queen will live a long time because I'm not sure that Prince Charles is up to the task. Let me clarify this. The Queen sets a good example of staying above the fray when it comes to political issues and controversial topics. Prince Charles on the other hand, does not. According to his official site, he actually sees his role as being able to highlight today's issues, bringing them to the forefront.

'And being Prince of Wales produces more freedom now, and being King would be a little bit more suffocating. And because I know the character I would think that the top job, as I call it, would bring enormous limitations to him, and I don't know whether he could adapt to that. ' Diana, Princess of Wales Panorama Interview

Note that when Diana said, in her much quoted Panorama interview, she hit the nail on the head. Many saw this as evidence that Charles should not become king. But it was true then as it is true now. Will Charles be able to reign in his tendency to wade in to the fray? Remain strictly neutral with political matters, as the sovereigns role clearly demands and requires?

In his time as Prince of Wales, Charles has spearheaded many initiatives and been a catalyst for change. On the other hand, he has also caused a ruckus with his comments. A rather notable example of this is his speech criticizing architectural changes to historical buildings. Can you imagine the queen doing this?

His father Prince Philip is no stranger to saying controversial things. Maybe Prince Charles is more like his father than he realizes. But unlike his father, he was born to become king. His role, like his father, is undefined. In a sense, it's what you make of it. As consort to the Queen, Prince Philip has a certain freedom in his actions. Where what he says or does ultimately has no bearing on the future of the nation. Prince Charles as monarch, taking a stand, could be seen to confer an unfair advantage on the issue he takes the side of. While it is nothing new to hear political figures do this during elections to win votes, Charles is not running for office or trying to gain popularity. He has a captive audience; albeit one whose loyalty seems to diminish each year.

After all of these years could we accept a monarch's change of style? Does limiting his natural outspoken tendencies adhere to a tradition that is antiquated? Most monarchs have followed the traditional script. The last monarch to want change was King Edward VIII when during a visit to depressed Coal mining villages in Wales he said, "something must be done." While possibly feeling for the cause he stopped short of doing anything. Had he not abdicated it's interesting to ponder just how he might have changed things. Would the monarchy be different from what we know it today?

Will Prince Charles go with the traditional script as those before him? Does he have a choice?

Time will tell.

© Marilyn Braun 2007

Maybe breaking into song wasn't such a good idea?

On my internet talk show, The Royal Report, I'm constantly looking for ways to make the show better. I have no illusions that it will become as popular as some of the featured shows on the nowlive site, but I can dream.

This past broadcast, December 2nd, listener mail, I thought I would answer someone's question in song. While the idea entertained me up until I did it, I'm not entirely sure it was such a good idea. Seeing the 9 people who have so far listened to the show makes me cringe. Don't get me wrong, I love it when people listen to my shows but in this case maybe I went too far with it. Or so I think.

I'm going to let you in on a little secret - while the song may not have shown me to my best advantage, and as I said on the show, I'm not a classically trained lounge lizard singer, I do know how to sing.



So maybe it's not that I sang, but the quality of it in this instance. After all, who knows, maybe a record executive of a major label will listen to this and pass on it because they don't like the lounge lizard style. What a missed opportunity!

Prior to doing the show I did not practice the song. I thought I would just go where the song took me. And it took me nowhere. Now not only do I have no record contract, but I have no end to the feeling that I just made a fool of myself. Of course it's all in the name of entertainment. The cardinal sin of any podcast, or any form of entertainment, is being boring. I have a problem with taking the subject of royalty seriously at times. So it's natural for me to look at it humourously - as I mentioned in another post, doing so is in my veins. And that's what The Royal Report is about; being entertaining. Even if I do sometimes make a fool of myself in the process.

© Marilyn Braun 2007

Love takes a long time written by Roger Knox ©

The Royal Report for Sunday December 2, 2007 - Listener Mail

© Marilyn Braun 2007