At the church, the Queen and Prince Philip briefly met some of the residents who gathered outside the church to greet the royals. A couple of little girls presented the Queen with some flowers.

Now, here is something I have not really paid attention to before. Under her lovely pink coat, the Queen was wearing a pair of boots! I had to look back through older photos, and found that she wore the same boots at a service at St Peter’s Church in Wolferton last month (photo in the gallery below). Now I’m curious whether this is something new in Her Majesty’s winter wardrobe, or something that I just didn’t notice before. I thought she always wore pumps with her dresses. Boots are more Zara Phillips or Kate Middleton’s style than the Queen’s. Have you seen her wear dressy boots like these before?

images via Zuma Press

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The little girl who presented the Queen with a posy gave a wonderful little curtsey! Very cute!

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The Queen was accompanied in the car by Sophie, Countess of Wessex. Before entering the church, Queen Elizabeth, in a red coat and hat, acknowledged the crowd that had gathered outside. Also seen in this video are Princess Anne, Prince Edward, Prince Charles, Camilla, Peter and Autumn Phillips, Princess Beatrice, and Princess Eugenie. Bringing up the rear were Prince Harry, Prince William and Zara Phillips.

After services, the British royals had lunch and gathered to watch the Queen’s annual Christmas broadcast. This article on the Daily Mail says that the Queen watched by her lonesome, since she is too shy to watch herself on screen with company around.

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Queen Elizabeth called 2009 “a difficult year for many”. She touched on the major themes of the war in Afghanistan, the global recession, and the unity and strength of the Commonwealth of nations.

Here are some important about the history of this Christmas tradition:

1932 – King George V issued the monarch’s annual Christmas message

1952 – Queen Elizabeth’s first Christmas broadcast, after the death of her father King George VI

1957 – first televised broadcast (live)

1960 – pre-recording of the broadcast began

2007 – Queen Elizabeth’s message was first broadcast on YouTube

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Among this year’s Royal Variety performers were Bette Midler, Whoopi Goldberg, Michael Buble, Katherine Jenkins, Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga.

I always like to see Queen Elizabeth at the Variety Show. I like to think it helps her keep in touch, and that it’s not all Beethoven and Bach for the British royal family.

Queen Elizabeth is introduced to Miley Cyrus:

With Bette Midler and British comedian Peter Kay:

With Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins:

Lady Gaga curtseys to the Queen:

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In the afternoon, Queen Elizabeth continued to Brasenose College to celebrate its 500th anniversary. She met with the Principal, Professor Roger Cashmore, and with staff, students and alumni of the school, and attended a luncheon the college’s dining hall. She was presented with an honorary plaque during her visit.

More photos after the cut…

images: Bauer-Griffin

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Very little varies from year to year in the ceremony at the House of Lords in London’s Westminster Palace. Several parts of the ceremony, such as a search of the palace cellars and Buckingham Palace’s taking of a “hostage” from the House of Commons, are performed purely for the sake of tradition, which may go back as far as 1605 (in the case of the cellar search).

Queen Elizabeth, accompanied by Prince Philip, arrives, wearing the King George IV Diadem, which was made in 1820.

The Imperial State Crown is taken to Westminster on a separate horse-drawn carriage from the Queen. The monarch swaps her diadem for the State Crown, proceeds to the throne and delivers her speech to the combined House of Lords and House of Commons.

In her speech, she outlines the British government’s plans for the coming year, as well as State Visits that have been planned. (Full text of this year’s speech here.)

After her speech, the Queen leaves, and the ceremony continues in her absence.

And so, another year begins in the British parliament and the Imperial State Crown returns to the Tower of London for safekeeping.

Till next year’s Parliament Opening!

images via Zuma Press

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Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, Prince William and Prince Harry joined British political leaders at the Cenotaph in London for Remembrance Sunday. As customary, the royals laid wreaths during the ceremony honoring those who died in battle.

Prince Charles and the Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall are currently in Canada on an official visit. Prince Harry laid a wreath on behalf of his father.

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As part of her visit, the Queen took a tour of the brand new visitor’s centre and was introduced to the work being done in the Cancer Centre. She also took up a spade to plant a tree on the grounds of the facility. The plaque marking the tree reads:

This Tree was
Planted in memory of
W.R. Wooldridge
Founder and First Scientific Director of
The Animal Health Trust
by
Her Majesty The Queen
Patron of The Animal Health Trust
29th October 2009

The Animal Health Trust is a veterinary charity that looks after horses, dogs and cats. The trust gives importance to research as a means of improving the diagnosis and treatment of the diseases of these animals. The focus of the charity must be close to the Queen’s heart, as she is a lover of horses and dogs, corgis in particular! She certainly brought a happy dash of color to the clinics!

images: Zuma Press

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