The royal family (Королевское семейство)

REFERATE

FOR ENGLISH

PUPLE FROM 9 “G” CLASS

OF SCHOOL NO 22

LIVINCEV IVAN

For more than a thousand years Britain has always had kings or queens

except for the ten years between 1649 and 1659. In the past, kings had

great power and they really helped to make history. They started wars, made

lows, and did things in their own way. But gradually more and more power

went to Parliament. What does the queen do now? Why does Britain need

monarchy? And does it?

A job for life

Elizabeth II calls the Windsor family a “Firm”. She thinks of

it as a business rather than a family. And the main business of the royal

family is… well, probably being royal. And they are paid for it. The queen

is one of the richest woman in the world and yet she gets about 8 million

pounds a year to be a queen. But many people agree that she does her job

well and she deserves her salary.

The work of the royal family has continued through all the

changes of the last fifty or sixty years. There are hundreds of traditional

ceremonies which the Queen has to keep. Each year, in September or October,

there is the State Opening of Parliament. The Queen, wearing her crown,

arrives at the Houses of Parliament by carriage. There she reads the Queens

Speech, which discusses the government’s work for the next year.

Another traditional ceremony takes place on the Thursday before

Easter Sunday. The Queen gives out purses of money to older people who have

done good work. This is called “Maundy money” and the tradition is almost

seven hundred years old.

Every summer the Queen gives three or more royal garden

parties at Buckingham Palace. About 8,000 guests come to each party. They

drink about 27,000 cups of tea and eat 20,000 sandwiches and 20,000 pieces

of cake.

The Queen and other members of the royal family often travel

abroad as guests of others countries. They meet important visitors. They

are invited to the opening of hospitals, schools, museums, embassies-not

long ago Princess Anne came to Moscow for the opening ceremony of the new

British Embassy. So their life is quite busy. Besides, the Queen acts as

head of the government and once a week she has a meeting with the Prime

Minister. She also has to read the report of the day from Parliament. Any

law made by Parliament really becomes a law only if the Queen agrees to it.

But no king or queen has refused a new law since 1701!

Family story

When Elizabeth was born nobody knew she would be queen. Her

grandfather, King George V, had six children. His eldest son, Edward, was

the next in line to be king and Elizabeth’s father, Albert, was only second

child. Edward loved a good time. He enjoyed women, drink a lot, spent

money, liked fashionable clothes. Albert, or

Bertie, as his friend called him, was rather shy, he stammered, and all his

life it was difficult for him to make speeches. As he did not expect to

become king, he the Navy. When he took exams at naval College, he came only

68th. It wasn’t very impressive since there were only 68 students in the

class.

He married lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon- she is the Queen Mother

now and this year she has celebrate her 100th anniversary! -And they had

two daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret.

The family lived in a house on Piccadilly. It was not a palace,

but it was a nice place with twenty-five bedrooms, a library and a room for

dance and parties. The girls had a private teacher, they also studied

music, dancing and art. As a child Elizabeth was nicknamed Lilibet-because

that was the way she pronounced her name. She was a serious, tidy little

girl, but her governess said that Lilibet and Margaret could fight on

occasions.

In 1936 King George died. When his coffin with the crown on

top of it was carriage through the streets on a horse drawn carriage, the

crown fell. Many people through it was a bad sign. Indeed, 1936 became “The

year of the kings”. In January, after his father’s death, Edward became

king. In December he refused from the throne and his younger brother Bertie

took his place.

WAR TIMES, MARRIAGE AND FUTURE

Bertie became King George. The family moved into Buckingham

Palace. During the war the family lived in Windsor. It was dangerous to

stay in London because the city was often bombed especially East End.

When Elizabeth was 13 she met Prince Philip of Greece. He was

six year older than her. Certainly at that time she was only schoolgirl,

but later they fell in love and in 1947 they got married.

As we now after that was born a daughter, which name is Diana.

In 1989 year Princes Diana got married with Prince Charles. They had two

sons, William and Harry. The year part of Windsor Castle was badly damaged

by a fire. The government refused to pay for the repairs. So the Queen

opened Buckingham Palace to playing tourist to get the money. Later she

decided that their favorite royal ship Britannia was too expensive and it

had to go. Queen agreed to pay taxes.

After Diana’s die many people asked if Charles would be king or

the crown would go to his eldest son, William? Prince William is 18 now, he

looks very much like his mother. He and Prince Harry are the royal family

of the future. Both boys study at Eton, they spend a lot of time with their

father and often visit their grandmother.

England has had kings and queens for a thousand years-probably they’ll have

them for another thousand, and people believe in the Royal Family!