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!
