British Queen ['s sculpture] Bheaded

Knocked off: Organisers have called in the police after the event was badly damaged when the culprits broke in after dark and destroyed their hard work [Photo Daily Mail / Apex]

It would seem the patriotic wave that rippled across the country following the Jubilee and Olympics has come to an abrupt end.

Organisers of a resort's sand sculpture festival have called in the police after vandals beheaded three of its exhibits.

The feature in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, was badly damaged when the culprits broke in after dark and worked their way around the exhibition, smashing and beheading sculptures as they went.

They took a particular dislike to a fully sized figure The Queen built for the jubilee and knocked her head clean off. The vandals struck on Wednesday night and have also destroyed two athletes in the Olympic display, as well as a row of clowns and a Super Mario figure.

Read and see more photos : Daily Mail

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Historical handshake: Queens meets Martin McGuinness

The British Queen performed an astonishing act of forgiveness today in the name of peace when she shook hands with Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness - twice.

The historical handshake: British Queen shakes hand with Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein [Photo: PA / Daily Mail]

Her Majesty somehow even found it within her to smile as she met the man who once headed the terror network responsible for killing Lord Mountbatten - the treasured cousin she knew as 'Uncle Dickie'.

Mountbatten was murdered by the IRA in 1979 along with his young grandson in a bomb blast during a boating trip off Mullaghmore, Co. Sligo. It was an atrocity that sent shockwaves through the Royal Family.

Yet today, in a Jubilee year full of surprises, the Queen spent five minutes with Mr McGuinness behind closed doors in a room within the city's Lyric Theatre, and then the pair shook hands again publicly outside in full view of the world's cameras.

Read more / see more photos and details of Queen's visit to Ireland: Daily Mail

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£1million Gloriana to lead the greatest show on the Thames for 350 years

While British soldiers die in Afghanistan for nothing, a  £1million Gloriana to lead the greatest show on the Thames for 350 years to celebrate the golden jubilee of the coronation of the Queen Elizabeth II. 

Leading the 1,000-strong flotilla will be the Gloriana. The 94ft Royal rowbarge – the first to be built for more than a century – is unique among the participating vessels in that it is the only one specially commissioned for the event. 

Originally it was intended that the Queen or the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge would be on board but Her Majesty will now travel along the Thames on the Spirit of Chartwell. 

I was the first journalist to be granted access to the £1 million Gloriana and allowed to inspect its exquisite interior. An extraordinary amount of thought has gone into the design and the sourcing of materials so that she is imbued with rich historical significance, reports CHARLOTTE EAGAR.

Read more / see photos of the £1million Gloriana and others: Daily Mail

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Queen's Diamond Jubilee pins made in China

Lapel pins created to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and handed out by the federal government are made in China.

The approximately 300,000 pins, specially made to celebrate the Queen's 60 years on the throne, were contracted out to a small Ottawa company that in turn subcontracted a manufacturer in China to do the work.

The nearly $60,000 contract was signed in November.

Read more: Canada

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Queen to open London Olympic Games

Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip will open the London Olympic Games in July, the palace announced on Wednesday, continuing a tradition that dates back more than 100 years.

"Her Majesty The Queen, accompanied by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, will open the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium on Friday, 27th July," Buckingham Palace said in a statement.

The opening ceremony at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, east London, is being overseen by Oscar-winning filmmaker Danny Boyle. The theme is the "Isles of Wonder" and is inspired by a passage from Shakespeare's play "The Tempest".

Read more: Google News

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Diamond Jubilee River Thames spectacular: Once in a Lifetime Event

The British Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations are claimed to be the greatest show the Thames has ever seen and perhaps even outshine the Olympics.

The Diamond Jubilee river pageant will feature 1,000 boats, 20,000 eager participants and millions of cheering spectators.

Details of the spectacular event on June 3 were released yesterday, prompting London Mayor Boris Johnson to predict a ‘glorious’ spectacle which would ‘perhaps be more exciting than the Olympics themselves’.

Pageant Master Adrian Evans dubs the show as ‘a once-in-a-lifetime event, one that will reclaim the Thames as a royal route.’

Read much more with illustrations / video: Mail Online

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New royal yacht proposal backed by David Cameron

Yesterday, Imposing Headlines shared a post about the proposal of presenting a new royal yacht to the Queen, an 'idea' proposed by the education secretary.

Now the news is that the British PM David Cameron is also supportive of the plans for a new, privately funded royal yacht that will double up as a university of the seas, and provide accommodation for royalty in the ship's stern.

The idea, at one point described by Gove as a gift from the nation to the Queen on her diamond jubilee, also has the backing of the Prince of Wales and Princess Anne, according to letters sent to the prime minister by Willetts.

The £60m yacht has so far found £10m in backing from financial leaders in Canada and an unnamed £5m private donation, as well as an offer by Foyles to contribute £500,000 for books for a library.

Read more: The Guardian

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Give Queen a new royal yacht for diamond jubilee, Proposes Michael Gove

Micheal Gove, the British Education secretary proposes taxpayers fund gift – likely to cost at least £60m – to mark Momentous occasion.'

Michael Gove has written that the celebration for the Queen's diamond jubilee 'should go beyond those of previous jubilees and mark the greater achievement that the diamond anniversary represents'.

Gove has thus brushed aside Britain's economic problems to propose the public donate a new royal yacht to the Queen as a mark of respect during this year's diamond jubilee celebrations, according to a confidential letter to fellow ministers.

Read more: The Guardian

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Queen’s 'despair' over Charles's split from Diana and love for Camilla revealed

[ via Mail Online ] 7 Jan

A new biography of the Queen reveals for the first time her despair over the divorce of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, and the Monarch’s fears that  her eldest son was about to ‘throw  everything away’.

Queen was afraid of a repetition of Royal History in love

The Archbishop reveals the Queen was terrified that history was about to repeat itself – that Prince Charles would give up his place in the line of succession for Camilla, just as King Edward VIII gave up the throne in 1936 to marry his mistress, Wallis Simpson.

Read more: Mail Online

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Human remains found close to Queen’s estate at Sandringham

[ via Mail Online ] 3 Jan

Human remains have been discovered by a dog walker on the Queen’s estate at Sandringham.

The scene is a stone’s throw from the Royal Stud where the Queen oversees the breeding and training of race horses.

One estate worker, who declined to be named, said the police operation has been shrouded in secrecy. He said: ‘There have been three police cars there all day and it is completely cordoned off. It looks like they have closed a big area.

The incident is reported when the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are in residence at the estate, accompanied by the Earl and Countess of Wessex and their two young children.

Read more: Mail Online

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Stay in Queen's Palace for £30,000 a day during Olympics

Full Story: Mail Online 12 November 2011

St James’s Palace 

In a rare move of "hospitality," the Queen has allowed to spare a few "rooms" from her St James’s Palace to private firms during the 2012 London Olympics at £30,000 a day.

The gesture shown by the British monarch is a break-away from the 500 years old royal protocol. The Queen has personally approved the plans to allow businesses to take their pick of the Palace’s Throne Room, its Tapestry Room and the Queen Anne Room.

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