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Kissing Hands
To kiss hands is a constitutional term used in the United Kingdom to refer to the formal installation of the prime minister or other Crown-appointed government ministers to their office. Overview In the past, the term referred to the requirement that the office-holder actually kiss the hands of the monarch as a symbol of personal fealty and loyalty, that fealty and loyalty being a requirement to serve in the King's or Queen's government. In modern times, office-holders are not expected to physically kiss the hands of the monarch before assuming the role, neither at this ceremony nor at any other point in the process of installing a new office-holder. Simply being received by the monarch is taken to validate the selection, with this meeting being described in the Court Circular as "kissing hands". The invitation issued to a party leader to form a government is sometimes still described as "an invitation to kiss hands". The metaphorical kissing of hands (i.e. the appointment) d ...
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Prime Minister Of The United Kingdom
The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern prime ministers hold office by virtue of their ability to command the confidence of the House of Commons, they sit as members of Parliament. The office of prime minister is not established by any statute or constitutional document, but exists only by long-established convention, whereby the reigning monarch appoints as prime minister the person most likely to command the confidence of the House of Commons; this individual is typically the leader of the political party or coalition of parties that holds the largest number of seats in that chamber. The prime minister is '' ex officio'' also First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and the minister responsible for national security. Indeed, certain privileges, such as List ...
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Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original castle was built in the 11th century, after the Norman invasion of England by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I (who reigned 1100–1135), it has been used by the reigning monarch and is the longest-occupied palace in Europe. The castle's lavish early 19th-century state apartments were described by early 20th century art historian Hugh Roberts as "a superb and unrivalled sequence of rooms widely regarded as the finest and most complete expression of later Georgian taste".Hugh Roberts, ''Options Report for Windsor Castle'', cited Nicolson, p. 79. Inside the castle walls is the 15th-century St George's Chapel, considered by the historian John Martin Robinson to be "one of the supreme achievements of English Perpe ...
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House Of Commons Library
The House of Commons Library is the library and information resource of the lower house of the British Parliament. It was established in 1818, although its original 1828 construction was destroyed during the burning of Parliament in 1834. The library has adopted the phrase "Contributing to a well-informed democracy" as a summary of its mission statement. History The Library was established in 1818 and a purpose-designed library was built for it by Sir John Soane and completed in 1828. This building, along with much of the mediaeval Palace of Westminster, to which it was added, was destroyed by fire in 1834. In the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster by Sir Charles Barry and Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, the Library was given four large rooms on the river front of the principal floor of the new palace, each 40 feet by 25 feet and some 20 ft high. This suite was fully opened by 1852, and two additional rooms added in the mid/late 1850s. One of these was to co ...
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Hand-kissing
Hand-kissing is a greeting gesture that indicates courtesy, politeness, respect, admiration or even devotion by one person toward another. A hand-kiss is considered a respectful way for a gentleman to greeting, greet a lady. Today, non-ritual hand-kissing is rare and takes place mostly within conservative class or diplomatic contexts. Today, the hand kiss has largely been replaced by a cheek kissing, kiss on the cheek or a handshake. A non-ritual hand-kiss can be initiated by the lady, who would hold out her right hand with the back of the hand facing upward; or by the gentleman extending his right hand with the palm facing upward to invite the lady to put her right hand lightly on it facing downward. The gentleman may bow towards the offered hand and (often symbolically) would touch her knuckles with his lips, while lightly holding the offered hand. However, the lips do not actually touch the hand in modern tradition, especially in a formal environment where any intimate or roma ...
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Audience (meeting)
An audience is a formal meeting that takes place between a head of state and another person at the invitation of the head of state. Often, the invitation follows a request for a meeting from the other person. Though sometimes used in republics to describe meetings with presidents, the term is more usually associated with monarchs and popes. Holy See In the past, rigid dress codes had to be followed by those granted a papal audience. For a general audience, smart business professional attire (technically, informal wear, that is, a suit and tie or equivalent for ladies) was acceptable. The suit was to be dark, and ladies would ideally not wear slacks anywhere in the Vatican. Private audiences, however, were a much more formal affair. Ladies were to wear a long (well below the knees), black dress, with a matching hat or other head covering and veil. Exceptions were made for Catholic queens who by dispensation could wear white (''privilège du blanc''). Gentlemen were to wear a corr ...
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Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess Of Salisbury
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (; 3 February 183022 August 1903) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times for a total of over thirteen years. He was also Foreign Secretary for much of his tenure, and during his last two years of office he was Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal. He avoided alignments or alliances, maintaining the policy of "splendid isolation". Lord Robert Cecil, also known as Lord Salisbury, was first elected to the House of Commons in 1854 and served as Secretary of State for India in Lord Derby's Conservative government 1866–1867. In 1874, under Disraeli, Salisbury returned as Secretary of State for India, and, in 1878, was appointed foreign secretary, and played a leading part in the Congress of Berlin. After Disraeli's death in 1881, Salisbury emerged as Conservative leader in the House of Lords, with Sir Stafford Northcote leading the party in the Comm ...
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Death And State Funeral Of Elizabeth II
On 8 September 2022, at 15:10 BST, Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, and the longest-reigning British monarch, died of old age at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, at the age of 96. The Queen's death was publicly announced at 18:30. She was succeeded by her eldest son, Charles III. The death of the Queen set in motion Operation London Bridge, a collection of plans including arrangements for her state funeral, and supported by Operation Unicorn, which set protocols for her death occurring in Scotland. The United Kingdom observed a national mourning period of 10 days. The Queen's lying in state took place in Westminster Hall from 14 to 19 September, during which time an estimated 250,000 people queued to pay their respects. The state funeral service was held at Westminster Abbey on 19 September, followed on the same day by a committal service at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. The Queen was interred with her husba ...
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Liz Truss
Mary Elizabeth Truss (born 26 July 1975) is a British politician who briefly served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from September to October 2022. On her fiftieth day in office, she stepped down amid a government crisis, making her the shortest-serving prime minister in the history of the United Kingdom. Truss previously held various Cabinet positions under prime ministers David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson, lastly as foreign secretary from 2021 to 2022. She has been Member of Parliament (MP) for South West Norfolk since 2010. Truss attended Merton College, Oxford, and was the president of Oxford University Liberal Democrats. In 1996, she joined the Conservative Party. She worked at Shell and Cable & Wireless, and was the deputy director of the think tank Reform. After two unsuccessful attempts to be elected to the House of Commons, she was elected as the MP for South West Norfolk at the 2010 UK general election. A ...
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Hello! (magazine)
''Hello!'' is a British royal family, royalist weekly magazine specializing in celebrity news and human-interest stories, first published in the United Kingdom on May 21, 1988. It is the United Kingdom local edition of ''¡Hola!'', the Spanish weekly magazine. Editions ''Hello!'' was launched in 1988 by publisher Eduardo Sánchez Junco, owner and chairman of Spain's ''¡Hola!'' magazine. ''¡Hola!'' was created in 1944 by husband and wife Antonio Sánchez Gómez and Mercedes Junco Calderón. In 2006, Rogers Media launched ''Hello! Canada''. In 2007, the Madrid office reorganized and changed out the management for the Canadian version. ''Hello! Thailand'' is a bi-weekly Thai people, Thai lifestyle magazine targeted at women aged 21 and over, launched in March 2006. The magazine focuses on royal news, celebrity and entertainment features. Circulation peaked at 300,000 in 2006 and was at 100,000 copies nationwide in 2017. Awards * 2005 ACE, UK Magazine distributed Internatio ...
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Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during her lifetime, and was head of state of 15 realms at the time of her death. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days was the longest of any British monarch and the longest verified reign of any female monarch in history. Elizabeth was born in Mayfair, London, as the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother). Her father acceded to the throne in 1936 upon the abdication of his brother Edward VIII, making the ten-year-old Princess Elizabeth the heir presumptive. She was educated privately at home and began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. In November 1947, she married Philip Mountbatten, a former prince ...
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Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997, and had served in various shadow cabinet posts from 1987 to 1994. Blair was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007. He is the second longest serving prime minister in modern history after Margaret Thatcher, and is the longest serving Labour politician to have held the office. Blair attended the independent school Fettes College, and studied law at St John's College, Oxford, where he became a barrister. He became involved in Labour politics and was elected to the House of Commons in 1983 for the Sedgefield constituency in County Durham. As a backbencher, Blair supported moving the party to the political centre of British politics. He was appointed to Neil Kinnock's shadow cabinet ...
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Biarritz
Biarritz ( , , , ; Basque also ; oc, Biàrritz ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spain. It is a luxurious seaside tourist destination known for the Hôtel du Palais (originally built for the Empress Eugénie circa 1855), its casinos in front of the sea and its surfing culture. Geography Biarritz is located in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. It is part of the arrondissement of Bayonne. It is adjacent to Bayonne and Anglet and from the border with Spain. It is in the traditional province of Labourd in the French Basque Country. Gallery File:Édouard_Zier_-_Les_baigneuses_à_Biarritz.jpg, ''Les baigneuses à Biarritz'', by Édouard François Zier File:Biarritz1999.jpg, Biarritz from the Pointe Saint-Martin. File:Grande Plage de Biarritz.jpg, ''La Grande Plage'', the town's largest b ...
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