Royal rocking horses

Two-year-old Prince George, the son of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, was photographed on 22 April 2016 sitting on a hand-made rocking horse. The rocking horse was a gift to Prince George from the People of America in 2013 when he was born on 22 July.

The artisanal rocking horse has the presidential seal imprinted on the saddle. The White House (the State Department) contacted rocking horse maker, Jackie Wilson, to create George’s rocking horse. It is a glider design (safety stand) with an English-style saddle. The glider is actually an American patent. P.W. Marqua of Cincinnati, Ohio, invented it in 1880, but it is commonly known as the Wilson glider.

In the royal family there is a stable of rocking horses owned by various members of the family. Queen Elizabeth II and her sister, Princess Margaret, had rocking horses when they were children, including the one below, which was exhibited at Buckingham Palace in 2014.

Twin brothers, Marc and Tony Stevenson, established a rocking horse business in England in 1982 in Kent. The Queen owns five Stevenson rocking horses. The Stevenson models were presented to the Queen for her Golden and Diamond Jubilees (photographed below).

President of the United States, Barack Obama, and First Lady Michelle Obama were visiting England on 21-23 April 2016 to commemorate the 90th birthday of the Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth II, on 21 April. The Obamas also met Prince William, Catherine, and George, while Charlotte – their daughter – was asleep. Prince George was photographed on his birthday present, the rocking horse.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/markewing/2015/06/29/rocking-horses-for-royals-8000-toy-ponies-for-prince-george-queen-elizabeth-and-president-obama/#28ef1a52621e

MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Comments

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass

The Beggars' Strike by Aminata Sow Fall: book review

The Beggar’sStrike (1979 in French and 1981 in English) is set in an unstated country in West Africa in a city known only as The Capital. Undoubtedly, Senegalese author Sow Fall writes of her own experiences. It was also encapsulated in the 2000 film, Battu , directed by Cheick Oumar Sissoko from Mali. Mour Ndiaye is the Director of the Department of Public Health and Hygiene, with the opportunity of a distinguished and coveted promotion to Vice-President of the Republic. Tourism has declined and the government blames the local beggars in The Capital. Ndiaye must rid the streets of beggars, according to a decree from the Minister. Ndiaye instructs his department to carry out weekly raids. One of the raids leads to the death of lame beggar, Madiabel, who ran into an oncoming vehicle as he tried to escape, leaving two wives and eight children. Soon after, another raid resulted in the death of the old well-loved, comic beggar Papa Gorgui Diop. Enough is enou

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog