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Posts Tagged ‘relocating to london england’

Relocating to London Community Spotlight: Belize Park

Thursday January 31st, 2013

Those people moving to London who have the means to live in a nice, upscale area might consider Belsize Park apartments. Nestled in the Borough of Camden, Belsize Park contains some of the most beautiful and desirable parks and areas within the capital such as Hampstead Heath, Primrose Park, and Everyman Belize Park.

Another attractive feature of Belize Park is that, despite its close proximity to the center of the city, it is a peaceful location filled with nice shops, pubs and restaurants. Strictly limited and monitored parking is a large contributing factor to the area’s freedom from noise and bustle that exists in other sections of London.

Belize Park is not only a desirable place to live for everyday citizens, but it also attracts those of fame and fortune. Some famous names dwelling in this oasis are model Kate Moss, actress Gwyneth Paltrow and her Coldplay hubby Chris Martin, director Tim Burton and his actress wife Helena Bonham Carter, author Fay Weldon, and actors Kate Hudson, Jude Law, Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, and Hugh Laurie to name a few.

There are plenty of interesting attractions in Belize Park. Within one mile of the area you will find Hampstead and Etcetera Theaters, ODEON Swiss Cottage, Freud Museum, Keats House, London Zoo, Camden Lock Market, Jewish Museum, Camden Arts Center, and Abby Road Studios.

You can also dine on a wide variety of cultural dishes that are located near Belize Park apartments. Indulge in such delicious delicacies as Indian at Curry Manjil Restaurant and Bombay Lounge, Iranian at Tandis, Chinese at Moonlite and Greenberry Cafe, Japanese at Ikura, British at Hampstead Britannia Restaurant, Greek at Lemonia, Russian at Trojka Russian Tea Room & Restaurant, Spanish at Tapeo, French at Brasserie Centrale, and Italian at Negozio Classica, Pesantissimo, and Artigiano.

In pure British style, there is no shortage of pubs in Belize Park. Whet your whistle at watering holes like The Queens, The Adelaide, Sir Richard Steele, Pembroke Castle, The Fiddler’s Elbow, Chats Bar, The Lansdowne, and many more.

When you’re ready for an entertaining evening away from Belize Park apartments, you can head to 1 Mighty Craic comedy club located in The Washington Arms. Fine up-and-coming live bands are given special recognition at the Barfly where Coldplay once appeared to promote their first album. Festivals, Royal Shakespeare Company plays, concerts and more can be caught at The Roundhouse Camden where the likes of Paul McCartney, Jimmy Hendrix, The Who, The Doors, Morrissey, The Beastie Boys, and others have performed.

Of course, should you ever tire of all there is to do in Belize Park, hundreds of other exciting attractions, clubs, bars, and activities are easily accessible throughout the city via the Tube, trains, buses, or taxis.

Relocation consultants can assist you with finding available Belize Park apartments at the best prices possible. Consultants can also provide a wide range of other services that will make your move to London a pleasant one. Contact a consultant today to help you with your move to the beautiful and tranquil Belize Park area in the center of the UKs grand capital city.

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Edward VI: London Leaders

Sunday July 10th, 2011

Welcome back, Weekend Warriors—I trust all is going well with your international relocation plans? If not, please do call one of our London Relocation agents if our London relocation services may be of help. But to get on with our weekly British history lesson in case it’s of interest when you make your London move, last week I finished a 3-part series on King Henry VIII. Today, we’ll meet his only son and male heir, Edward VI. As we learned a couple weeks ago, Edward VI is born to Jane Seymour, one of the wives Henry VIII actually seems to care for. Sadly, she does not survive her son’s birth, but she does bring her husband great happiness in finally delivering a male heir to carry on the House of Tudor’s royal line. Edward is only nine years old when he becomes King of England in 1547, and he is rather sickly in body though strong in mind and faith. Prior to his death, Henry VIII had deemed that a council of regency would rule on behalf of his young son, but Edward VI‘s uncle, Edward Seymour (Duke of Somerset), thwarts that when the time actually comes—he instead installs himself as Edward’s protector. Together with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the pious young king, Seymour works to secure England as an officially Protestant state, issuing the Book of Common Prayer in 1549 to lay out the new mode of worship, a handbook that is further enforced by an Act of Uniformity.

The peasantry isn’t having it. They revolt against the prayer book and socioeconomic injustices. France also declares war against England at this time. John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, enters stage left to help suppress the rebellion and take down Edward Seymour as Protector; Seymour is arrested and executed. Dudley assumes his role in duty if not title—now the Duke of Northumberland, he effectively rules England and young Edward VI’s finances. He further promotes Protestantism with a 1552 Prayer Book and new Act of Uniformity that is even more strict; church territories are confiscated and religious imagery destroyed as the new orthodoxy is rolled out. Meanwhile, Edward VI is falling ill with tuberculosis. Dudley seizes the moment by getting Edward to agree to a new order of succession that bypasses his sisters Mary (daughter of Henry VIII’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon) and Elizabeth (daughter of Henry’s second wife, Anne Boylen) by declaring them illegitimate. He agrees to giving the throne to the Duke of Northumberland’s daughter-in-law, Lady Jane Grey. After battling illness his entire short life, Edward VI dies in 1553 at just under sixteen years of age.

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Henry VIII: London Leaders

Sunday July 3rd, 2011

Henry VIII, King of England – Image via Wikipedia

Author:  Colleen

Hello, Weekend Warriors! Time for our third and last installment on Henry VIII. Now that we’ve gotten all those distracting wives out of the way, I want to give a brief nod to this king’s other pursuits.

To start, the younger Henry VIII is actually an attractive man with much charisma. He is highly intelligent and writes books and composes music; before he grows obese in his later years, he is also athletic and fond of hunting, jousting, and tennis. Politically, I’ve previously discussed how he leads a successful campaign against the Scots in 1513 and an unsuccessful one against the French that nonetheless results in peace with them in 1520. We’ve also seen how he creates the Church of England so that he can finally divorce his first wife who couldn’t provide him a male heir, though his religious ideals still remain essentially Catholic—modifications to worship are slight, as opposed to a total theological overhaul. Nonetheless, his action is pivotal to England becoming a Protestant nation. Around this same time in the 1530s, Henry VIII is also responsible for uniting Wales and England.

Henry is a fairly extravagant spender, his two+ week meeting with the King of France in 1520 at the “Field of Cloth of Gold” costing a pretty penny, for one (this is an extravagant occasion of feasts, entertainment, and gift-giving, with tents and costumes made from cloth of gold, which is woven with silk and gold thread). He expands the naval fleet from 5 to 53 ships during his reign. And much money from the dissolution of England’s monasteries goes toward wars and strengthening aristocracy, leaving apparently not enough left over for when he goes after France again in the 1540s and requires forced loans and depreciated currency to finance it, increasing the country’s inflation.

All in all, Henry VIII‘s reign increases government bureaucracy and secures more absolute power for the monarchy. It is also characterized by his preoccupation with succession; having a male successor has been so critical because the Tudor dynasty is still fairly new (Henry VIII is only the second monarch to reign under it), and it’s thought that a queen might not sustain her power, especially if married to a foreign power who could then dominate rule. For all his fuss over obtaining a male heir, however, when Henry dies in 1547, all he leaves behind is one sickly son, Edward, and two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth.

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Henry VIII, King of England

Sunday June 26th, 2011

Hey there, hi there, ho there, Weekend Warriors! I hope your planning for your upcoming international relocation to London is going swimmingly and that you’re psyched for another installment of our weekend British history lesson. Last week, I introduced a monarch you might have heard of—Henry VIII, I believe? Today, let’s continue his story.

Last we saw, Catherine of Aragon has failed to give Henry VIII a male heir, so he seeks an annulment with her so he can marry the intriguing and hopefully fertile Anne Boleyn. The Pope’s refusal to grant this isn’t to deter Henry; he goes ahead and does what he wants in 1533 at the price of excommunication. At this point, let’s cue Mel Brooks: “It’s good to be the king.” Because when you’re king, you can change the law, and Henry VIII deems it high-time that he break with Rome, enstate himself as head of the Church of England, and dissolve England’s monasteries.

And is she worth it? Well…Anne gives Henry a daughter (Elizabeth I, the future Queen of England), but not the son he’d hoped for. And, Anne, quite frankly, he’s just not that into you anymore. So Henry decides to take the easy way out of marriage this time and simply have Anne convicted of adultery and treason, thereby sentenced to execution in 1536. Now that she’s out of the way, enter Jane Seymour, who does give Henry his desperately sought male heir (Edward VI) the following year. Jane, unforunately, doesn’t survive the birth, and so another of Henry VIII’s wives is laid to rest.

Next in line? Anne of Cleves in 1540, who he divorces within months. That same year, it’s Catherine Howard until 1542 when she, like Anne Boleyn, is executed for adultery and treason. The last one on the roster is Catherine Parr in 1543, who Henry sticks with until his death in 1547.

But Henry VIII’s reign is not all about the wives; he achieved much politically, so to not be remiss, I’ll continue with this king next week.

Related London sightseeing: Tower of London, where Anne Boleyn was executed, and Hampton Court Palace, where the Church of England was born in its Chapel Royal (beneath the altar of which are buried Jane Seymour’s organs, where it was believed the soul resides) and Catherine Howard’s ghost is rumored to haunt the hallway of her bedchamber.

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King Henry VIII

Sunday June 19th, 2011

Well, Weekend Warriors, it isn’t often that I’m addressing a monarch of England that is as commonly known as Henry VIII. Last week, we met his father, King Henry VII, who was the first of the House of Tudor to reign over England. As of 1509, however, we’re singin’ “Henry the Eighth I am”…Well, I mean, I’m not, and neither are you, and neither is Jonathan Rhys Meyers unfortunately, so let’s get down to who is this man…

Henry VIII and his father both outlive Henry’s older brother Arthur, which is why Henry VIII succeeds instead. And it’s not only the throne he inherits…he also gets Arthur’s widow, Catherine of Aragon. Throughout his first years as king, Henry VIII isn’t particularly hands-on when it comes to matters of state—he entrusts much of this to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey to allow the king himself more time for hunting and such. He does also enjoy engaging in war, though, so Wolsey is instrumental in arranging campaigns, such as against the Scottish in 1513 (victorious for England) and a costly battle against the French that proves unsuccessful.

Wolsey has served Henry VIII well to this point, until the king’s need for a male heir leads to a massive rift between the men. It is now 1533, and Catherine of Aragon, you see, has failed to produce Henry VIII a male heir. She’s given him one surviving daughter, however: Mary. Henry seeks Wolsey’s support in procuring a papal annulment so he can marry Anne Boleyn, but such is not to be. So, the king who in 1521 wrote a treatise denouncing Martin Luther’s views toward the Church—and was thereby awarded the title “Defender of the Faith” by the Pope—is now himself on the verge of a religious reformation of his own.

Join me next week as we see the birth of the Church of England and the death of some wives…

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Living in London – As English as…

Wednesday June 15th, 2011

One of the things most people struggle with when moving to London is adapting to day to day living. When you’re moving to London, you must try to push that concern to one side so that your enthusiasm for the big move isn’t dampened by your anxiety for how it could fail. I think what really helps to ease the transition is discovering something that you like about your new home. It really isn’t that hard (unless you’re determined not to find anything you’ll like).

My personal list of favorite things about living in London probably amount to all the clichés that I’ve discovered are truisms. I mean the kind of things you read about in books or see in movies and then come over here and you discover that it’s just the way you pictured it in your head.  Like bangers and mash.

It really does sound like the simplest meal ever, doesn’t it? And it is. It really is. But it’s also very tasty. And when you combine ‘simple cooking’ with ‘very tasty’ you get what is officially the top recipe on The Lazy Person’s List of Cooking. Honestly, it really doesn’t get much better than this. Get some bangers (sausages if you’re new to this English thing), potatoes, baked beans (you could try gravy if you wanted but I did say this was for lazy people) and bread. Fry up the sausages, cook the potatoes and mash them, put the baked beans into a pot, get them hot and toast the bread. Now, arguably speaking, that’s more of a sentence than it is a recipe. But, like I said, it’s very tasty.

And if you’re the lazy sort of person and if it’s been a particularly trying day at the office, you could do far worse than stopping at your local Tesco’s on your way home from work, picking up the necessary ingredients and heading home for some (All together now) Bangers and Mash! It might not be up there on the list of the most wholesome meals you could eat while living in London, but it’s quick, easy and very English.

 

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Henry VII, King of England

Sunday June 12th, 2011

Hi, Weekend Warriors! If you’re moving to London, we’re about to roll with another British monarch in this, our weekly British history lesson. Last week, we parted ways with Richard III so we can make way today for Henry VII.

As we come to the end of the War of the Roses between the York and Lancaster dynasties, Henry VII ushers in a new one: the house of Tudor. Henry, the closest Lancastrian claimant to the throne, had been living in exile in France from a young age because of all this family strife in England. After he takes the throne from Richard III in 1485, his marriage to Richard’s niece Elizabeth of York (also the daughter of Edward IV and sister of Edward V) unites the two sides of the conflict and consolidates support for the new king.

Henry VII is still on thin ice throughout his reign, however. He is constantly the object of conspiracy and must thwart a contesting claimant to the throne, one Perkin Warbeck. He does manage to strengthen his political foothold, though, with treaties with France, the Netherlands, and Scotland, and he betroths his eldest son Arthur to Spain’s Princess Catherine of Aragon.

Other positives in Henry VII’s favor include his avoidance of war (especially after the ongoing years of battle between the Plantagenet factions during the War of the Roses), streamlining government administration, and promoting trade, all of which lead England into a more modern state than previous feudal arrangements in medieval times. Things are quite stable when Henry VII dies in 1509—government and country are financially strong and relatively united.

Stay tuned next week when we meet Henry VII’s infamous heir to England’s throne, Henry VIII.

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Living In London – People and Personalities

Sunday June 12th, 2011

While you’re living in London and indeed even in your own country, you notice people and services that have been influenced, aided and developed by one of the most famous Londoner’s of all time. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that an entire part of our entertainment today has been influenced by this man. Without him, we’d have no CSI, no Law and Order, no 24, and very possibly we’d never have seen Don Johnson starring in Miami Vice in the 1980’s. Okay the last one probably isn’t a huge loss, but the modern police force and investigation techniques are the work of one outstanding man: Sir Robert Peel

Sir Robert Peel

With a diverse background and a myriad of interests this man is the founder of the Metropolitan police Force and Prime Minister of England bringing about great social reforms in working conditions, industry and prisons. Born in 1788, this great Londoner has had a far reaching effect on the modern police force across the globe, as well as being active in politics and social reform until his death in 1850. A statue stands in Parliament Square right outside the Palace of Westminster.

Peel helped create the modern police force and to this day, London uniformed police officers are known as “Bobbies” as a tribute to Sir Robert. The other less affectionate term is “Peelers”, but unless you’re on the other side of the law, you’ll only ever see them as Bobbies on the Beat, patrolling the streets of London in their unique uniform and proudly acting as ambassadors for their city and their country.

One of the most important aspects of the police reform that Sir Robert placed into action concerned the ethics of behavior and investigation. This was the forerunner of the exacting standards in forensic investigation that have to be used before a person can be arrested of a crime. “The police are the public and the public are the police”, Sir Robert was fond of saying.

As a politician, Sir Robert Peel is most famous for his Factory Act. This Act of Parliament cam down strongly against wealthy industrialists who had made their fortunes on the backs of children and sweat shops. The Act regulated the amount of hours that children could work, and introduced the first basic machinery safety standards. In his second term in office as Prime Minister, he repealed the Corn Laws which protected the landowners by restricting foreign imports. Despite knowing that it could bring about the end of his political career, Peel forged ahead and broke the monopoly that had been one of the causes of the Irish Famine.

To be a police officer during the time of Sir Robert was an exacting position and required you to wear your uniform both on and off duty. London police were equipped with a wooden baton, a pair of handcuffs and a wooden rattle to raise an alarm if need be. The rattle was later replaced by a whistle.

To this day, uniformed police officers are not armed in the United Kingdom, which is a testament to the respect that many people have for the police force. His legacy will remain for as long as there are Bobbies on the beat, fighting crime and helping you back to your new apartment after you’ve lost your way. Go on I dare you, just ask a Bobby for directions and you’ll see how friendly and professional they are.

 

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Living In London – Weekend Away

Saturday June 11th, 2011

You cannot escape the history of this city if you’re going to be living in London. It is all around you. From the earliest examples of the Roman wall built two thousand years ago to the buildings that still remain from before the Great Fire of London. The massive fire that wiped out large areas of London during 1666 was not all bad for London. The fire had the effect of being able to wipe out much of the scourge that that swept across Europe for hundreds of years: The Black Death.

“A ring, a ring of roses, a pocketful of posies, a tissue, a tissue, we all fall down!”

A childhood nursery rhyme with sinister origins, while this has not been attributed directly to the Black Death, it is the most commonly accepted origin of the rhyme. Sung today by millions of children, they do not know the devastation that preceded this little ditty.

The reference to the roses is based on the rashes that appeared on the body of a person with the Bubonic plague, and the sneezing is the flue like symptoms that follow. Falling down? Well, that is death…The Black Death.

The Black Death does not just cover one period of history in the world. There have been instances bubonic plague recorded right back to the 7th century. The largest recorded epidemic was in Europe and started in the 14th century. At different time it was under control, but would always break out again in different cities and countries until the 18th century. It has been called by many different names across different countries and eras. In London it was known as the Great Plague of London and reached it height and end during the year 1666, as a result of the fire that burned most of the city.

The Black Death reached Europe in 1340 on Italian boats that were from the east. It is said to have originated in china and was carried to Europe on the fleas which were in turn carried on the rats that were found on many of the merchant ships sailing from the East.

How do you know if you’ve caught the Black Death?

There is no point in getting alarmed, there are very few modern cases of bubonic plague, but if you do develop any of these symptoms, you should probably get to a hospital sharpish!

The appearance of a rash, possibly caused by flea bites, is the first sign, and very soon after that there are swellings that develop under the armpits, in the groin area and on the neck. These swelling are filled with pus and they spread rapidly across the body. After that there is the appearance of black spots all around the infected areas which also spread across the body. Followed by fever, vomiting and death, the entire cycle takes between 5 and 7 days. Pretty grim if you consider the medical care available at the time. Antibiotics had not yet been developed, and there was little that could be done to stop the plague from spreading through the crowded and unsanitary street of London.

The Destruction of Europe and England

During the 14th century the Black Death was responsible for the deaths of nearly 200 million people. Although the plague does not last long, in England it was to keep breaking out for over 400 hundred years. At its height in 1666 it killed over 35 000 people in a few months. This is a direct result of the living conditions at the time. The streets and houses that were close together, sewage that was not disposed of and a host of social ills that affected the city. The overcrowding of London was a huge factor in the rapidly spreading Great Fire of London, which burned the plague out.

There is very little chance of a recurrence of the bubonic plague in modern times, because of the antibiotics and other drugs that have been developed, there have only been a few hundred reported cases of bubonic plague since the end of WWII.

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Living in London – Talk like a Proper Londoner

Friday June 10th, 2011

Many Americans moving to London are a bit baffled by the change in terms and names for things you’ve grown accustomed to in your homeland. Perfect examples are pavement to sidewalk, chips to fries and petrol to gas. It’s the kind of thing that could more than likely save you some confusion in day to day life here in London city. Asking for jelly on your sandwich may very result in you getting a large blob of wobbliness quivering between two slices of bread. Ask for jam instead.

Also, don’t worry that you’re being slightly un-PC should you ask for a dummy; that’s what they call a pacifier in these parts. Likewise, asking for a banger won’t result in a large man walking up to your table pounding his fist into his palm threateningly. Bangers are to England as sausages are to America. It’s one half of that famous national dish, bangers and mash (that’s Mashed Potatoes)

Heading to the Emirates Stadium or Stamford Bridge to take in a match? Then whatever you do, don’t call it soccer. It might make you grate your teeth if you’re a devoted NFL fan, but in England, twenty two guys gathered on a field to kick a ball around is officially known as Football. Calling it soccer could risk some rude comments from the ‘footie’ fans.

To become a true Londoner, try using the more particularly English terms, the slang if you will. If anything, learn these terms largely because of the pleasure you’ll take when you see the surprise on your English friends’ faces when they hear you throwing around the local slang.

Here then, for your edification:

It’s not a telephone, it’s called the blower.

Underwear? “Alan Whickers”, Cockney rhyming slang for knickers. Often shortened to Alans. As in, “Keep your Alan’s on!”, the English equivalent of “Don’t lose your shorts.”

Another bit of Cockney rhyming slang is Ayrton. As in Ayrton Senna. He was a world famous Formula 1 racing driver. It rhymes with tenna for Ten pounds.

Bollocks, which essentially applies to anything which can be called rubbish, drivel or nonsense. Used effectively and in the proper situation this should go some way to showing off the burgeoning Anglophile that you are. Not to be confused with ‘dogs bollocks’ though which applies to anything cool and inarguably awesome!

There you have it. There’s lots more than that, but living in London and spending enough time with the locals, you’ll be throwing around London talk with the best of them in no time.

 

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Living in London – A Millennium And Counting…

Thursday June 9th, 2011

If you’re an American moving to London, one of the more fascinating aspects of your new home city will be the interesting history of the birth of London. It’s always an interesting thing to find out about the back-story of something, particularly when it’s as colorful as this one is.

Legend has it that London was built on the ground where Brutus of Troy defeated the giants Gog and Magog, the two guardians of the land. Even if it is just a myth, it is one that adds a fascinating bit of color to the city. And while it might just be legend, the two giants have been granted a range of hills just southeast of Cambridge named after them.

London was actually a town called Londinium, established by the Romans around AD 43. Between 190 and 225 AD, the Romans built a defensive wall around the landward side of the city and thus the foundations were formed. If it takes your fancy and you’d like to see what remains of the wall, pay a visit to Aldersgate, go from there to Moorgate; on to Wormwood Street and finish at Bishopsgate. This walk will take you along the path of the original structure and you’ll see the remains of the old London Wall. It really does give your imagination a workout when you consider that something that was built almost two thousand years ago can still exist among towering skyscrapers and rushing traffic.

And if you’d like to delve further into the history of your new home town, pay a visit to the Museum of London, which sits conveniently on the route I’ve just described. It has collections taking in the history from the Prehistoric era, the Roman era, the Saxons, the times of the Tudors and the Stuarts. The museum also has actual discoveries of items dating back to the times of cavemen, including axes and other tools used as well as the bones of a Mammoth.

You’re living here; in the very center of all the action now. You may as well learn a little about the city you’re calling home.

 

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Moving to London – The King and I (Part 3)

Tuesday June 7th, 2011

All righty, time to wrap up my brief series on The King’s Speech for those of you moving to London and interested in learning more of the city’s history, especially with all the media attention it receives lately. Yesterday, I spoke of London locations and elsewhere in the UK of note in the film, and today I’ll focus a bit more on the people.

As I’ve mentioned before, viewing the film for the first time last week prompted assorted random questions in my mind, which I’m in turn answering and sharing in this series of posts. One of these moments of curiosity surrounded how King George VI came to meet his wife. We know her best these days as the Queen Mum, which is the title conferred on a Queen consort who is the widowed mother of the reigning monarch. Thus, Queen consort  was her title when her husband was alive and well and reigning as King George VI. Prior to his coronation when he was Prince Albert, Duke of York, she was consequently the Duchess of York. But before even that, she was The Honourable Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon – of Scottish nobility but not royalty; indeed, she had been the first commoner to marry into royalty for centuries. She was born to the Scottish Lord Glamis, who eventually became the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, a status that conferred upon young Elizabeth the title of “Lady” and put her within high-ranking social circles. After WWI, she was a sought-after debutante and won Prince Albert’s heart. She was wary of joining the royal way of life, however, apprehensive of giving up a private life to become such a public figure, so she’d actually turned Albert down twice before finally saying “yes” and marrying him in 1923.

How different and yet how the same royal weddings were back then…

I was understandably quite curious about the speech therapist as well – Lionel Logue, who helped King George VI overcome his stammer. The film mentions that he is Australian (born in Adelaide, South Australia), though I hadn’t detected that in his accent – a little research has since taught me that this was a result of his studies in elocution during his youth. His initial employment included assistant-teaching and working at a gold mine, and, once he was married and settled in Perth, he began teaching elocution, acting, and public speaking, then traveled the world and helped WW1 soldiers recover from shell-shock-induced speech afflictions. Believing stammers to be caused by personal trauma rather than any permanent disability, the key ingredients to Logue’s unique method were “humour, patience, and superhuman sympathy” (from Australian Dictionary of Biography, author: Suzanne Edgar). Logue moved to London, England in 1924 and set up shop at 146 Harley Street in the London neighborhood of Paddington, near Regents Park.

If you’re relocating to London, once you’re all settled into your new London apartment rental, take yourself out on your own King’s Speech field-trip out and about town. Walk the streets its people walked, understand the lives they lived, and feel appreciative of the new history you’ll create here as you find your own voice in London. :)

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Moving to London – The King and I (Part 2)

Monday June 6th, 2011

Planning a move to London should make anyone curious about the history of this city and its country, especially since it’s not something simply relegated to memory—when you visit or live in London, you literally see history before your eyes in the sites that have survived time. This being said, it’s time for another installment of the things that made me go hmm…upon recently viewing the Oscar-winning The King’s Speech. With all the acclaim surrounding this film, you’d be surprised how much it can inform you on your future place of residence. Last week, I discussed the King George VI’s name before/after coronation, King Edward VIII’s abdication of the throne, the Church of England’s stance on marriage and divorce, and Winston Churchill‘s political roles during this particular king’s reign. Let’s start today with that Wembley broadcast. My ears perked up on this one because, on first relocating to London, I substitute-taught near Wembley Stadium. A northwest suburb of London, Wembley isn’t much of a draw in itself (in my personal opinion), except for its modern-day stadium that does bring in the crowds. Recently, it hosted the Champions League final between Barcelona and Manchester United, and it is also holds annual NFL games to give England a dose of American football! It will likewise house some of the 2012 Olympic Games. From the London Eye, you can easily spot it in the distance—sorta looks like the St. Louis Arch keeling over a bit. This stadium has been open only since 2007, though, on the site where the original Empire Stadium stood since 1923. Featuring two distinctive twin towers, the Empire Stadium was where King George V was first ever broadcast in 1924 at the British Empire Exhibition.

His eldest son Edward, then Prince of Wales, had done a fine job speaking there as well. The film, however, starts us with the broadcast of 1925, when Prince Albert (“Bertie,” indeed named after Queen Victoria‘s husband Albert, his great-grandfather) had his publicly mortifying go at it. According to the BBC archives, a curator at the British Library claims “this speech almost certainly does not exist in recorded form.” I was likewise curious about where the King lived before and after his coronation. The first regal looking home in which he, the future Queen Mum, and their young daughters Elizabeth and Margaret reside in the film is supposed to be located at 145 Piccadilly. On coronation, as is tradition, King George VI and his family moved into Buckingham Palace, though spent some time outside of the city at Windsor Castle during the war. Two homes privately owned by the royal family are the Balmoral estate in Scotland (featured in the movie and where the current Queen continues to holiday in summer) and Sandringham House in Norfolk, England (where George VI was born and died). Balmoral was first purchased by Queen Victoria and her Prince Consort, Prince Albert, and Sandringham was purchased by their eldest son, who would become King Edward VII. King Edward VIII, Bertie’s brother, inherited both of these properties, but his abdication did not mean Bertie, the new King George VI, could automatically own and maintain them as royal residences of the reigning monarch; indeed, George VI was required to buy them from his brother. As for another notable London location referenced in the film, Westminster Abbey has been the site of coronations since 1066, when William the Conqueror was crowned. The coronation chair that Geoffrey Rush is seen to boldly sit on during the King’s ceremony practice was first used during coronations at the Abbey in 1308, for the coronation of King Edward II, and was the very same that Queen Elizabeth II sat in and likely Prince Charles one day. Interestingly enough, King George VI’s brother Edward never got to sit in the chair himself since he’d abdicated before he could officially be crowned. The actual chair is on display to the public in the Abbey. There’s still more I want to cover, so join me tomorrow as I continue with my King’s Speech-inspired research and give you some background history to precede your move.

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Richard III, King of England

Sunday June 5th, 2011

Hello there, Weekend Warriors! If you’re relocating to London, please join me again as I über-informally chronicle the British monarchs. Last week we saw the sad, brief reign of Edward V, the boy-king who was allegedly murdered by his very uncle, the new King Richard III.

The unscrupulous Richard III will be the last king to reign from the York line and indeed of the Plantagenet dynasty after a long line of its Yorkist and Lancastrian factions have served (the very family that engaged in civil war over this power, known famously as the War of the Roses). As we saw in earlier posts, Richard was instrumental in bringing his brother, Edward IV, to the throne, but in disposing of young Edward V, Richard himself is crowned in 1483.

That same year, the Duke of Buckingham—who had once assisted Richard III—raises a rebellion against the king, but he is readily defeated. Nonetheless, the rising was enough to strip away some of the nobility’s support for the new king. Buckingham’s aim was to replace Richard III with a man by the name of Henry Tudor, who is a more distant relation to the Lancastrian line. Tudor’s troops rally in 1485 and defeat Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, where the king is killed.

On Richard III’s death ascends a new monarch, King Henry VII. And thus begins the House of Tudor…

 

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Moving to London – The King and I (Part 1)

Friday June 3rd, 2011

Whether you’re relocating to London or simply interested in visiting, it goes without saying that this year’s Oscar Award-winning film The King’s Speech has sparked great interest in England and its history. My husband and I finally watched it on-demand this week and, like everyone else it seems, loved it. What a testament to good acting, cinematography, and story that an audience can remain so engaged without the rapid editing and bang! boom! pow! of the average modern movie.

Now that I’m off my soapbox about that ;) , I thought I’d devote a couple blog posts this week and next to the miscellaneous questions our viewing raised…the Huh? moments, if you will, that such a quality flick can inspire and may inform you more on London.

These will be in no particular order, but I do recall my first “Huh?” regarded the King’s name…King George VI is referred to as “Bertie.” This is because before he was King, he was Prince Albert (his full name was Albert Frederick Arthur George), thus “Bertie” was short for Albert. Upon his coronation, he then assumed the official name of George that would denote his royal lineage, as is tradition in promoting the continuity of the throne.

Not many of the younger generation know much about the British monarchy prior to the current Queen Elizabeth (if, in fact, they know much more beyond the teenybopper magazines Prince William used to grace and the recent media frenzy surrounding his royal wedding to Kate Middleton). It’s certainly not because the previous generations were any less interesting, that’s for sure! So though I’d happened to already know this tidbit, one of my husband’s first Huh moments came about with Bertie’s brother’s abdication of the throne as King Edward VIII. Edward, the Prince of Wales (whereas Albert was the Duke of York—note that the Prince of Wales is traditionally first in line to succeed to the throne; today, this is Prince Charles) had only served as King for a few months after his father King George V’s passing when he’d proposed marriage to an American socialite en route to being divorced for her second time. This was perceived as utterly scandalous by royalty and government alike, so Edward had to make his choice. Well, considering Prince Albert stepped in to become King George VI soon thereafter, we all know what Edward chose…that fool for love.

Which had brought me to my next couple Huh? moments: to start, in the film the Prime Minister states to Bertie that the Church does not condone divorce and, as King at the time, Edward was head of the Church. This would be the Church of England, which King Henry VIII established in order to get around the Catholic church’s rulings against divorce so he could leave Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyne. Can you see why I was scratching my head on this, then?? Oh, but silly me…I really wasn’t thinking it through at the time. You see, while the Church of England has the structure in place to render divorce legal, it still has a strong stance against it. The Church supports marriage for life, and, unless a former spouse is dead, divorcees may not necessarily get to remarry in the Church. (For more information on this topic, see the BBC’s “Divorce in the Church of England” and The Church of England website).

Secondly, we recognized that the Prime Minister stating this was not Winston Churchill, though we’d thought the latter was PM at the time and he was present in the film. Thank you, Google… As of 1936 when King George V passed away and both Edward VIII and George VI were coronated, Winston Churchill was “in the wilderness” politically. He had served as Secretary of State for war and air from 1919-1921 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1924-1929, but in the 1930s his controversial views (against India’s self-rule, for Edward’s abdication, and for British rearmament against the future threat of Hitler) had all made Churchill unpopular. Nonetheless, when war did break out in 1939 (and King George VI made his famous speech), Churchill was made First Lord of the Admiralty and became England’s Prime Minister in 1940 when Neville Chamberlain resigned. Churchill’s courage against Nazi Germany gave the nation heart, and, well, the rest is history…

Join me Monday when I continue with my King’s Speech things that made me go hmm…(that’s right, I just made a shout-out to C+C Music Factory, yo!)…and that will perhaps make you go ah ha! as you prepare for your London move.

 

 

 

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