Country Study

British Royal Family, British Queen, British Royal tradition.

The British royal family comprises Queen Elizabeth II and her close relations. At present the British royal family is headed by Queen Elizabeth. When the Queen was born on the 21st of April 1926, her grandfather, King George V, was on the throne and her uncle was his heir. The death of her grandfather and the abdication of her uncle brought her father to the throne as King George VI. The Queen's other children are Princess Anne (born in 1950), Prince Andrew (born in 1960) and Prince Edward (born in 1964). Anne, Princess Royal, has acquired a reputation for being arrogant, but in recent years has become quite popular with the general public. The Trooping of the Colour. The Queen is the only person in Britain with two birthdays. Her real birthday is on April 21st, but she has an official birthday, too. That's on the second Saturday in June. And on the queen's official birthday, there is a traditional ceremony called the Trooping of the Colour. It's a big parade with brass bands and hundreds of soldiers at Horse.Guards Parade in London. The Guards march in front of the Queen. The Guards are trooping the colour. Thousands of Londoners and visitors watch Horse Guards Parade. And millions of people at home watch it on television.The changing of the Guard.This happens every day at Buckingham Palace, the queen's home in London. Soldiers stand in front of the palace. Each morning these soldiers change. One group leaves and another arrives. In summer and winter tourists stand outside the palace at 11.30 every morning and watch the Changing of the Guard.Maundy Money. Maundy Thursday is the day before Good Friday, at Easter. On that day the Queen gives Maundy Money to a group of old people. This tradition is over 1000 years old.

Tea Time

Everybody knows that England is a tea country. English drink tea every hour, they make a break for a cup of tea and a sandwich when they are at work, home or even during their vacation. Their traditions , they do not back down , even in the workplace. Such breaks are called «tea breaks». One of the Afternoon teas are called «low tea». However, the most famous in the UK is always the so-called “Fife O’clock” is a tea break at 5:00 pm. «Five-o-clock» was first used in 1840 by the Duchess of  Bedford Anna, the maid of honor of Queen Victoria. In those years the Tea Party occurred in 4 hours, so the ceremony was called the «four-o-clock».

Geografical position

The United Kingdom is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. With a total area of approximately 248,532 square kilometres (95,960 sq mi), the UK occupies the major part of the British Isles archipelago and includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern one-sixth of the island of Ireland and many smaller surrounding islands.

The UK lies between the North Atlantic and the North Sea, and comes within 35 km (22 mi) of the north-west coast of France, from which it is separated by the English Channel. It shares a 499 km international land boundary with the Republic of Ireland. The Channel Tunnel bored beneath the English Channel, now links the UK with France.

Great Britain enjoys the humid and mild marine West-Coast climate with warm winters and cool sum­mers and a lot of rainfall throughout the year.

All parts of the British Isles receive rain at any time of the year. Still autumn and winter are the wettest seasons, As to temperature, Great Britain has warmer win­ters than any other district in the same latitude. It is due in large measure to the prevalence of mild south­west winds.

Industry

One of the strongest components of the British economy is the energy sector. The United Kingdom is a net exporter of energy. In addition to oil, the kingdom has abundant reserves of natural gas, coal, and atomic power. There are more than 100 active oil and natural gas fields. The main energy resource is oil. The king-dom's reserves of oil exceed 5 billion barrels. In 1999, oil production reached it highest level at an average of 2.95 million barrels per day at 15 major oil refineries. The mining of minerals has declined over the past thirty years as the stocks of various minerals have been depleted.The main minerals still being mined are lead and tin. There is also production of refined metals such as aluminum and steel. The United Kingdom has substantial production of minerals used for construction. These include clay, kaolin, and gypsum. Britain is a major cement producer.

Mother's day 

Mothers Day is celebrated in a big way in England. Children pay tribute to their mothers and thank them for all their love and support. An atmosphere of excitement prevail on the day and marketers make all efforts to make big profits out of the euphoria. Flowers record their maximum sale as people in England love to express their gratitude for their mothers by gifting them flowers more than anything else. Most popular flowers on Mothers Day in Great Britain are roses followed by carnations and chrysanthemums. In UK, there is also a tradition of making a rich almond cake for mothers called 'Mothering Cake' or 'Simnel Cake' on Mothers Day.

Father's Day 

Father's Day in UK is celebrated in much the same way as it is celebrated in US. In UK too, Father's Day festival is celebrated on the third Sunday of June and therefore the date of the festival is never fixed. People celebrate the occasion by honoring their father and expressing affection for them by presenting popular gifts like cards, flowers, chocolates and neckties. Little children often give handmade gifts to their dad.

Several clubs, schools and cultural societies in United Kingdom organize Fathers Day parties and get-togethers and provide people an opportunity to celebrate the day. Games and fun-filled add joy to such celebrations.

Two Unique places

Festival of fire
There are many festivals that happen all across the UK, with Up Hella being one of the best! Based in the Shetlands, this festival of fire originated out of a Yule tradition around modern-day Christmas.
Nowadays, during the festive winter months, Up Hella takes place with hoards of locals and visitors participating, lighting up the streets and dazzling the whole community.
Newton’s apple tree! 
There’s a long and winding history of great achievements and scientific discoveries in the UK, with Newton’s Theory on gravity being a pretty epic one. It’s said that this apple tree below, is the exact tree where Isaac Newton saw an apple fall, prompting him to think of gravity, change the way we viewed the world and influence the basic principles of physics we all take for granted today.