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Asking the Queen..? maybe your thinking about eating Swans or maybe catching Sturgeon? Here some weird stuff I found about her.
The Queen also has certain historic rights and privileges. John Kirkhope, a lawyer who successfully campaigned to have details of "Queen's consent" made public, provided Business Insider with a list of some of the stranger rights the Queen still holds.
Kamyar Adl/Flickr (CC)The size of the snowball isn't specified.
And lastly, many landowners must also pay a "quit-rent" — a kind of tax on their property paid to the Monarch. Some are pretty unusual.
Most famously, she owns all swans in the River Thames.
Technically, all unmarked swans in open water belong to the Queen, though the Crown "exercises her ownership" only "on certain stretches of the Thames and its surrounding tributaries," according to the official website of the Royal Family.
Today this tradition is observed during the annual "Swan Upping," in which swans in the River Thames are caught, ringed, and set free again as part of census of the swan population.
It's a highly ceremonial affair, taking place over five days. "Swan uppers" wear traditional uniforms and row upriver in six skiffs accompanied by the Queen's Swan Marker.
"The swans are also given a health check and ringed with individual identification numbers by The Queen's Swan Warden, a Professor of Ornithology at the University of Oxford's Department of Zoology," according to the Royal Family website.
The Sovereign also has dominion over all dolphins in British waters.
"Rule, Britannia, Britannia rules the waves," goes a classic British song — and this rule extends beneath the waves, too. The sovereign has dominion over a variety of aquatic animals in British waters.
The Queen still technically owns all the sturgeons, whales, and dolphins in the waters around the UK, in a rule that dates back to a statute from 1324, during the reign of King Edward II,according to Time.
According to the article: "This statute is still valid today, and sturgeons, porpoises, whales, and dolphins are recognised as 'fishes royal': when they are captured within 3 miles (about 5 km) of UK shores or wash ashore, they may be claimed on behalf of the Crown. Generally, when brought into port, a sturgeon is sold in the usual way, and the purchaser, as a gesture of loyalty, requests the honour of its being accepted by Elizabeth."
The law is still observed: In 2004, a Welsh fisherman was investigated by the police after catching a 10-foot sturgeon, the BBC reported at the time. The Scottish government also issuedguidance on the law in 2007, writing that "the right to claim Royal Fish in Scotland allows the Scottish Government (on behalf of the Crown) to claim stranded whales which are too large to be drawn to land by a 'wain pulled by six oxen.'"
The Queen can drive without a licence.
The Queen doesn't need a passport, either.
She has two birthdays.
She has her own private cash machine.
The Queen has her own personal poet.
She has to sign laws.
She can create Lords.
She doesn't have to pay tax (but she does anyway).
The Queen has the power to form governments.
She has knights.
She is exempt from Freedom Of Information requests.
She can ignore or overrule ministerial advice in "grave constitutional crisis."
The Queen holds the ability to fire the entire Australian government.
In addition to the UK and Australia, the Queen is also the head of state in Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu.
She's the head of a religion.
She gets to give away special money to the elderly.
Maundy money is a special kind of silver coin the Queen gives away to pensioners every year at a UK cathedral every Easter in a special ceremony. The number of recipients corresponds with the Sovereign's age. This year, for example, she will be 89 when Easter rolls around, so she will give maundy money away to 89 pensioners.
The coins are technically legal tender, despite coming in unconventional 3-pence and 4-pence denominations. But given the coins' rare status, they tend not to enter general circulation.
She's also immune from prosecution.
The Queen has the right to be consulted, to encourage, and to warn her ministers.
The Queen also has certain historic rights and privileges. John Kirkhope, a lawyer who successfully campaigned to have details of "Queen's consent" made public, provided Business Insider with a list of some of the stranger rights the Queen still holds.
- Hungerford has to present a red rose to the Sovereign in exchange for its fishing and grazing rights.
- The Duke of Atholl must pay by way of a rose whenever the Sovereign calls. This most recently happened during the reign of Queen Victoria, so it's unclear whether the rose has to be any particular colour.
- If the Sovereign passes near Kidwelly Castle in Wales, the tenant has to provide a bodyguard in full armour. This is complicated slightly by the fact the castle is a ruin.
- The Marquis of Ailesbury owns Savernake Forest and is required to produce a blast on a hunting horn should the Sovereign pass through the Forest. This last happened in 1943.
- Similarly, the owner of Dunlambert Castle in Northern Ireland has to produce a blast on an ancient bugle.
And lastly, many landowners must also pay a "quit-rent" — a kind of tax on their property paid to the Monarch. Some are pretty unusual.
- The owner of Sauchlemuir Castle must set out three glasses of port on New Year's Eve for the grandmother of James IV of Scotland. (For reference, James IV served from 1474 to 1513.)
- The owner of Fowlis must deliver — when required — a snowball in mid-summer.
- The City of Gloucester pays for its holdings of Crown Lands by providing an enormous eel pie.
- Great Yarmouth must provide a hundred herrings baked in 24 pasties to the Sheriff, who then sends them to the Lord of the Manor — who then sends them to the Sovereign.
- The Duke of Marlborough has to present a small satin flag with a Fleur de Lys on August 13, the anniversary of the Battle of Blenheim.
- The Duke of Wellington has to present a French Tricolour flag before noon on June 19 — the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.
Most famously, she owns all swans in the River Thames.
Technically, all unmarked swans in open water belong to the Queen, though the Crown "exercises her ownership" only "on certain stretches of the Thames and its surrounding tributaries," according to the official website of the Royal Family.
Today this tradition is observed during the annual "Swan Upping," in which swans in the River Thames are caught, ringed, and set free again as part of census of the swan population.
It's a highly ceremonial affair, taking place over five days. "Swan uppers" wear traditional uniforms and row upriver in six skiffs accompanied by the Queen's Swan Marker.
"The swans are also given a health check and ringed with individual identification numbers by The Queen's Swan Warden, a Professor of Ornithology at the University of Oxford's Department of Zoology," according to the Royal Family website.
The Sovereign also has dominion over all dolphins in British waters.
"Rule, Britannia, Britannia rules the waves," goes a classic British song — and this rule extends beneath the waves, too. The sovereign has dominion over a variety of aquatic animals in British waters.
The Queen still technically owns all the sturgeons, whales, and dolphins in the waters around the UK, in a rule that dates back to a statute from 1324, during the reign of King Edward II,according to Time.
According to the article: "This statute is still valid today, and sturgeons, porpoises, whales, and dolphins are recognised as 'fishes royal': when they are captured within 3 miles (about 5 km) of UK shores or wash ashore, they may be claimed on behalf of the Crown. Generally, when brought into port, a sturgeon is sold in the usual way, and the purchaser, as a gesture of loyalty, requests the honour of its being accepted by Elizabeth."
The law is still observed: In 2004, a Welsh fisherman was investigated by the police after catching a 10-foot sturgeon, the BBC reported at the time. The Scottish government also issuedguidance on the law in 2007, writing that "the right to claim Royal Fish in Scotland allows the Scottish Government (on behalf of the Crown) to claim stranded whales which are too large to be drawn to land by a 'wain pulled by six oxen.'"
The Queen can drive without a licence.
The Queen doesn't need a passport, either.
She has two birthdays.
She has her own private cash machine.
The Queen has her own personal poet.
She has to sign laws.
She can create Lords.
She doesn't have to pay tax (but she does anyway).
The Queen has the power to form governments.
She has knights.
She is exempt from Freedom Of Information requests.
She can ignore or overrule ministerial advice in "grave constitutional crisis."
The Queen holds the ability to fire the entire Australian government.
In addition to the UK and Australia, the Queen is also the head of state in Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu.
She's the head of a religion.
She gets to give away special money to the elderly.
Maundy money is a special kind of silver coin the Queen gives away to pensioners every year at a UK cathedral every Easter in a special ceremony. The number of recipients corresponds with the Sovereign's age. This year, for example, she will be 89 when Easter rolls around, so she will give maundy money away to 89 pensioners.
The coins are technically legal tender, despite coming in unconventional 3-pence and 4-pence denominations. But given the coins' rare status, they tend not to enter general circulation.
She's also immune from prosecution.
The Queen has the right to be consulted, to encourage, and to warn her ministers.
