A Royal Tea Cruise

Gloriana flies the Royal Standard on the bow indicating that the Queen is on board. Photo © Sue Milton.

The tireless Malcolm Knight, a great promoter of traditional rowing, reports on a special event that took place on the River Thames on a hot day last July. HTBS has previously written about Malcolm in our report on the Tudor Pull.

Malcolm writes,

After six months, the plans were finally in place for the most important event so far in the life of the Queen’s Row Barge Gloriana.

The Royal Watermen who rowed wearing their heavy woolen costumes on one of the hottest days of the year.

On 9 July, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in the company of the Duke and Duchess of Wessex, the Duke of York, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent boarded QRB Gloriana at Albert Bridge, Home Park, Windsor, to be rowed by eighteen of the Royal Watermen under the helm of HM Barge Master Paul Ludwig for an afternoon tea cruise to celebrate the 60 years since her Coronation.

The Queen’s Barge Master, Paul Ludwig, and Malcolm Knight.

The Countess of Wessex chats to the Watermen. Sir Steve Redgrave, on the right, looks on.

The flotilla of four invited craft, under the control of Malcolm Knight aboard the Gentleman’s launch Verity, moved off upstream to the surprise and delight of other boats on the river. The QRB went up the weir stream to Eton College where invited members of staff and their families cheered the spectacle.

Malcolm Knight meets The Queen. On the right is Lord Sterling, the man who initiated the Gloriana project as a tribute to the Queen on Her Diamond Jubilee. He also provided much of the finance.

Whilst the Watermen took a well-earned breather, tea was provided to the Royal guests by the Waterside Inn after which the QRB turned and returned downstream to moor below Victoria Bridge where the Royal party went ashore.

The Queen and the Royal Party on the deck of the Gloriana. On the left is the Duke of Kent, a cousin of the Queen. Next to him is Brigitte, the Danish-born Duchess of Gloucester. To her left is Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, the Queen’s forth child. In the centre, Queen Elizabeth and a Waterman acting as coxswain. On the right of the group is Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, also a cousin of the Queen. Behind Richard, but obscured by a flag, is Prince Andrew, Duke of York, the Queen’s third child. His other rowing engagement this year in Vancouver, Canada, was also covered by HTBS. On the far right is Sophie, Countess of Wessex, the wife of Prince Edward.

The Queen thanks her Watermen at the end of her day on the river. The Earl of Wessex and the Duke of York followed on behind.

A ‘little piece of history’ was made as it is believed that this was the first time in nearly 200 years that a reigning monarch had been rowed in an 18-oared Royal barge by the Royal Watermen – a memorable day for all of us involved and one that has confirmed Gloriana as The Queen’s Row Barge.

Dame Di Ellis: The First Lady of British Rowing

Dame Di Ellis. Photograph British Rowing.

HTBS’s Tim Koch writes from London,

On 14 June Buckingham Palace published the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for 2013. These awards ‘recognise the achievements and service of extraordinary people across the United Kingdom’ www.gov.uk/honours/overview and rowing received on of the highest honours. The title of ‘Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire’ (DBE) was given to ‘Mrs. Diana Margaret Ellis CBE, Executive Chair, British Rowing, for services to rowing’. In more informal terms, Di Ellis has become a Dame, the female equivalent of becoming a Knight and having the title ‘Sir’. She thus joins the exclusive club that consists of Sir Harcourt Gilbey Gold (‘Tarka’), Sir Steve Redgrave, Sir Matthew Pinsent and Sir David Tanner. On Twitter, Sir Matthew @matthewcpinsent wrote:

Great news that DI Ellis has become a Dame. One of rowing’s softly spoken heroes.

Dame Di ended her final term of office as Chairman and later Executive Chairman of British Rowing last February after fifty-two years in the sport which included time as an international rower, cox, umpire, official and always dedicated servant of rowing in the UK. There are very few complete lists of the posts that Di has held as she has worked so hard for so long. She became Chairman of the Amateur Rowing Association (now British Rowing) in 1989, and in 1997 she became the first woman to be elected a Steward of Henley Royal Regatta. Di has been Chairman of a large number of committees, including the British Rowing Championships and the ARA Women’s Commission and she has served on the organising bodies of seven world events (including the 2005 World Cup and the 2006 World Rowing Championships) and was part of the London 2012 bid team. She has been a representative to both the British Olympic Association and to FISA.

The Grand Cross Star of the Order of the British Empire. It is impressive even if the British Empire no longer exists.

Other past honours that Di has received include a CBE in the 2004 Queen’s Birthday List (also ‘for services to rowing’), and in 2012 FISA awarded her the Distinguished Service to International Rowing Award. If you have the idea that she is ‘in retirement’, think again, Di is currently President of the Organising Committee for the 2013 World Cup. An interesting recent interview can be read here.

In Di’s time as head of the ARA / British Rowing she led the sport in Britain through a period of enormous and unprecedented change and growth, resulting in a level of international success undreamed of not many years ago. Rodgers and Hammerstein once observed that ‘There Is Nothing Like A Dame’. This may or may not be true but few would dispute that there are very few people like Dame Diana Margaret Ellis CBE.

In an investiture held last April (and similar to the one Di will attend later this year) Helen Glover and Heather Stanning were made MBEs by the Queen following their winning the Women’s Coxless Pairs at the London Olympics. Stanning’s uniform is that of a Captain in the Royal Artillery and she is currently on active service in Afghanistan. The pair intend to defend their title in Rio in 2016. Photograph from Metro.

(Perhaps HTBS readers would allow me to include a non-rowing story about a famous Hollywood actress of British birth who was to be made a Dame by the Queen in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. Her ‘people’ telephoned the Queen’s Private Secretary with two questions from the star. Could her security men check the Palace over first and would the Queen wait if she was late? Thankfully the answers were ‘no’ and ‘no’. The lesson here is, do not try and be more Royal than Royalty).

From Oarsmen to Boxmen

The Chamber of the House of Lords showing the throne from which Queen Elizabeth formally opens each session of the British Parliament.

Tim Koch, now back in London after his Canadian trip, sends this post, the production of which was delayed by his holiday. He promises that more Canadian stories are to follow.

In London, on 8 May, Queen Elizabeth formally marked the start of the 2013 parliamentary year with the State Opening of Parliament. In part, it is a day with numerous elaborate and obscure rituals that culminates in the Queen’s Speech. While delivered by Her Majesty, the Speech is actually written by the government and it sets out its proposed policies and legislation for the coming session. Following this ‘Royal Address’ the ritual ends and normal parliamentary procedures resume with debates on the programme just set out.

The State Opening is one of the rare occasions when the three constituent parts of the British Parliament – the Head of State (the Queen), the House of Lords (the upper chamber, roughly equivalent to the American Senate) and the House of Commons (the lower chamber, roughly equivalent to the American Congress) – meet together.

The Opening formally begins with the arrival of the Queen at the House of Lords where she will deliver her speech. She travels from Buckingham Palace in great ceremony in one of the horse drawn state coaches.

The Royal Procession. HM The Queen in the 1851 Irish State Coach.
 
Much of the ritual of the day concerns stressing the independence of the Commons from the Lords that was secured in the English Civil War, 1642-1651, fought between Parliamentarians and Royalists. The most important of these rituals stems from the fact that the Monarch cannot enter the Commons lest they should interfere with the elected Members of Parliament. Thus a House of Lords official known as ‘Black Rod’ is sent to the Commons to summon MPs to the entrance of the Lords to hear the forthcoming speech. To emphasise their independence from the Crown, Black Rod has the door to the Commons slammed in his face as he approaches. An even stranger practice concerns the ‘Delivery of the Parliamentary Hostage’. Before the Queen leaves Buckingham Palace, the Commons sends one of its members to the Palace to be held as security in case Parliament should turn upon her – as when they beheaded her 8th Great-Granduncle, Charles I in 1649.

The Royal Procession. Two Royal Watermen act as boxmen sitting on the back of a landau containing non-Royal officials.
 
Regular HTBS readers will now be waiting for ‘the rowing angle’. As the picture above has already hinted at, there is one to be found. It concerns the role played in the day’s ceremonials by the Queen’s Bargemaster and the Royal Watermen. Until the mid nineteenth century the safest, quickest and most comfortable way to travel any distance was by river. Roads were rough, slow and dangerous. Those who could afford it owned their own elaborate river craft and employed skilled watermen to row them. Royalty found this mode of transport especially convenient as the royal palaces of Windsor, Westminster, Hampton Court, Greenwich and the Tower of London were all linked by the Thames. When travel by river fell out of favour, Royalty retained their Watermen under the command of the Bargemaster for ceremonial duties on land and water. All apprentice served watermen, many Doggett’s winners, they still receive a somewhat medieval salary of £3.50 a year.

Half an hour before the Queen’s arrival at the Lords, the three great symbols of Royal authority, the Imperial State Crown, the Sword of State and the Cap of Maintenance are conveyed to the Lords in their own State Coach in the Regalia Procession. The immediate ‘security’ for these fabulous objects is provided by the Queen’s Bargemaster and another Royal Waterman, who both ride on the rear of the carriage as ‘boxmen’. This is a reminder of the days when the Royal regalia would have been rowed to Parliament by river from the Tower of London.

The Regalia Procession. The coach contains the Crown and other symbols of Royal Authority. The Queen’s Bargemaster, Paul Ludwig, is standing on the rear of the coach nearest to the camera. To his left is another Royal Waterman.

The Regalia Procession. The Crown can be seen clearly through the window.

The Regalia Procession. A landau carrying officials and other regalia also has two Royal Watermen (seated) riding as boxmen.

On arrival the Crown is removed from the coach by the Crown Jeweller, Michael Swift. He hands it to the Queen’s Bargemaster, Paul Ludwig. He in turn hands it to the Comptroller of the Lord Chamberlain’s Office, Lt Col Andrew Ford, who takes it into the building properly known as the Palace of Westminster.

The Regalia Procession arrives at Parliament. The Queen’s Bargemaster carries the great symbol of Royal authority, The Imperial State Crown. It is only used at the Opening of Parliament and at Coronations.  

Paul Ludwig hands the Crown to the Comptroller of the Lord Chamberlain’s Office, Lt Col Andrew Ford.

The BBC’s coverage of the 2013 State Opening is on YouTube. The Bargemaster’s entrance is at 22 minutes 50 seconds in:



Historically, Watermen were regarded as rather roguish figures so it is surprising that they were entrusted with an object that includes 2868 diamonds (including one of 317 carats) plus numerous pearls, sapphires, emeralds and rubies. Perhaps this explains why the Bargemaster is allowed to have the Crown in his hands for only twenty seconds.

The Imperial State Crown - trusted to an oarsman for twenty seconds.

More On The Great Spectacle

The most popular blog posts on HTBS right now are the ones about the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant. We do not want to stop when we have a good thing going so here are some more about The Great Spectacle.

The Henley Standard published a very nice article about some of the local rowers who took part in the River Pageant for Queen Elizabeth II. Mentioned in the article are the stroke pair in the royal barge Gloriana, Sir Steve and Sir Matthew, but also the former Olympian Guin Batten, and ‘a mixture of Olympians and Paralympians, watermen and injured former servicemen’. There where more than twenty boats from the Henley area that took part in the festivities on the Thames. Read the whole article here.

Earlier today, my fellow HTBS-arian Greg Denieffe also pointed out a marvellous 6-minute slide show about previous water celebrations on the Thames on BBC News Magazine. View it here. Of course, for those of you who has a special interest in the previous Royal River Pageants, in 1919 and in 1953, HTBS posted some film clips on those occasions on 30 May, 2012.

HTBS would also like to remind the readers in and around Henley-on-Thames that there is going to be another River Pageant on 25 June when Queen Elizabeth II visits the town.

Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant

The 'Gloriana' with Sir Steve at stroke on starboard side and Sir Matthew at stroke on port.

HTBS’s Royal Correspondent Tim Koch reports from the River Thames in London:

In the last few months HTBS has posted several items about the Thames Diamond Jubilee Flotilla, the 1,000 plus Amerada of small craft planned to be one of the highlights of this summer’s celebrations to mark the 60th year of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. Yesterday, Sunday 3 June, two years of planning came together. The main interest for HTBS were the ‘manpowered’ boats, those that were rowed, sculled or paddled. These led the flotilla and at the head of this section was the Gloriana, rowed by Steven Redgrave, Matthew Pinsent and sixteen others. The BBC has a nice online report, here.

HM The Queen (in white) arriving by launch. The Queen's Watermen are in red. The Waterman on the starboard side is the Queen's Bargemaster.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh boarded a small launch at Chelsea Harbour and this took them to the Royal Barge which was to take them from Cadagon Pier to Tower Bridge. Usually a ‘Royal Barge’ is something more like the Gloriana, that is a craft rowed by the Queen’s Watermen. However it was felt this was not a practical or secure type of boat for this particular event and the privately-owned charter vessel, The Spirit of Charwell was converted for the occasion. However, even though the Royal Party was not rowed at any stage, they were still accompanied by Queens Watermen. Enough text, with an event like this the pictures speak for themselves.

The Queen's Bargemaster, Paul Ludwig.

The Queen's Watermen in the bow of the Royal Barge. The Royal Standard flies from the bow staff.

Manpowered boats.

More manpowered boats.

And some more manpowered boats.

Even more manpowered boats.

Australian Surf Boats

18-oared gondola

Skiffs

(Photograph & copyright: Tim Koch)

Royal River Pageants In 1919 & 1953

On 3 June, the Diamond Jubilee Pageant for Queen Elizabeth II will be held on the River Thames, which HTBS has written about earlier. I guess, a lot of the crews of the boats and vessels which are going to take part in this Pageant for the Queen have been practicing ‘tossing the oars’. If you do not know what that means, take a look at the following film clip from 1919 from, I think, the ‘Peace Pageant’ with the Royal Barge on the Thames. Coming in to dock, the Royal Watermen are tossing their oars.

ROYAL BARGE ON THAMES IN 1919

 Queen Elizabeth had her first River Pageant as the Sovereign in 1953, and of course the Royal Watermen where present. It is said that the oars the Watermen are holding have not been used since 1919 for the ‘Peace Pageant’.

 ROYAL RIVER PAGEANT IN 1953



Good luck to all you 'Oar Tossers' on the 3rd!

Captain JP On The Diamond Jubilee

Yesterday, the blog 'Captain JP's log' had an interesting entry about the upcoming Diamond Jubilee - read Queen's Diamond Jubilee - update here.

As a matter of fact, continue reading 'Captain JP's log' as there are several very entertaining blog posts about rowing!

'Gloriana' Launched

Yesterday, the 88-foot Gloriana, the custom-built 18-oar-powered vessel, which will lead the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant for Queen Elizabeth II on 3 June, was launched onto the River Thames at Isleworth, the Daily Telegraph shows in a video here. Lord Sterling, who has organised the project, told the paper: “I think it has come out even better than we had thought. You’ve got this combination of 21st century-technology plus the skills which have been there for thousands of years in building a boat of this type.”

Anything Is Possible!

Finishing as the seventh boat, Row2Recovery arrived to Port St Charles, Barbados, after 50 days, 23 hours and 12 minutes at sea, rowing in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge. The brave crew of ex-servicemen had then travelled 2637 nm, raising close to £700,000 to support service men and women who have been injured in battle. At their arrival, the crew, Neil Heritage, Rory Mackenzie, Carl Anstey, Will Dixon, Ed Janvrin, and Alex Mackenzie, received the following message from Queen Elizabeth II: “Please convey my warm thanks to all the members of the Row2Recovery team on the occasion of them reaching the end of their row across the Atlantic, in aid of injured soldiers and their families. I heard of the trials and tribulations on your journey and, in return, I send my good wishes to you all for the successful completion of the challenge.”

During the crew’s voyage, the media has pumped out the message that these fellows, four with severe injuries from serving in Afghanistan and Iraq, are trying to prove that anything is possible. That is what these brave men now have proved. Well done!

Tim Koch: Fit For A Queen

HTBS's Tim Koch reports from London:

This summer will see many celebrations in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth to mark 60 years since Elizabeth II became Queen. The only other British sovereign to celebrate a 60-year reign (a ‘Diamond Jubilee’) was Queen Victoria in 1897. Both boats and the River Thames will play a big part in marking the event.

Between April and September, the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, London, will hold an exhibition called ‘Royal River: Power, Pageantry and the Thames’ which ‘explores the relationship between the monarch, the City and the people, as it was brought to life on the Thames – London’s greatest thoroughfare’. I particularly like the Canaletto painting that they show on their website entitled The Thames on Lord Mayor’s Day... It is a pointer towards the other river related event of the Jubilee.

On Sunday 3 June, up to a thousand boats will take part in the ‘Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant’, which is said to be ‘the biggest maritime celebration seen in Britain for nearly four centuries’. Including marshalling and dispersal areas the route runs from Hammersmith to Greenwich (14 miles / 22 kms). The organisers expect one million people to line the route and take part in other Jubilee celebrations on the day. The Daily Telegraph reports:

"Music will also be an integral part of the celebrations and pieces commissioned for the event will receive their world premiere on special barges… Downton Abbey composer John Lunn was commissioned with nine other film composers to create a new movement using the original titles of Handel’s Water Music for inspiration."

The flotilla will be in ten sections of various types of craft but it is the first group, the ‘manpowered section’, that will be of most interest to HTBS readers. It will be led by Gloriana, the new royal rowbarge. It will be followed by shallops, Thames watermen’s cutters, gigs, skiffs, Dragon Boats, kayaks and many more rowed, sculled and paddled craft. Follow the link on the website’s FAQ section to a pdf of all the boats taking part (‘vessel factsheet’).

An artist’s impression of the Gloriana, an 88-foot / 27-metre ‘rowbarge’ decorated in gold leaf and propelled by eighteen oarsmen, was released a few days ago.

It is half way through a twenty week build ‘at a secret location in West London’ and it is said to be ‘the largest rowed vessel in the UK today’. The London Evening Standard newspaper claimed first sight of the work in progress. Unfortunately, it would be unsafe for ‘fine boats’ to take part in the event. It will be held at the top of the tide with hundreds of powered craft churning up the water so there would be a real danger that racing boats with low saxboards would be ‘swamped’.

While the River Pageant will undoubtedly be a splendid occasion, it will have slightly unfortunate consequences for Putney based rowing clubs. The details are not yet finalised but temporary moorings to accommodate many of the participants will have to be put in between Hammersmith and Putney. They will take some time to be installed and removed and they will not leave room for safe rowing on a considerably narrowed river. Work will start after the University Boat Race (on 7 April) and rowing boats may not be allowed to pass perhaps for most of May and some of June. This means that big clubs such as London, Thames, and Imperial College will have to row downstream of Putney Bridge (towards Wandsworth) where the embankments mean that water is often rough when the tide is higher. Of course, those based upstream of Hammersmith Bridge will have the river to themselves. Reports of schadenfreude by the smaller clubs of Hammersmith, Chiswick, and Mortlake will, I am sure, be denied.