BABY NAME FOR KATE MIDDLETON, THE DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE ...

According to the Huffington Post - Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, will name her baby Philip if it's a boy, source says.

Well, I guess we shall just have to wait and see...

DO YOU FANCY A ROYAL AFTERNOON TEA?...

The Tea Cosy tea shop in Brighton www.theteacosy.co.uk is keeping up with the royals in all ways.

The walls are decked with commemorative memorabillia and the menu hosts the likes of Queen Mother's Cream tea to William and Harry's Tea, see below.

Menu

William and Harry's Tea
A selection of homemade biscuits with a pot of tea for one.

Beatrice and Eugenie's Tea
Cupcake with hot chocolate, cream and marshmallows.

Charles and Camilla Tea
Two pieces of toast with Pate or homemade preserve and a pot of tea for one.

Princess Margaret Low Tea
A piece of cake with a pot of tea for one.

Queen Mother's Cream Tea

THE FIRST TEA SHOP TO HIT THE UK...

The Country's first tea shop was opened in 1864 by the Manageress of the Aerated Bread Company.

The company directors allowed the manageress to serve refreshments to favoured customers.

Then, demand for her service grew, which then sparked a new trend for similar shops across the UK. Within two years the Aerated Bread Company had opened 250 of it's self service tea shops.

These also helped to liberate the lives of women, as it was considered 'perfectly proper' and acceptable for a woman to meet her friends in a tea shop without needing a escort and without risk to her reputation.

J. Lyons & Co opened their first Lyons tea shop in 1894 at 213 Piccadilly. It was the forerunner of some 250 white and gold fronted tea shops which occupied prominent positions in many of London's high streets.

AFTERNOON TEA FOR PRINCE HARRY AND PIPPA MIDDLETON...

The Troubadour Bar in Chelsea has been serving afternoon tea to Prince Harry and Pippa Middleton.

According to the news the famous pub in Chelsea, sells tea for £3.50 and £2.75 for a muffin with jam.

THE TYPICALLY BRITISH 'GRANDMA'S APRON'...

The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few.

It was also because it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and aprons used less material. But along with that,it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.

It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

When company came,those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids..

And when the weather was cold Grandma wrapped it around her arms.

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.

Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in tha apron.

From the garden,it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.

In the Autumn, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.

When unexpecte company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, to tell us it was time to come in for dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.

Grandma would also set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughters now set theirs on the window sill to thaw.

They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.

I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron - but love

ROYAL WEDDING AFTERNOON TEAS...

With the Royal Wedding only a few weeks away there are a number of venues cashing in on the latest 'afternoon tea' craze.

The Cavendish Hotel, Jermyn Street, London has a 'Royal Afternoon Tea' costing £15, http://www.thecavendish-london.co.uk/afternoon-tea-london.

Not only is the hotel an ideal base for those seeking the thrill of London's theatreland, world class shopping and restaurants, it is an oasis of calm where guests can escape, relax and unwind when in London. Whether staying for business or pleasure the hotel's 230 contemporary bedrooms provide guests with a warm, tranquil environment to escape to.

The Cadogan Hotel, Sloane Street, in Knitsbridge, London has a £20 'Champagne Royal Afternoon Tea' http://www.cadogan.com/html/cadogan_art_tea.html

The Cadogan Hotel has launched a new and indulgent Afternoon "ARTea" in conjunction with the well-established art specialists, The Kings Road Art Gallery.
Whilst enjoying Afternoon Tea in The Cadogan Hotel's Drawing Room, guests will now be able view an exclusive collection of works from The Kings Road Art Gallery. The paintings will provide guests with the unique opportunity to combine exquisite art with the time-honoured British tradition of high tea.

In celebration of the new Afternoon ARTea, the new Head Chef, Oliver Lesnik, has created bespoke "artist palette" biscuits, complete with edible paintbrushes. Oliver has a wealth of experience, having previously worked under Angela Hartnett, Jean-Christophe Novelli, and Gordon Ramsay.

And finally the Thames Cruise has one on the day of the wedding for after you have seen the procession. You can then finish you day with a cruise along the Thames and enjoy their 'Royal Wedding Day Afternoon Tea'. Tickets for this trip are through http://www.intotheblue.co.uk/.

Watch the Royal Wedding procession in London and then celebrate with a Royal Wedding Afternoon tea cruise on the Thames that's fit for a King (and his Queen!). With this very special one-off departure, you'll enjoy a traditional high tea with all the trimmings as you glide down the River Thames to mark this most memorable day in modern British history.

KATE MIDDLETON...

Anyone who exploits the Royal bride to be's name to sell dresses will be in for a surprise as they wil be sued, stores were warned today according to The Daily Mail.

117 DAYS AND COUNTING TO WILLIAM AND KATES WEDDING...

With only 117 days to go until April 29th for William and Kate's wedding it's not surprise to find out that there are a number of companies thinking up different types of merchandise to sell about the wedding.

But someone else has come up with another idea to make money out of the couple by introducing a Kate and William walking tour of the capital for £15.

For £15 one of the things that you will be shown is where William climbed on to a night club table and yelled 'I'm free', after he dumped Kate in 2007 !!!

Surely, that the last thing fans of the royals would want to see.

IT'S NOT DAVID DIMBLEBY FOR THE ROYAL WEDDING...

'It's probably a good thing I wasn't asked. The last wedding I did ended in divorce' said David Dimbleby who covered the wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson.

ROYAL WEDDING CHINA NOW UP FOR SALE...

The official range of the Royal Wedding china made in Stoke-on-Trent has gone on sale.

The beautiful collection includes a tankard, plate and pill box, by the Royal Collection and have been approved by the Prince and his fiance.

Made from English bone china, each item bears the couple's initials, the prince's coronet and the wedding date.

All profits for the sale of items from the range are dedicated to the Royal Collection Trust.

WHO'S GOING TO ANCHOR NEXT YEARS ROYAL WEDDING?...

WHO'S GOING TO ANCHOR NEXT YEARS ROYAL WEDDING?...

At the moment the veteran David Dimbleby seems to be top of the list, who fails to rule it out when asked, which could mean he's been given the nod.

Some people however think a younger generation would be more suitable in particular, 'I'm a Celebrity, Get me out of Here' presenters Ant and Dec !!

PRINCE ANDREW...

'All that sounds exactly like France'
Prince Andrew response to claims that corrupt business practices are rife in to whistleblowing website WIkiLeaks

'He has a right to expect to be able to say things. We don't operate on a nicey-nicey basis'
Buckingham Palace aid defending the Prince

TODAY'S QUOTE ON KATE MIDDLETON AND PRINCE WILLIAM...

'William and Kate's view is, “Let's have a party.”
Royal aide, as a public holiday is declared for the couple's April wedding

PRINCE WILLIAMS FIANCE'S PARENTS IN THE NEWS AGAIN...

I'm sure between now and April 2011 countless stories will be written about Kate Middleton's parents and about Kate herself so it was no surprise to read yesterday that the papers say they have made thousands of pounds by selling their database of clients to direct marketing companies.

'Direct Marketing' is legal and popular among businesses of all sizes and is when a company sells its list of clients so that the direct marketing company can send out targeted advertisements.

I'm sure with an expensive wedding coming up next year for the Middleton's that any extra income will come in handy but also feel that there is nothing wrong in selling these lists as many other companies also do the same thing.

WILLIAM AND KATES WEDDING WILL BE A 'PEOPLE'S ROYAL WEDDING'...

William is said to want to pack Westminster Abbey with children, volunteers and the homeless in a unique 'People's Royal Wedding'.

There could also be street parties and a concert by Britain's top pop starts.

Apparently William chose the 2,000 capacity Westminster Abbey because of its link to his mother.

WESTMINSTER ABBEY HISTORY...

'Robbing Peter to pay Paul'. This phrase comes from the fact that once upon a time some of the land belonging to Westminster Abbey, which is dedicated to St. Peter, was sold to raise money to repair St. Paul' cathedral.

THE PRINCE AND HIS CINDERELLA...

Some are saying 'the prince to marry the pauper', but no, a commoner maybe but not a pauper.

Although Kate Middleton's finances are the envy of some middle class Brits her parents, Carole and Michael Middleton have built up a cash pile from a successful online party business, 'Party Pieces'. It was set up in 1987 and is a mail order business helping Mum's and Dad's make their special ones birthdays very magical and sells party paraphernalia and value for money party bags.

It's run from a call centre in a barn in Reading in Berkshire and has a staff of 8, and the website attracts around 150,000 customers a month, and I'm sure a lot more since the announcement of the engagement.

The family have a home in Berkshire and a flat in Chelsea and have educated their three children at the most expensive private schools.

Kate who is 28, was an A grade student at Marlborough and also has a 2.1 in History of Art from St. Andrew's University where she met Prince William. Kate is now listed in Wikipedia with information on her life and relationship with Prince William.

THE WEDDING OF PRINCE WILLIAM AND KATE MIDDLETON...

Well the date has been set for Friday 29th April 2011 for Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding at Westminster Abbey so the countdown to the wedding now begins. Westminster Abbey was also the venue for the Queen and the Queen Mother's wedding.

I'm sorry if you are not a Royal fan like I am as I will be blogging on it loads.

The exciting news is that we are being given it as an extra Bank Holiday so with Easter and Whit in April and May it will mean quite a number of long weekends to look forward to.

Meanwhile the Church of England Bishop Pete Broadbent, who predicted that the Royal Wedding would not last beyond seven years has been suspended from duty!

LONDON'S MAYOR RECIPE FOR CHEESE ON TOAST..

With so many celebrity chefs in the UK you would not expect London's Mayor Boris Johnson to come up with his recipe for the typically british favourite of 'Cheese on Toast'.

Well he did and his method is quite simple, 'Cover toast with slabs of cheese. Grill until it gets all nice'.

I think I can make that one Boris...

QUOTE OF THE WEEK...

'They have been practising long enough'

Prince Charles, after Prince William and Kate Middleton announced their engagement.