King Charles spoke in Italian to the Italians - you can too!

King Charles III on a British ten pound note.

The Italian name equivalent to Charles is Carlo.

 King Charles spoke in Italian to the Italians in Rome, the eternal city, in April 2025. I am learning Italian on Duolingo and you can, too. 

Here are some of the phrases I have learned

Italian - English

aspetto che - I am waiting for

bello essere qui - good to be here

mio marito - my husband (the one I am married to)

e importante - it is important (you need to put the accent on the solo e to change the letter e from 'and' to 'is')

causa - because (the second half of the English word is almost the same, cause)

tutto sara facile - everything will be easy

vero - true (agreeing with somebody) Nod and you have 'that's true', raise your eyebrows and you have, 'really!' or ironically,'NO! You don't say!'

At breakfast, the word for honey is mela

Ho bisogno de - I want/ I have need of

voglio - I want

non voglio - I do not want (v and w are pairs, twins, but you need to tell them apart. v and w are interchangeable in some languages, for example, in German the word wilkommen is pronounced vilkommen)

voglio che - I want that (eg I would like something to happen)

mela - honey

imparare - to learn

To learn Italian you can use Duolingo. 

To find handy phrases and sentences for travelling, you can use Wikivoyage Phsebook Italian.

To translate words you can use Translate Google.

To translate an entire speech you can save sections in Translate Google.

To practise speaking, you can attend an Italian speaking club of Toastmasters International. There is an online club in Rome. I prepared a message for them.

I am learning Italian on Duolingo.

Sto imparando l'italiano su Duolingo.

I would like to attend an online meeting.

Vorrei partecipare a una riunione online.

Useful Websites

duolingo.com

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What to see and do in Northern Ireland

 

Northern Ireland. It is on the island of Ireland, but not part of the Republic of Ireland. Northern Ireland is part of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Hence the flag flown from municipal buildings is the Union Jack, not the green, white and orange flag of Eire. 

Do you know anybody in or from Northern Ireland? If you fly ib, you might land at the George Best, Belfast airport. Named after the famous footballer from Northern Ireland. 

What to see and do? First and foremost is the Titanic Belfast Museum. Senior should book with them direct to get a discount. If you are not looking for the seniors discount, you might favour a tour which combines the Titanic museum with Giant's Causeway,  dramatic vertical rock formations out on the coast, or the Game of Thrones sites. Your tour might include a rope bridge, caves, the fairy wood with gnarled trees, and a chance to pose for photos with weapons such as swords. 

You could also take a taxi tour of the Peace murals.

Prince Charles took a trip there in March 2022.

Time Is Everything : Monuments to Nelson, Nelson Museum, National Day, and quiz

Nelson's Column, London, England.

Time is everything. Five minutes makes the difference between victory and defeat. So said Horatio Nelson, who lived from 29 September 1758 until 21 October 1805.

1 Nelson's Column London
Nelson's statue stands in Trafalgar Square, London. Trafalgar Square is named after the Battle of Traflagar off Cape Trafalgar. Nelson won a great victory there agains the combined Spanish and French fleets. However, he lost lis life on board his ship HMS Victory.

2 Nelson's Monument, Edinburgh, Scotland
In addition to admiring the statue of Nelson atop Nelson's column, you can contemplate the momument to Nelson in Edinburgh. It has a time ball which rise and falls at 1 pm for the benefit of shipping.

4 Nelson's Statue and Ship, Birmingham, England
A statue of Nelson and his ship is in Birmingham at The Bull Ring.

4 Nelson is buried in St Paul's Cathedral, London, England.



5 Monmouth Museum
I drove through Monmouth on my way to Wales for many years, always meaning to stop at the Monmouth, Museum,  and finally made it. I was rewarded by fascinating stories about Nelson.
Monmouth museum is also known asThe Nelson Museum and Local History Centre. The museum contains a model of Nelson's ship.



Prince Charles (Prince of Wales) visiting the Nelson museum in Monmouth, Wales.

5 Nelson's Column in Montreal, Canada

6 Nelson's Statue, Bridgtown, Barbados

Trafalgar Day is celebrated on or around October 21st in Nelson, New Zealand, and in Traflgar, Australia.

International celebrations

The victory is celebrated in Nelson, New Zealand (named after Horatio Nelson) usually in Trafalgar Square and sometimes involves pupils from the local Victory Primary School. Many streets in Nelson are named after Trafalgar and crew members of Victory.

The victory is celebrated each year in the Australian town of Trafalgar, Victoria, in which the small town of 2,200 hold an annual Battle of Trafalgar Festival with the Trafalgar Day Ball held on the Friday or Saturday closest to 21 October each year.

Useful Websites

• Nelson Monument, Edinburgh
• Nelson Monument, Liverpool
• Nelson's Monument on Birchen Edge, in England's Peak District
• Nelson's Column, London
• Nelson's Pillar, Dublin
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trafalgar_Day
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monmouth_Museum
• 
  

For more information on the UK, see Wikivoyage, Wikitravel, Tripadvisor, Wikipedia.

Nelson Quiz
1 In which city is Nelson's Column?
2 Nelson's column is in which square?
3 Name Nelson's quotation on time.
4 What did Nelson say, in flags, about duty?
5 Where is the monument to Nelson with the time ball?
6 Where is the statue of Nelson with a ship?
7 What is the date of Trafalgar Day? Month? Day?
8 In which place is Nelson's Day celebrated in New Zealand?
9 In which place is Nelson's Day celebrated in Australia.
10 Where is Nelson buried?

Find the answers in the text above or below.

About the author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Answers to Quiz
1 London, England. (Not London, Canada.)
2 Trafalgar Square, London, England.
3 Time is everything. Five minutes makes the difference between victory and defeat.
4 England expects every man to do his duty.
5 Edinburgh, Scotland.
6 Birmingham.
7 October 21st.
8 Nelson.
9 Trafalgar.
10 St Paul's Cathedral.

Can you recognize English and other accents?

Years ago I had a BBC record of accents. Actors used to play these over and over to learn accents. I thought it was very difficult and wondered how you could ever learn them.

However, now I find accents easy, so long as you stick to no more than a sentence or two.

Flag of UK

London
Let's start with London. I am a Londoner. I speak with received pronounciation. My voice sounds like Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music.

The Queen's English
I speak the Queen's English. If the queen were to abdicate or die tomorrow or next year or later, and a king came on the throne, I would be talking the King's English. The Queen's English and the King's English are the same thing. It just depends who is on the throne. (See the film / movie The King's English.)

The flag of England.

If you want to learn to speak English clearly, listen to the BBC news readers. Or listen to Her Majesty the Queen delivering the Christmas Message. Listen to Prince Charles, William, and Kate.

English Accent
English is mostly accented on the first syllable. Good MORning. HAPpy BIRTHday. By contrast, Chinese and Japanese are staccato, to the English they sound like machine guns.

Shakespeare
In Shakespearean plays the kings and queens and heroies and heroines, the important characters, speak with a pronounced rhythm.  This makes them sound grand. The sentences are like waves of even length, so you expect them to last a certain time and to finish at a certain point. By contrast, the servants and commoners have short seetnences and exclamations with no particular rhythm.
ast word, the toastmaster rushes forward with his hand out to say thankt you, but no , the speaker is off again.

So remember to tell the listener, the audience, the toastmaster of the evening, the interviewer on radio or TV, whether you have finished.

Statements end with a lowering of the voice at the end. When poeple ask questions, their voice goes up at the end. The last word of a speech should be an important word,, one you can say loudly and emphatically.

Foreigners who end a sentence with a voice up at the end leave you expecting they will continue. maybe it's a rhetorical question, one which they answer themselves. If a speaker ends on a high note, the Toastmaster of the evening is confused. He doesn't know whether the speaker will continue. Should he stand up and shake hands? On the other hand, if the speaker ends with a definite and emphatic word, that's the end.

Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister.

Listen to speeches by Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher. When Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister, she was sent to speech lessons and  taught to speak with a lower voice to sound more msculine and more authoritative.

Winston Churchill, who gave speeches on the radio during WWII.

The United Kingdom includes Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. if you drive or take the train west you reach Wales. Where is it, W for west, w for Wales.

The flag of Wales showing the Welsh droagon.

Welsh Accent
The Welsh accent is very singing, singsong. I go there every year, so I just imagine I am lsitening to the people welcoming me. Boy-o. Welcome to way-ills. Your voice goes down on well and up on come, down on way and up on ills. The intonation is down up, down up, down up.

The Edinburgh accent is refined, fainter than the Glasgow accent. To remind myself of the accent, I say refained, and Edinbrrrrr. I think of a head mistress, or teacher, in the film The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, or my friend Fiona.m, I recommend


The flag of Scotland

Scottish Words Wee and Bonnie
Add the word wee for small. A wee lad, or a wee lassie (girl). The voice tends to go up slightly at the end of a phrase or sentence. If you are not sure of the intonation, to remind yourself, just try a sentence with the words Edinburgh and wee and make it a question. is the wee lad from Edinbrraaaa?

Of course, you know the word of Auld Lang Syne, old long time, translated as old time's sake. You can practice or listen to a reading of a Scottish poem for Burns Night, or practise Auld Lang Syne.
As a child I learned the songs, My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean, and the plaintive song, you take the high road and I'll take the low road and I'll be in Scotland before ye .. on the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond. Loch is lake.

Glasgow accent
The Glasgow accent is stronger. I say Glasgee, to remind myself.

For the Northern Ireland accent, listen to Ian Paisley. I think of the Oirish, to be sure. Some opeole say the Irish never say to be sure. But it's a handy reminder to get you in the mood or to help you to recognize the accent. There are plenty of Irish songs.

Whether or not you can speak in the accent, play a few songs and you will soon learn to recognize them.

If you want to watch a film, I recommend a film with Alec Guinness such as The Ladykillers. I have suggested this to Japanese friends and pupils and they loved it.

But the best way to learn an accent is to visit the country.

Useful websites
visitbritain.com
visitbritainshop.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, author of Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and speaker, speech tutor, teacher of English and other languages

Prince Charles's New Portrait In Edinburgh's Portrait Gallery inspires you to draw and photograph family and friends

Problems
For royal watchers, what's new? For those of us more interested in photographing our own families, what can we learn?

Answers
PRINCE CHARLES
A new portrait of Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay, was unveiled on Tuesday July 24th 2018 in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland. That's just in time for the summer season of events, such as the Edinburgh Festival and the Tattoo (marching bands and horseback riders in formation from the army and others).

Victoria Crowe OBE FRSE RSA (b. 1945)

H.R.H. The Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay, 2018

Oil on linen, 92 x 122 cm.

Collection: National Galleries of Scotland

Commissioned with the support of benefactors of the National Galleries of Scotland

© Principal Private Secretary to HRH The Prince of Wales.

Image usage must be accompanied with:

This image is reproduced with the kind permission of HRH the Prince of Wales.

ARTIST VICTORIA
The painter of the portrait is a renowned artist, Victoria Crowe (OBE FRSA born 1945), who was commissioned. Yes, her name is Victoria, like Charles's ancestor, Queen Victoria.

She painted him in Scotland, at Birkhall on the Balmoral Estate in Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

The artist and the sitter are of similar ages. Both are around 70 years of age.

Although Charles was affable, she did not have unlimited time to paint, so could not do loads of sketches and had to make a quick decision about what foreground or background would sum up one, or the main, aspect of his character.

THE SITTER
If you look around the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and other galleries at portraits or royalty and VIPs, often they chose formal portraits, standing up, asserting their authority and status. Charles is sitting down. maybe that's why people who sit for artists (and babysitters) are called sitters.

THE BACKGROUND
The artist chose a background of nature because of Charles's keen-ness on the environment.

When you are choosing a background or foreground for somebody, it's good to choose what you think is their main interest. If you are showing somebody at work, that's obvious. In a restaurant or hotel, you can show the waiting staff with a sign giving the name of the restaurant. In a factory, you can show them operating the machinery. Sometimes people who are shy about being photographed are quite happy when you tell them that what interests you is the machinery or the product which they are holding.

WORK OR LEISURE?
Others hate their job - or are secretly planning to leave the company! Instead, they may want a picture showing their hobby.

You could show both. I did a caricature of Jonny who works in a local garage. I showed him with his work tools, then added a sign from his favourite football team.

EXHIBITIONS YOU CAN SEE
To go back to the portrait of Prince Charles, the inspiration for these thoughts on how you take photos or do drawings on holiday, if you want to see the new portrait of Prince Charles, it's at the National Gallery of Art in Scotland.

An exhibition of works by the artist, Victoria Crowe, is on at the gallery until November 18 2018. It is the highlight of the Edinburgh Art Festival which is only on for about a month, until August 26th 2018, so hurry along if you want to see it.

OTHER PORTRAITS
Like other galleries, the Portrait Gallery makes charges for exhibitions, although entry to the main gallery is free.

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS & BURNS
See the frieze in the Great Hall showing Prince Charles, Mary Queen of Scots, Robbie Burns (who wrote Old Lang Syne and my love is like a red, red rose) and many more famous characters from Scottish history.

While there, touring the galleries, you can look at the portrait of Mary Queen of Scots. It was painted posthumously. No trouble getting her to sit still.

Scottish National Portrait Gallery
Queen Street
Edinburgh
Scotland EH2 1JD
Open daily 10 am to 5 pm.

USEFUL WEBSITES
TRAVEL
visitbritain.com (Information)
visitbritainshop.com (To book and buy tickets and excursions)
visitscotland.com
https://www.npg.org.uk (National Portrait Gallery, London.)

ART
https://www.nationalgalleries.org/visit/scottish-national-portrait-gallery
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society_of_Arts

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Read my posts for information which is enlightening, entertaining and prevents problems. Please share links to your favourite photos

The royal wedding - Meghan and Harry, where, when, who said and wore what?

American Meghan Markle and Prince Harry before marriage. Photo from Wikipedia,

Problem
I had trouble sorting out who was who, who is married to whom, who wore what. In previous grand weddings, the BBC has had veteran commentators such as Dimbleby. I know from observing the training of a London official tourist guide (who must take an exam) what a veteran journalist would do. They would have a series of card index cards for each of the main members of the royal family and famous guests, and role players.

The guide or commentator would be able to read from the cards to fill in dull moments and keep the TV and radio audiences entertained. They would read the cards several times in advance (as well as probably doing their own research) so that they could read out without stumbling, and fill in from memory when the camera changes angle or something unexpected happens.

I gave a speech on the British royal family, how to sort out George V and George VI. (F F George Fifth was first world war. Remember S S, George Sixth, and Second world war. I have attempted to find visuals as memory aids, images and colours, as well as some humorous matches and contrasts of characters.

George V
George V had a moustache and beard, despite the fact that soldiers in WWI had to shave off facial hair in order to wear gas masks. George VI in the second world war had a stammer, hence the film the King's Speech, so all the rousing speeches were made by Winston Churchill.)

The George V hotel in Paris (where Harry's late mother Princess Diana was having dinner the evening when she died) is named after British King George V.



George VI
George VI was the clean-shaven king during WWII which ended in Europe in 1945 and George VI died less than ten years later in 1951 and after a year of mourning his daughter Elizabeth was crowned Queen Elizabeth II in 1952. So George VI was the queen's father, and Prince Charles's grandfather, and Harry's great grandfather.

I discovered that many people in my audience in Singapore, from all around the world, were completely clueless about even the most well-known British royals. So here's a list:

Answers
Royal Wedding
Who are the bride and groom?
HR Prince Henry, Prince of Wales (known as Harry).
He wore military uniform, as did his brother William.

Meghan Markle (Yes, there's an h in the middle of her name.) American. Former actress.
She wore white, although she has been previously married. She had a long white train to her dress and a white veil. 16 foot long veil. The veil's embroidery design apparently incorporated symbolic flowers of all the countries in the Commonwealth, although I admit from the distance, I did not notice any.

We eventually found an overhead photo looking down on the aisle and we could blow it up to show the flowers around the edge.

Cardboard cutout of the couple at an office party on Friday, the evening before the wedding.

Brother of the groom,  best man Prince William. Also wore military uniform.
Prince William's wife is Kate Middleton.

Succession to the throne
If the Queen retires at the age of 95, her son, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, is next in line for the throne.  Second is his older son, William. Then come William's three children. Charles' second son, Harry is currently (2018).

Pippa Middleton is the sister of Kate, and was bridesmaid at Kate's wedding. Pippa, tall and slim, standing behind the bride (Kate) through the wedding ceremony, and captured attention from her, Pippa's, bottom-hugging rear-view dress.

Father of the Groom
Prince Charles.
Prince Charles's wife is Camilla. Camila wore a large leafy pink hat. I thought it was very fetching.

Grandmother of the Groom
H M Queen Elizabeth II. Wore a lime green or pistaccio greeny yellow dress and hat with contrasting purple. Lovely.
The Queen remains silent, no comment, few smiles. She is supposed to refrain from taking sides in politics.
The Chinese have sayings, that to appear silent is more dignified, serious and intelligent.

Grandfather of the Groom, Prince Philip (husband of HM Queen Elizabeth). A great relief that he was able to make it despite recent spells in hospital. Usually Prince Philip makes humorous and sometimes embarrassing remarks. I seem to recall he once said something about slit eyes. His Greek mother, quite a character, was deaf, and notably during WWII, she helped hide Jews in her palace, saving them from the Nazis.

Guests
Oprah Winfrey, TV show hostess with popular book programme, a large lady wearing a tight pink outfit.
Elton John, composer and singer, wearing a suit and distinctive glasses.

Victoria Beckham, was one of the Spice Girls, later married footballer David Beckham. She was unsmiling and wearing an elegant dress. However, the combination of the dark dress and unsmiling look, caused some commentators to say she looked like she was going to a funeral.

My Favourites
Who is that stunning tall, slim lady in yellow dress and yellow hat! Amal Clooney.

The pretty girl in the perfect dress with flowered skirt and plain green bodice and hat framing her perfect tiny features? Spencer. Niece of Princess Diana.

Polka dots in white on navy blue with Peter Pan collar, and black hair neatly tucked up - another Spencer, presumably not related, American actress who appeared in the American TV series Mad Men.

My Question Marks?
The lady wearing what looks like tapestry. Looks a bit heavy for summer.

The lady wearing cleavage. The bride and all the other guests wore high necks and elegance.

Etiquette and dress code
The ladies' dress code was apparently wear a hat.  I am not sure if it said anything about cleavage. Maybe next time. If the bride is wearing white, as at British weddings, no other woman wears white in order not to distract from the bride, rival her, nor cause strangers to think you are the bride.

Eugenie and Beatrice. Both in blue, won approval.

The ceremony was held in St George's Chapel (rather large for a chapel) in Windsor, England.

The service included a wonderful address by the American Bishop Curry who spoke of love healing the world. He made effective use of pauses.

He is from an American Episcopalean church, which is an Anglican church. (Church of England is in England. Anglican can be used to mean founded by those from England who went overseas, in the style of churches in England (protestant era) and under the umbrella, direction of or affiliation to the Church of England.

Useful websites
Wikipedia royal wedding

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_tree_of_English_and_British_monarchs

visittheusa.com

Royal family official website
www.royal.uk

visitbritain.com

Who wore what and where you can buy something similar:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5751241/So-Beckhams-Clooneys-invited-royal-wedding.html

Author, Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.