h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A5110958 - Queen Elizabeth II - post 81 - for ease of loading the entry.

Completely re-written that paragraph:

In 1940, soon after the start of World War II, the princess, at the age of 14, made her first public broadcast, a radio message during the BBC's children's programme to all the children of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, (especially those being evacuated for safety reasons). In April 1943, Princess Elizabeth carried out her first solo public engagement, a day with a Grenadier Guards tank battalion in Southern Command. Princess Elizabeth is still the only female member of the Royal Family to have served in the Forces. She learned to drive while serving as a Junior Commander in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, which she had joined in 1945.

Is that better?

Also remembered some more trivia I should have put in earlier

**Contrary to popular belief, the Queen does carry money. Each Sunday when she attends church service, she places a banknote of undisclosed denomination into the collection plate.**
Thanks Casper and Elentari

Re-written it again:

In 1940, soon after the start of World War II, the princess, at the age of 14, made her first public broadcast, a radio message during the BBC's children's programme to all the children of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, (especially those being evacuated for safety reasons). In April 1941, the cast of It's That Man Again - a popular radio comedy broadcast weekly - were invited to Windsor Castle to perform a special show in honour of Princess Elizabeth's 16th birthday. In April 1943, Princess Elizabeth carried out her first solo public engagement, which was a day with a Grenadier Guards tank battalion in Southern Command. Princess Elizabeth learned to drive while serving as a Junior Commander in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, which she had joined in 1945, and she is still the only female member of the Royal Family to have served in the Forces.

That section reads much better now.

Thank you

Are you seriously a Front Page author *again*, GB? Isn't that about the third one in the last week?

Yep.
Front page Thursday - pick of the day with my Garden Pea entry
Front page Friday & all weekend with my Uni contribution - Edith Cavell
Front page today with Prince Charles

Thanks

Great going!

You're the one to get advice from on posting then!

I'll help all I can

Any more comments on the entry, please?

Great entry GB!

Just a few very minor comments:
In Prince Philip section you state that QEII became know as Duchess of Edinburgh before you tell of Philip getting the Duke title - would just make more sense if it were the other way around.

I don't like this sentence: "Despite all this equality, the UK chooses to have an unelected hereditary monarch, who got the top job by simply being born into the right family at the right time." Firstly, democracy does not equal equality; secondly, I don't know whether it's true that the UK 'chooses' - we "don't get no choice". If it were put to a referendum it would be a close run thing, in my opinion; however even discussing the abolition of the monarchy is still technically illegal, I believe, so we cannot exactly choose.

Not sure Prince Charles will be King Charles III - I think he's keen on being George VII I seem to remember from a news story a couple of years ago - sorry only reference I can find is Wikipedia, so possibly not the most realiable. Also I don't think the Queen has to die - can't she abdicate?

That's all for now.

The Queen's already stated that she won't abdincate, but yes, she could.

I'm sure she has - but you never know... There may be circumstances where it would be better if she did and advisors may insist; for example, if she were not able to continue carrying out the role due to illness.

Thank you for your comments.

Until I get a reply to my email to the Eds asking them not to commission a caricature for this entry (should it be picked and chosen for pick-of-the-day) - this entry is no longer in PR and going to "Not for review" status.

In response to scrumph, if the sovereign is unable to carry out their duties, the Prince of Wales takes over authority, acting as Regent - as happened with George III in the 1800's

Hi Scruff and scrumph,

I've addressed all your points, thanks

I'll be resubmitting this soon as I'm happy with the response to my email.

But you've had a response, Annie. We've already told you this entry will not get a graphic.

I think we need to spell something out here. We'll continue to give graphics to entries we feel are of interest to general readers and which lend themselves to illustration, and because we work to quite a tight schedule, there simply isn't time to give every single person approval on the graphic we commission.

Although we contend that the Prince Charles graphic was appropriate (in that it referenced details from the entry itself, which we encourage) and a very fine example of artwork suitable for the h2g2 vibe, we did agree to remove that graphic from the Prince Charles entry as a courtesy to you.

If you're waiting for us to grant you approval rights on any future artwork though, it's only fair to say you'll be disappointed. It wouldn't be fair to treat you any differently to anyone else, would it?

I said I'm happy with the response, Jimster

I have never asked to be treated differently to anyone else, I don't mind what pictures you choose to put on my entries.

The only thing I couldn't allow to happen was for my father to be embarrased, he won't care if you lampoon Richard & Judy, but he fought for King and country and I needed to know you wouldn't treat the Queen the way you (he thought it was me) had treated Prince Charles.

My priorities lie with my father at the moment, he enjoys reading my entries and is very proud when they make the front page.

In over 5 years of writing entries I have never before objected to any graphic or editing that's been done to my original work, but I couldn't bear to see my father upset.

F48874?thread=1707314 PR thread of resubmission yesterday