My surname ancestor came from Wales in 1730. My grandmother's line came from Acton, England. Also in my grandmother's line is a Scotsman who had been a conscript in Lord Howe's Army during the American Revolutionary War. He was wounded and taken to the house of my Franklin(s). While recuperating, he fell in love with his benefactor's daughter and refused to reenlist when his term ended. He married the daughter and became part of my grandmother's line.

What fun stories. No family links to England here, but yes I like following the royals a bit ... mostly just reading the headlines of the magazines at the checkout. On-line pictures of the weddings have all been beautiful, and now the littlest ones -- are so incredibly cute.

We spent a three-week vacation in England about 20 years ago, didn't get to see nearly enough. One funny memory: husband and I were in a pottery shop, eyeing a weird cute little spaceship sculpture. Laughing quietly, what in the world is this....? From the couple next to us, with no eye contact, came the even quieter murmur "It's a toothbrush holder."

Great stories from everyone. I started traveling over there for business several years ago, and went 3-5 times a year almost until my retirement. The longest stay was almost 2 months when we were working on a pretty big project. I really enjoyed most of my longer trips over since I could cram in some sightseeing on the weekends or get to a play one evening if I was lucky. Just absorbing the sights and sounds and doing some simple walking tours at night was fun and a great way to see more of the city when I was staying there.

Hareball I hope you enjoy your first visit.

My surname came from the Downton Abby area. Not the castle they used, though, darn.

My (pre-Revolutionary War) ancestors came from The Borders in Scotland and England.

My aunt and uncle lived in West Yorkshire for three years from 1946, where he had been recruited to modernize a woolen mill. My mother read me all their letters, and we sent CARE parcels. (Rationing in England continued long after the end of the war.) This was still pretty much the same small town life the English lived before the war; my aunt took her market basket from greengrocer to butcher to baker, etc. several times a week. They lived in a cute cottage owned by the mill, unusual in that it had some electricity, something resembling central heating and a tiny fridge. It was a perk for senior executives -- not a mill worker's row house. My mother sent over a pair of electric blankets; the beds steamed for a week before they dried out.

My mother and I visited this mill town as part of a summer abroad when I was 14. We traveled there from London in the sort of train that you see in films of the era, with doors opening into each compartment from the side of the train. We were met by the company chauffeur in the company Rolls and taken to stay in the cottage. One of the mill owners and his wife entertained us for lunch, and he drove us to Fountains Abbey in his Aston Martin -- with me crammed into the jump seat. It was all very low key...and very 'grand'. Everyone was grateful for the 'bounty' we'd sent over to be shared by all for three years. (The two founders had also visited at our home near Chicago -- they were quite fascinated with the parking meters!)

I was enthralled by all the sights near London -- especially Hampton Court, which we approached by boat on the Thames. Years later my DH and I made a couple of trips, and on the last one we stayed four nights at The Georgian House within the grounds of the palace.

I might qualify for your 'club' dandyrandylou. Would it help if I told you I'd owned two Austin Healey 3000's?

All but one ancestor are English - the one is German, but many generations back.

Yes, I am a complete anglophile! I adore traveling in the UK, I watch lots and lots of British TV shows whenever I can. My house is decorated in the English Country house style, and my children's/grandchildren's names are those of English kings, as they are all family names (exception is my one granddaughter - her mother was having no part of family names).

And my interior design business is named Anglophilia.

Of course! I'm married to a Brit and have deep DEEP roots in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland (I'm descended from King Edward III through John of Gaunt - documented). We visit several times a year and will be retiring there in less than ten years.

I do follow the royal family, more so than DH. However, we are going to be in London at the time of Harry & Meghan's wedding, so we will be among the throngs of people lining the processional route in Windsor. I'm beyond excited. :)

I lost interest back on July 4, 1776. :)

No criticism, dandyrandy, but an observation and a suggestion.

I'm amused when people talk about their ancestry in this place or that place WHEN IN DOING SO there's often bragging or innuendo that that has had an effect on who or what they are or aren't. Or that they have any inherent familiarity with places they haven't been to. Other than the odd cultural practices that may or may not have been part of one's family traditions, keep in mind - we all have ancestors from the 18th century, from the 17th century, the 16th, etc.. All of us. Whether we know of them or not, where they were and what they did or not, little or none of it has any effect on most of us.

Having said that, I know that many Americans are drawn to the British Isles (Rep of Ireland and the UK) because of both their own ancestry and also because they speak forms of English. Don't forget that these two countries are foreign countries with different cultures, different perspectives, and different politics from the US. Don't miss the opportunity on other occasions to also visit any of the fantastically interesting countries in Continental Europe. For me personally, maybe except for London, the UK doesn't compare favorably to most of them in most categories of interest to a tourist. Tastes vary. Venture out, see more than the British Isles, there's a lot more in Europe and in other parts of the world to learn about and enjoy.

I love travel and think that everyone who has traveled to other countries is changed by the experience. No matter where one goes. Because, learning the history of others, and experiencing how other people live and think will influence how one thinks of oneself and one's own country. Not better or worse, just differently.

Now that Harry is getting married I will follow a little bit more the younger generation,particularly their charity work. I suspect that Harry and Meghan will do things just a little different because they can as they will never ascend to the throne which probably thrills them.

I think their children are going to be just gorgeous.

I am descended from the Bordens of Kent. There is also some Scotch Irish blood. I am deeply affected by this ancestry because I am related to Lizzie Borden. Therefore do not mess with me. I also believe to some extent in a collective unconscious. Images and symbols and memories connect us all. The invisible crowds of angels and saints and demons have now become posterity according to Elias Canetti in Crowds and Power.

My Dad's parents were both from England, and my Mom, her siblings and her parents are from Scotland. I have travelled in Europe but was only in London on a layover at Heathrow for a few hours so I haven't travelled around the UK at all. I still have family there hope to one day go for a vist. I grew up amidst British traditions and culture. The food, tea time, I television shows, reading material, history lessons, the Royal family. I have been given over the years many biographies and coffee table books on the Royal Family, their estates, jewelry, history. I grew up watching Coronation Street, although I am taking a break from it now becacuse I got tired of the story lines. I saw Queen Elizabeth in person when she came to our city twice and I was introduced to Princess Anne and shook her hand many years ago. I also had a very British Aunt who lived across the street from me. Canadians were British subjects until 1948 and our Head of State is Queen Elizabeth who is represented by our Lieutenant General. My Dad and all my Uncles served either in the Royal Canadian Navy or Army during WW2. I watch as many British documentaries as I can on Youtube.

I'm Scottish, both parents and my great grandmother was a Micmac Indian. I'm an avid Anglophile. I prefer all the British shows to ours. Enjoying Victoria right now.

Hoping for no criticism, and perhaps because my ancestors hailed from
there, I find I'm interested in England's royalty, especially the
younger generation. Anyone else follow their escapades?

My daughter has always been attracted to all things British ... and she married an Englishman. Coincidence? I don't know, but she chose a fine husband.

I'm amused when people talk about their ancestry in this place or that
place WHEN IN DOING SO there's often bragging or innuendo that that has
had an effect on who or what they are or aren't. Or that they have any
inherent familiarity with places they haven't been to. Other than the
odd cultural practices that may or may not have been part of one's
family traditions, keep in mind - we all have ancestors from the 18th
century, from the 17th century, the 16th, etc.. All of us. Whether we
know of them or not, where they were and what they did or not, little or
none of it has any effect on most of us.

My family is Scotch-Irish, and I do think it's affect me -- a bit. I definitely LOOK Irish, and we are extremely frugal. We follow some old traditions, and many family members (not me) have a medical condition that is exclusively Irish. My husband, who is mostly Scottish, loves wearing a kilt. And whisky, definitely whisky.

I’m English, been in the USA since 1985 when I married my DH. We met while he was with the State Department and I was working for the Foreign Office.

My family is all still in southern England, I try to visit as much as possible. It is so much better now with all the advances in communication, FaceTime, Skype etc.

When I first got here my mother had to send me ‘care packages’ because I couldn’t get a decent cup of tea! Now there are British sections in some grocery stores and thank goodness for world Market!

I also enjoy the availability of British tv now with Netflix and utube. Not so when I first got here.

Glad to hear there are so many Anglophiles here!

My ancestry is German-Swiss but I love the royal family. I remember as a child when Elizabeth was coronated. Although we didn't have a TV then, I saw it at my friend's house. I'd skip the middle generation...Charles and Camilla, not fond of either one, but love Diana's boys and their choice of wives. And there are not two more adorable children in the world than Charlotte and George. Baby number three is sure to be sweet too.

I do think that for many, their country of origin is deeply imbedded in their DNA. The first time I went to London, I had the reverse physical feeling of homesickness - I physically felt as if I had returned home. It was a very odd sensation, and anyone who has known me for any time at all, knows I'm far from being "fanciful".

I had a 2nd instance of this happening on a later trip. I had pulled into the car park at Firle Place, a historic home that has some connections to the US. I suddenly burst into tears and sat and cried for several minutes. Convinced I was losing my mind, I decided to have some lunch before doing the tour of the house. I regained my composure but was very surprised to discover that this is the family seat of the Gage family, and that Gen Gage was a British general during the Revolutionary War. He ended up marrying an American girl and stayed in the US for many years. It's also the home of the "Green Gage Plum", a plum I often heard my father talk about.

I have not finished my research, but I think I may be related to the US family Gen Gage married into.

Whatever, I had a very strong emotional reaction to this house. My late husband (Scotch/British/German) and I often felt far more at home in the UK than we did at home. We are both tea drinkers and we loved a glass of port after dinner. Our tastes in clothing and home furnishings were very English.

After my daughter graduated from high school, she deferred college matriculation for a year and spend an Upper Sixth Form year in a girls boarding school in Shropshire, under the English Speaking Union Secondary School Exchange program. When we visited her at her school just before the winter mid-term break, we met with the Head of School and he said she had fit in far better than any other exchange student they had ever had - she even had a very common English name (my paternal grandmother's first name). It was just the way we had reared her.

@Anglophilia, I've had that same sensation too. Once, in North Wales whilst (heh) walking along the shore in Llandudno, and again in the USA in rural Pennsylvania.

My long LONG-ago ancestors are Welsh/Scottish/Irish/English, and many of them emigrated to the USA - most settling in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland (or what would become those states) in the 1600s.

Anglophilia I agree with you. There is definitely a connection with country of origin. Even people from the same area when they meet up in random places seem to be able to strike up a conversation and bond over where they are from. :)

I'll probably cry when I get to Ireland and England too. Everyone that knows me knows how long I've wanted to go. :)

I have always loved England -- I'm not sure if my love came from the old English movies that they played in the afternoons on television or from books that I had read but on my first trip to England in 1987, I did feel as if I had "returned home". But I was half German -- not half English and so was confused as to why I would have this feeling. But when we had our DNA done, I found out that I was 25% German, 30% English and 20% Northern European (which means that my ancestors CAME from Germany but were not Germanic people). So I then knew! But I've not had luck in tracing those ancestors as of yet. We've been to England many times. We spent a Spring over there in a cottage in a little village in the Cotswolds and lived like natives. If it wasn't for the dog and my books, I would have stayed "forever"! I brought home TONS of stuff -- stuff that you couldn't buy over here. I've also traveled in most of the Western European countries. Even Germany -- but I feel most at home in England. As far as the Royal family is concerned -- I admire the Queen immensely -- and was glad when she became the longest ruling monarch in British history. I feel that even those his parents are long-lived that when Charles finally gets the crown that his reign will be short-lived. William, however, will have a long reign. Oh, and most days, I have tea at half past three and prefer shortbreads or ginger cookies for my nosh rather than American chocolate chip!

Some of you seem to be suggesting feelings or an experience akin to the Jerusalem Syndrome that some experience there. Take things a little less seriously. A visit of days, a few weeks or even a year is NOT going to inculcate you with a profound knowledge of the culture nor stir up hidden habits and views planted in your genes by ancestors past (that's such a silly notion). What any experience should do is impress upon you how very different and interesting things are there (as in any foreign country), something to enjoy but nothing more.

A book I can recommend for an interesting and amusing reading experience is The Anglo Files, by Sarah Lyall. Lyall, a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy and Yale, was the London Bureau Chief for the NY Times for many years. Married to an Englishman, she lived in England for nearly 20 years before returning to the US. The book explains many of the cultural phenomenon she observed and experiences she had from her deep immersion into everyday life there while working and raising two children in the greater London area. And how she never came to really understand what makes British people tick nor the reasons for many of their peculiar social and cultural habits.

So for you who are able to take a trip, enjoy yourself but don't fool yourself, before, during, or after.

(Elmer, Madonna might disagree with you! <-- that's meant to be a joke, based on her picking up an English accent rather late in life to have your speech patterns drastically changed. LOL) (Parentheses to indicate not wanting to derail the thread.)

There's an American soccer player, goalkeeper Brad Friedel, who spent 18 years playing on English teams. Soccer players in their still rigid class system are viewed as working class people. They're proud of their slightly uneducated pronunciations and word choices as are people at various stations in this archaic social system. During the last few years of his stay there, I saw him on TV shows as a commentator and it was clear that Friedel had developed a strong accent not unlike what one would hear from any of his local teammates. Not surprising for being immersed in that world for so many years. It was really funny to hear.

He's been back in the US now for just a few years and his English working class accent is almost entirely gone.

++++++++++++++++++++

This comment takes me back to the sentiments of others that as a reminder, many of you, when discovering your roots, are very likely to find out that your ancestors fled pitiful circumstances in their home countries out of desperation to find a better life. Few spent their afternoons by the fire sipping tea and eating finger sandwiches.

Most immigrants to the US have historically been people fleeing miserable and hopelessly poor conditions, hoping to do better in the country where the streets were paved with gold. Middle and upper classes in the countries immigrants left from were as comfortable then as now and few had reason to leave.

Remember Emma Lazarus' poem:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless......

Elmer, my 6th-great-grandfather didn't "flee" London. He was actually "transported." I'm sure you know what that euphemism means. lol

Are you talking about as a slave or indentured servant?

"transported" -- could be either, Elmer, OR perhaps more likely as a result of a judge's penalty. NOT to imply anything, just IMO what "transported" commonly meant as pertains to Britain...

As in, transported to the penal colony in Australia. You're right. I was thinking in a narrower sense and assuming it was to North America.

Elmer, I think you are dead wrong about this. I know far too many people who have experienced similar things to what I have. But you are the total non-sentimental one - hang onto nothing, children want nothing. Perhaps that has formed a big part of YOUR character - you appear to discard the past and never look back. Most of us do not.

I know a lot about my ancestors and how/when they came to the US. No, they were NOT "to the manner born" but were not destitute when they came to the US. Some came on the Mayflower; the original decedents on my father's side were not Quaker but did travel with the Wm Penn colony to come to the US. I know where they were married in London (St Mary of Aldermanbury), a church that is now in Fulton MO and is used as a memorial for Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain address.

anglophilia, I lived in Western Europe for a number of years and because of my work and social activities have met many hundreds of American expats living on the Continent and in the UK. Many quasi-permanently for a variety of reasons and others on medium to long term work assignments. I've never heard of anyone experiencing the kind of ethnic/cultural epiphany-type feelings you're describing and I met plenty of people who were living in what might be called their ancestral homelands.

You're of course welcome to feel however you wish and ascribe whatever reasons to whatever phenomenon you think you experience. But I have to say that in my own experiences with very many others (and having nothing whatsoever to do with myself, and you have me pegged more wrong than right), what you're describing isn't common.

My British Grandfather didn't flee either. He left a well to do family, came to visit his Uncle in New Jersey, then ended up in Canada where he married another Brit and stayed here to raise his family. His brother often came over to visit. After researching family history, you find out what your ancestors occupation is, what businesses they worked in or owned and where they lived but you don't really get a sense of what kind of person your ancestor was, or at least I didn't. I did another search not too long ago and this must have been recently put online. I found this information about my Great Great Grandfather and it shows me a little bit of what kind of person he was.

Taken from The Weekly Journal of the United Methodist Church June 4, 1908
MR. SAMUEL ELLIOTT HIGGINDOTTOM had a lifelong
connection with our church at Hooley Hill,
in the Ashton Circuit. As a child he was taken to
the school, and he walked in the Whitsuntide
procession with hardly a break for seventy-six
years. Later he was an "overlooker " in the
school, an occasional teacher, and for a period of
thirty years absentee visitor. He was a regular
attendant at church, morning as well as evening.
He was not deterred by rain, nor allured by sunshine
; and whenever present he was a devout,
attentive, and helpful hearer of the Word. He
was most regular at the Sunday night prayermeeting,
and at the monthly observance of the
Lord's Supper. He was a member of the choir
in his earlier days, and for long he brought a
bloom each Sunday morning cut from his greenhouse
for each singer. He was a member of the
Trust Board. He commenced business as a master
hatter in partnership with several others in 1863,
in the very room (curiously enough) first used by
the M.N.C. as a Sunday School in Hooley Hill,
which he had first attended as a scholar.
Four sons succeed him in the business. He was
a man of much force of character ; brusque in his
ways, yet kindly, and of a truly religious spirit.
He passed to his rest on April 26th, 1908, in his
eightieth year, leaving behind him a widow and
five sons. He will be much missed in the services
and in the working of church and school.
J. E. M.

No. I don't have anything personally against current members of the Royal Family--they seem like snappy dressers and trend setters. But, I'm American and think the whole concept of monarchy is ridiculous. I wouldn't give one cent of my hard earned money to support any royal family. I believe in a republic and democracy. Historically, I think we are quick to forget how brutal British colonialism was and how cruel they were to the Native populations. I think movies like Victoria and Abdul, etc. gloss over the brutality.

When I read books from a top-notch series with the same characters listed in each new addition, I feel as if I know the fictional characters, and what might be expected from them in the current story. The same with members of the royalty as their lives can often seem fanciful and unreal.

I particularly admire Will's Kate as she has so many worthwhile qualities above and beyond her natural beauty. I have to wonder what kind of relationship will develop between her and Meghan as the expression in M's eyes when she converses with Kate gives me an off feeling.

The Queen, in my opinion, was wrong to allow Charles to divorce Diana who might be alive today if they had remained married. To me, neither Charles nor his wife add anything praiseworthy to the overall picture.

I'm a big fan of Queen Elizabeth - I think she is a truly remarkable woman. And I like the Royal family for the most part.

Even though my ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War against the British, I'm kind of sorry we didn't stay in the Commonwealth. I think the idea of a monarch is a good one. One feels she/he truly has the back of ALL the citizens, as she is not running for election and stays out of and above all politics. That would be a nice feeling.

No one knows what Charles will be like as King, but I imagine he will rise to the occasion. His mother will be a very hard act to follow as she's been Queen for so very long. His reign will likely be a short one. But we will not see the likes of Elizabeth again, anytime in the foreseeable future. Like Victoria, these Queens only come along perhaps once in a century - even longer.

There was no possible way for Charles and Diana to remain married. She had multiple infidelities and she was a loose cannon just waiting to explode. A beautiful, deeply flawed woman. I'm glad that Charles and Camilla have finally found happiness with one another - Camilla's first husband was a serial cheater and did so in the most public and humiliating fashion. They appear to be well suited to one another, and Camilla has great dignity. Charles deserves some happiness - he tried very hard with Diana, but that marriage was doomed form the very start.

I don't see the Duchess of Cambridge and Meghan being big buddies - just way too many difference in their background. They will get along as the two brothers have always been close, but that's not the same as being "besties". Frankly, I don't see that marriage to Harry lasting. I think Harry may well be as unstable as his mother.

I've greatly enjoyed the biographies of Diana, the Queen and Charles, written by Sally Bedell Smith. She is an excellent biographer and was given access to people/documents that the typical gutter press biographers were never given. She's a lovely, very charming woman. I was sorry not to get her speak at the Edgartown Yacht Club's "Lunch with a View" program series - we'd already left the Vineyard. Friends who heard her speak found her very bright and very compelling. Just a lovely, lovely woman who writes one heck of a book.

I'm not interested in the movie magazine 'information' about a British Royal Family that The Concern both requires and despises.

I am interested in the impact of of he rulers of England (and Scotland) through history, and their interactions with their contemporaries in Europe. Rulers were and are members of an elite *caste*, many sharing bloodlines. Religion supported and was supported by this elitism -- the idea of god-given superiority, which was primarily *opportunity* due to wealth, education, power. You can observe the diminishing remnants of this elite at royal weddings, funerals, and coronations. The pedigrees may be an amusement for us, but 'royal rank' is still meticulously preserved in that world.

I do not find royalty 'superior', but they are certainly *separate* -- and need to remain so if they are to continue to preserve their privileged (and confining) 'place' in the world.

Overt expressions and displays of patriotism (distinct from love and practice of one's culture) are much less common in Europe than in the US. In all the European countries that still have monarchs, including the UK, they're mostly powerless figureheads. They spend their time visiting schools and hospitals and supporting charitable activities, and try to act dignified when in the public eye. They're stewards of their national traditions.

The British people we've known best and longest are English. Among them and their many friends we've met, I think they respect the institution without having much true interest in or affection for the members of the royal family themselves. The royals seem to rarely be a topic of conversation in our friends' circle but when I've heard any conversation, it included words like "twit" and "senile twit" more often than not.

Sure, the royals have their fan bases, so too do daytime soap operas (an unintendedly apt comparison). The British royal family with its higher profile seems to be much more divisive and less popular among its own citizenry compared to other countries where the monarchs and their families have a somewhat lower profile. Two examples come to mind - the Netherlands and Denmark- where the royal families have broadbased support, are extremely popular and have been for decades and decades.

Edit to add - love of the monarchy and the royal family, however much waning, seems to be considerably more enthusiastic among the English than among the Scots or Welsh.

Great-Grampy was “transported” from London to the colonies (Virginia) by order of a judge, for a period of 7 years for theft. He petitioned to have his family (wife/children) transported with him. They all ended up staying here, obviously. This is all documented in the Proceedings of the Old Bailey. :)

Few colonists emigrated by choice. They were not the first born males, who were inheritors during laws of primogeniture. Some also came to escape inscription at home -- only to find themselves fighting for Independence in America.

One of the last things written of one of 'my' Scots was that he had been bound and tied, "haulit backards in an oxcart", to be hung as a Marian -- a Catholic and a supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots. I don't know if he knew that his Edinburgh town home was to be awarded to the Protestant John Knox. How galling that would have been, yet is the connection with Knox that spared the place from demolition.

Genealogy is useful to me as it provides a 'hook' by which I can personalize the broad scope of *History*, relating it to individual people. I realize that I cannot possibly understand the times in which they lived from my own safe and pampered life experience.

My comments are not made with such firm authority as some others here, but if I had a marriage such as Diana did, I feel sure I would become "unstable" as well. More understanding is warranted when one walks in her shoes.

There are far stranger things than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio. -- Shakespeare. Hamlet. In response to the claim that the feeling of a bond with an ancestral culture is necessarily a literal psychodynamic or a delusion

Elmer, have you ever attended or watched Last Night at the Proms? If that's not overt patriotism, then I cannot imagine what is!

As for the British Royal family - they have never been more popular. Just look at how the entire nation got involved with her Diamond Jubilee and the celebration of her 90th birthday. The Diamond Jubilee was not just a bunch of soap opera watchers doing a bit of celebrating! The entire country was involved in the celebration.

My late husband has British relatives, and yes, they DO talk about the Royal Family, as they are acquainted with many, having met them on multiple occasions, and a few have very close friendships with two of them. Horse people here in KY got to know the Queen quite well on her multiple visits here over the years. They adore her - her knowledge of her blood stock, and her marvelous sense of humor.

Don't assume that your friends, Elmer, are typical of ALL Brits. It's a very diverse nation.

After the "Diana" fiasco, The Concern realized they needed to do more PR to boost their image, both within the UK and abroad (tourism). It seems to be working.

anglo, as I said before, my thoughts are based on many decades of friendships and in-person dealings/discussions with an uncountable number of people, during periods I was living or visiting THERE. Not from reading books or watching TV shows. Most recently, I spent two weeks in the UK last fall (a bit too long for my taste) that included two fairly large private social events with lots of new people to meet and chat with. At the time, Brexit was the hot topic with most people holding strong pro or con views (roughly corresponding to whether they were Tory or Labor supporters) but the comments I heard about the royals weren't varied.

We can disagree and leave it at that. I can't help but think that you are seeing and thinking that it's how you'd like it to be, not how it really is. But no matter, we can both be happy with different opinions.

My knowledge of Britain is NOT from reading books or watching TV, although I do both. I have visited there many, many times over the past 34 years, my daughter spent a year there in a girl's boarding school, my son spent his spring trimester of his boarding school senior year, doing an internship there at Lloyds. And, as I said, my late husband has many English relatives, with whom I stay in contact with. My knowledge is far from 2nd hand or from media. Obviously, we move in different circles when in Britain, but yours is not more "correct" than mine is.

I am well aware that the world of Miss Marple and Mapp and Lucia was gone after WWII. Even though the class system is still alive and well in parts of Britain, there are now grandchildren of people who lived in the East End in squalor and may have even been Cockney, who are now buying houses in English villages that cost between 400,000-700,000 pounds. There appears to be only a very small republican movement in Britain today - most people are quite happy having a monarch and while some might like to see the Royal Family a bit smaller (when it comes to giving them allowances), they still want them to open their local schools, town halls, etc.

As I said, my late husband's relatives have met all the Royal family many, many times. No, not at a garden party along with thousands of others, but at small, private social events in private homes. One has traveled with some on business trips to the US and other parts of the world, in his role as a company chairman. And two are very close friends - in one another's weddings, godparents to one another's children.

So, you have your friends, and I have my friends and family, and clearly they are as different as we are on GW. That does not make you "right" and me a dreamer, longing for a lost Empire.

Oh, Miss Mapp! And Lucia! How sad that I have real all those books and don't have more. I'll just have to reread them, which is not something I usually do. I loved the characters, the settings. Miss Mapp and her larder and hoarding can tickle me any time I think of it.

I adore the Mapp and Lucia books and also the TV series - the actor who played Georgie - Nigel Hawthorne - was just fabulous. All the actors truly brought the characters in the books to life.

I think these books are infinitely re-readable. I find I do that more and more these days.

My mother was born in England. She was a war bride. She met and married my father, an American GI, in England. I grew up with a picture of the Queen in our living room. I have been to England, Scotland, and Wales several times, and I still write to a cousin in England. I have watched all of the royal weddings going back to Princess Margaret. I am all into the Prince Harry and Meghan Markle engagement. I've found several websites dealing with them. In case anyone is interested:

The Home of the Royal Family

Meghan's Mirror

Mad About Meghan

When Meghan Met Harry

I have never met a Brit, either here in the US or there in the UK, that wasn't interested in and followed the royals and who didn't support the monarchy. IDK who Elmer was meeting but the rank and file, including my relatives, are very active and vocal supporters of the Queen and her family. Who in the world does he think makes up those enormous crowds in front of Buckingham Palace and lining all the parade routes every time there is some sort of royal function???

My in-laws aren't enamored with the royal family, and they're not particularly convinced the monarchy is worthwhile. They're patriotic in the sense that they consider themselves English (which is, apparently, no longer a tickable option on various forms asking for nationality) and are pro-Brexit. They live in an area that is, to their way of thinking, overrun with eastern European immigrants who, in their opinions, have "taken over" their area and turned it into a horrible place.

The crowds in front of Buck House and along the parade routes aren't just Brits - they're tourists from all over.

Reading "The Day Diana Died" has changed some of my thoughts, for one about Charles (even though his mistress adventures can never be morally acceptable) who openly showed human feelings at the time of Diana's death, and another about the Queen who remained a pure iceberg. Diana was human and had her failings, but oh how she made up for it within her short life.