For most of my life, the Queen was in my wallet. I grew up in Canada, where Elizabeth II was head of state, and her face looked out from the twenty-dollar bill …
London
- London
The Young Victoria: the Film’s Royal Stand-Ins, and the Real Palaces Behind Them
by Bubblyby Bubbly 9 min readI love The Young Victoria. The 2009 film, with Emily Blunt as Victoria and Rupert Friend as Albert, tells the story of a teenage queen finding her feet and falling in love, …
You walk into the V&A and the first thing above you is a storm of blue and green glass. The great Chihuly chandelier hangs in the domed entrance hall, eleven metres of …
- London
A Christmas Night on the South Bank: a Carousel, Mulled Wine, and a Giagia at the Greek Stall
by Bubblyby Bubbly 8 min readWe came out of dinner at Sea Containers Restaurant, just along the river, into the cold and walked straight into Christmas. The South Bank does this every winter. The riverside fills with …
- London
Sea Containers Restaurant: the View, the Submarine, and the Table I Was Asked to Leave
by Bubblyby Bubbly 6 min readI wanted to love dinner at Sea Containers. The room is good-looking, the South Bank outside is all river and lamplight, and our table looked across the Thames to the dome of …
Most of us know Elizabeth I only as the powerful queen she became. The Virgin Queen. Gloriana. The pale, jewelled figure in the Phoenix portrait, a woman who ran England on her …