Living in London

On Sunday we took a delightful tour of the Royal Mews. In England, mews are where horses are kept so, of course, the Royal Mews is where the Queen's horses and carriages are housed. It was a wonderful glimpse into some of the old traditions of the British monarchy. A few highlights of the tour include:

• the gilded carriage weighs 6 tons and is only used for the most special occasions (such as the coronation of a new king or queen)
• it takes 8 Windsor Grey horses to pull the gilded carriage.
• it takes 10 men 1 1/2 days to remove the gilded carriage from its display room
• there is one groomsman for every two horses
• the horses are very well cared for (including six weeks of "vacation" a year where they have their shoes removed and are allowed to run free in a pasture)
• many of the uniforms worn by the horsemen and carriage drivers are the original garments that were made over 100 years ago

-HrH