It's Time for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee 👑

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Season 2: Episode 121 Description

In today's episode: 👑 Today is the official celebration of 70 years of Queen Elizabeth the 2nd’s rule of Great Britain. 👸 Find out the duties of the Queen and take a look into what other Queens deserve to be celebrated with Correspondent Max Wolfson. ✔️ Fun Fact Check: these animals were gifted to the Queen from other nations and now all live at the London Zoo. And, test your Queen Elizabeth knowledge on today's Trivia on the Ten.✅

Sources

15 fun facts about the Queen - National Geographic Kids (natgeokids.com)

What Happened in 1952 (angelfire.com)

Queen Elizabeth II: 14 Key Moments in Her Reign - HISTORY

How much does the Royal Family cost the British taxpayer? (britishheritage.com)

Financial Perks of Being the President of the United States (businessinsider.com)

What Is the Queen's Role in British Government? - HISTORY

A Timeline of Queen Elizabeth II's Lifelong Love of Corgis | Daily Paws

Royal Residences | Buckingham Palace - Royal.uk

Links

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TRANSCRIPT:

Bethany Van Delft  0:05  

Tessa, what's all this?

Tessa Flannery  0:09  

Salutations, Bethany. This is our traditional afternoon tea service for the Queen's Jubilee.

Bethany Van Delft  0:14  

I love tea. But, why are you talking like that?

Tessa Flannery  0:17  

What can you possibly mean? This is my natural speaking voice.

Bethany Van Delft  0:21  

Uh oh, standby, Ten'ers. I think this is going to be a very English Ten News Takeover. I'm Bethany Van Delft. It's Thursday, June 2nd, and this is the Ten News.

Various Voices  0:37  

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. 

Bethany Van Delft  0:44  

It appears that United Kingdom fever is affecting everyone in the Ten News studio. But why is this occurring? It has everything to do with the Queen's Jubilee. Ten News staff writer Tessa Flannery lived in the UK for years and is here to tell us more.

Tessa Flannery  1:02  

Thank you ever so much, Bethany. Thursday, June 2, 2022, is the official celebration of 70 years of Queen Elizabeth II rule of Great Britain aka the United Kingdom. Perhaps you know that big anniversaries have named Silver for 25 years, Gold for 50, Diamond for 60, and Platinum for 70. So, this is the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, and she's the longest-serving ruler in British history. Wow. When she became a queen, there were no cell phones and no internet. The polio vaccine was just discovered. The Lone Ranger was the most popular show on telly and a loaf of bread cost 16 cents. Seriously? Most people living today can't remember a time when the Queen wasn't the queen. Princess Elizabeth was 25 in 1952 when her father, King George the sixth died. One year later in 1953, she was crowned queen at the first-ever televised coronation. 27 million people tuned in from the writing of the multitude into the quiet solemnity of the Great Abby steps Her Majesty. So, what does the Queen actually do? She often travels to foreign countries to repair relationships. She visited West Germany in the 60s when there was political turmoil there. She took a walk in Australia connecting with the Australian people when they were considering leaving the Commonwealth. She visited China in the 1980s after British rule ended in Hong Kong. She visited the Republic of Ireland in 2011, the first time a British monarch set foot there since the revolution in 1911. In all these cases, the Queen's visit was important to the people of the UK and the people of the country she visited. She is a diplomat who only has to show up somewhere to bring attention to her. She has had a big influence on the world we live in today. But, is it worth the cost to the British public? The royal family costs British taxpayers at least 67 million pounds a year. That's about $83 million. To compare to the US, American taxpayers pay the President a salary of $400,000 an expense budget of $50,000, and entertainment and travel budget of around $120,000. US taxpayers also pay former presidents but in total all the living former US presidents only cost the US $3.8 million per year, about $80 million less than the royal family costs Britain. Wow. And although the queen is the official Head of State for the UK, she is not the head of government. That's the Prime Minister's job, currently, Boris Johnson. Hundreds of years ago, the ruling power of the kings and queens of England was taken away. So, the Queen isn't involved in any political or financial decisions for the country, despite a weekly briefing from the Prime Minister, whatever, with no political power, the queen is, for the most part, a symbol of the UK. She's a diplomat and a sign of stability. A royal who reassures the people of Britain that no matter what, things will be all right, Queen Elizabeth is 96 now and has seen the world change so much in her 70 years on the throne. All of us at the Ten News wish her majesty a very happy Platinum Jubilee.

Bethany Van Delft  4:41  

What other queens deserve to be celebrated? Ten News correspondent Max Wolfson has the answer.

Max Wolfson  4:52

Whoa, now I know so much more about Queen Elizabeth thanks to Tessa and Bethany. To be honest, it really made me curious about what other kinds of Queens there are outside of the United Kingdom. Now we're talking. Okay, first things first. I think if you want to live like a queen, you've got to sleep like a queen. So, one queen mattress it is. Did you know that they didn't even make Queen mattresses until after World War II? That means that they've been around basically as long as Queen Elizabeth herself. But what queenly activities could we do for fun? Well, there is a queen in chess and she is the strongest piece because she can move in any direction. We could also play cards since there's not just one queen, but there are four, including the Queen of Hearts. Queen of Hearts? Where have I heard that before? Oh, wait a minute from Alice in Wonderland. She seems a little too intense for us. Let's look for a more low-key queen to learn about. What about Marguerite the II, she's the reigning queen of Denmark and the only other ruling queen in the world. Cool. She's celebrating her Golden Jubilee, marking 50 years on the throne this year. Man, 2022 is kind of the year of Queens. Yes. And humans aren't the only creatures with Queens, ants and bees both have queens that the entire colony has to protect. That's not all. There are animals named Queen snake and Queen butterfly and Queen moth and there's even a queen Angel Fish kind of seems wrong that they call it the animal kingdom instead of the Animal Queendom when you think about it, but where's the most queenly place you could live? Well, there are two towns in the United States that are called Queen, one in New Mexico and one in Pennsylvania. There's also Queens, New York. It's the second biggest borough in the entire city. If you don't know boroughs basically like a super-sized version of a neighborhood. They're even more places named after queens, including Charlotte, North Carolina, which was named for an English queen. Her name is Charlotte. Makes sense? Well, duh. It was named that by settlers, but it's still nicknamed the Queen City to this very day. Now, what kind of music is fit for a queen? Well, there's a rock band your parents probably know called Queen. And there was a famous jazz drummer named Alvin Queen. And when I was growing up, there was somebody named Queen Latifah. But I think we all really know when it comes to music. There's only one queen in the United States. Beyonce, I want to show you all my gifts. Wow, that's a lot of Queen content. Queentent? Only one last lead. I'm going to check out QUEN, the Quaternary Environment of the Eurasian North. It's a mouthful, but it's also a climate research project studying the Arctic. I guess I better bring it jacket.

Bethany Van Delft  7:34

Thank you, Max. And, what a world of Queens there are? Hi, Tessa, come back and give us a fun fact if you, please.

Tessa Flannery  7:45  

My pleasure, Bethany. Did you know The Queen owns an elephant, a jaguar, two giant turtles, and a pair of sloths? It's true. The animals were gifts from other nations and they all live at the London Zoo. I do hope she's able to visit them often.

Bethany Van Delft  8:07  

And now here to give us the news rundown is our head writer Ryan Willard.

Ryan Willard  8:19  

Thank you very much, Bethany. European Union leaders agreed on Monday to block most Russian oil imports. European Council President Charles Michel tweeted. This immediately covers more than two-thirds of oil imports from Russia cutting a huge source of financing for its war machine, adding that it will bring quote maximum pressure on Russia to end the war. The agreement is part of new sanctions that hope to hit Russia financially. The world's biggest plant has been discovered off the Australian coast, scientists have used genetic testing and determined that a large underwater meadow of seagrass in Western Australia is in fact one single plant. The scientists made the discovery by accident when they set out to understand the genetic diversity of the species also known as ribbon weed. The seagrass is roughly three times the size of Manhattan, New York, and is believed to have spread from a single seed over at least 4500 years. Holy moly, poke him on Scarlet and violet have been given a release date. The latest Pokemon games will drop on November 18, 2022, a trailer for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet has emerged and revealed the new open-world structure and the first-ever four-player Co-Op mode. The trailer also introduces two new Pokemon professors and two new legendary monsters Professor Seta and Croydon who appear in scarlet and Professor Turo and mirror Dawn who appear in violent I am so psyched for this game on Ryan and that was your rundown. Yeah, no, I'm gonna keep working on that back to you Bethany.

Bethany Van Delft  9:56  

Okay, it's time for... 

Various Voices  9:59  

What, what, what's the big idea? 

Bethany Van Delft  10:02  

Trivia on the Ten. The Queen loves dogs and horses. Which of the following dog breeds is Queen Elizabeth's favorite? Is it a) corgis, b) poodles, or c) Pugs? Did you guess it? The answer is A. The Queen loves corgis. Over the years she's had 30 corgis. She got her first Corgi when she was seven years old and at one point she had nine corgis running around. Luckily, there's plenty of space for nine small dogs to explore Buckingham Palace. It is 775 rooms. No way. Go to your room, which one? And that is our show for today. But before we go, here's a quick note for the grownups. Thanks for listening to the Ten News. Look out for our new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and extras on Saturdays. The Ten News is a coproduction of Small But Mighty Media and next Chapter podcasts and is distributed by iHeartRadio. The Ten News creative team is planning a visit to Buckingham Palace and includes Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Ryan Willard, Adam Bernard, and Tessa Flannery. Max Wolfson contributed to this episode. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle and our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Bethany Van Delft, and thanks for listening to the Ten News. Are there more birds? Are there more birds? Enough of this accent, I'm getting a headache!