Britt Kanja and Günther Krabbenhöft // VIDEO: Techno Opa Günther Krabbenhöft und seine Britt

Previously, Britt was a professional dancer, and Günther worked as a stylist and model. So it's no surprise that they continue to bring beauty to the world in retirement.

Daily Rituals by Mason Currey

 

Franz Kafka, frustrated with his living quarters and day job, wrote in a letter to Felice Bauer in 1912, "time is short, my strength is limited, the office is a horror, the apartment is noisy, and if a pleasant, straightforward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle maneuvers."

 

Kafka is one of 161 inspired--and inspiring--minds, among them, novelists, poets, playwrights, painters, philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians, who describe how they subtly maneuver the many (self-inflicted) obstacles and (self-imposed) daily rituals to get done the work they love to do, whether by waking early or staying up late; whether by self-medicating with doughnuts or bathing, drinking vast quantities of coffee, or taking long daily walks. Thomas Wolfe wrote standing up in the kitchen, the top of the refrigerator as his desk, dreamily fondling his "male configurations". . . Jean-Paul Sartre chewed on Corydrane tablets (a mix of amphetamine and aspirin), ingesting ten times the recommended dose each day . . . Descartes liked to linger in bed, his mind wandering in sleep through woods, gardens, and enchanted palaces where he experienced "every pleasure imaginable."

 

Here are: Anthony Trollope, who demanded of himself that each morning he write three thousand words (250 words every fifteen minutes for three hours) before going off to his job at the postal service, which he kept for thirty-three years during the writing of more than two dozen books . . . Karl Marx . . . Woody Allen . . . Agatha Christie . . . George Balanchine, who did most of his work while ironing . . . Leo Tolstoy . . . Charles Dickens . . . Pablo Picasso . . . George Gershwin, who, said his brother Ira, worked for twelve hours a day from late morning to midnight, composing at the piano in pajamas, bathrobe, and slippers . . .

 

Here also are the daily rituals of Charles Darwin, Andy Warhol, John Updike, Twyla Tharp, Benjamin Franklin, William Faulkner, Jane Austen, Anne Rice, and Igor Stravinsky (he was never able to compose unless he was sure no one could hear him and, when blocked, stood on his head to "clear the brain").

 

Daily Rituals by Mason Currey – review

 

What do Beethoven, Capote and Auden have in common? Seb Emina discovers the strange daily rituals of our artistic heroes

 

Seb Emina

Tue 8 Oct 2013 07.00 BSTFirst published on Tue 8 Oct 2013 07.00 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/08/daily-rituals-mason-currey-review

 

During the late 1940s, John Cheever worked to an unconventional routine. In the morning he would put on his business suit, leave his apartment, and catch the lift downstairs with any commuters. Then, when they reached the ground floor, he would keep going, down to the basement, where he'd walk to his favourite storage room, strip down to his boxer shorts and spend the morning writing. At noon he put his suit back on and headed back upstairs. Lunch followed, then a leisurely afternoon.

 

It worked for him. Or rather, it worked for his work. Despite their drudging reputation, fixed routines have proved an indispensable tool to artists of all kinds, from George Sand (who wrote through the night supported by chocolate and tobacco) to David Lynch (who no longer has a daily milkshake but still meditates twice a day). Daily Rituals, a print successor to Mason Currey's Daily Routines blog, is a compendium of these beguiling monotonies, a chance to see what great lives look like when the triumphs, dramas, disruptions and divorces have been all but boiled away. It will fascinate anyone who wonders how a day might best be spent, especially those who have wondered of their artistic heroes, as a baffled Colette once did of George Sand: how the devil did they manage?

 

What did Truman Capote, Patricia Highsmith and Marcel Proust have in common? They worked in bed, surrounded by a cocoon of food, alcohol and cigarettes. How about Ludwig van Beethoven and Soren Kierkegaard? They were each in their own way amusingly coffee-obsessed, with Beethoven insisting on precisely 60 beans in a cup (often hand-counting them to make sure) and Kierkegaard asking his assistant, each time he delivered his afternoon beverage, to explain the exact reasoning behind that day's choice of cup.

 

Looking over many of the entries in this book, it is hard not to resolve to create your own rigid routine. I should, you think, be more like Dickens, Voltaire, or Mozart. Then I would achieve more. These were disciplined people, whose schedules would inspire the stern admiration of the hardest-faced middle manager. "No city clerk was ever more methodical or orderly," reflected Dickens's son. "No humdrum, monotonous, conventional task could ever have been discharged with more business-like regularity than he gave to the work of his imagination and fancy." And in spite of his wild reputation, Mozart's early days spent in Vienna were a parade of clockwork obligation, beginning with his hair being done "by 6am" and leading on to two hours of composition, four hours of teaching, lunch, then either concerts or more composition before a trip to see his future wife, Constanze.

 

The psychologist William James hailed such regimes. He believed in "the effortless custody of automatism", declaring that the more we hand our daily lives over to this benevolent force, "the more our higher powers of mind will be set free for their own proper work". This is easier said than done. WH Auden lived life according to a relentless timetable ("eating, drinking, writing, shopping, crossword puzzles, even the mailman's arrival – all are timed to the minute") but it didn't come effortlessly. Amphetamines powered his days and sedatives sent him to sleep at the allotted time. Indeed, for every Voltaire spending 20 hours a day at his desk, we meet a Gertrude Stein, who said of her daily stint of just 30 minutes that it "makes a lot of writing year by year". Then there is William James himself. His Daily Rituals entry reveals a hopeless procrastinator, a man whose rants against the indecisive and the disorderly were probably a way of discouraging students from ending up like him.

 

Routines say much more about us than just the actions they contain. For Philip Larkin they were an attempt to evade the passing of time by "making every day and every year exactly the same". In the case of Stephen King, who writes 2,000 words every morning and describes fiction as a sort of waking dream, the invocation of a writing routine is akin to the stuff you do before you get into bed: "your schedule," he says, "exists in order to habituate yourself, to make yourself ready to dream just as you make yourself ready to sleep".

 

The working methods presented in Daily Rituals are so diverse as to offer no easy formulas (or what are now known as "productivity hacks"). It's a string of lifestyles that are often eccentric, but always human. If we want to emulate Franz Kafka or Jane Austen should we copy their routines or find the routines that are right for us, which is to say the routines that are us? Isaac Asimov had an impressive schedule, but he credited it not to self-discipline but to his father's sweet shop, in which he assisted as a child, which would open at 6am and then not close until 1am. "You're who you are," advises Bernard Malamud. "Not Fitzgerald or Thomas Wolfe."

 

For most of us, our routines are imposed from the outside. They come from our employer or our family circumstances. They are the structure we rail against, the cage we dream of escaping. But is escape really so simple as just waking up each morning with no plans? Isn't that just as terrifying? Or is freedom simply being able to reinvent your life around the work that you do, if that is also the thing you enjoy. "It's not my work," objects Stephen Jay Gould, quoted in his Daily Rituals entry. "It's my life. It's what I do. It's what I like to do."

 

• Seb Emina is co-author of The Breakfast Bible, published by Bloomsbury.

Theophilus North by Thornton Wilder

 

Theophilus North

Published: 1973

Type: Novel

 

The last of Wilder’s works published during his lifetime, this novel is part autobiographical and part the imagined adventure of his twin brother who died at birth. Setting out to see the world in the summer of 1926, Theophilus North gets as far as Newport, Rhode Island, before his car breaks down. Soon the young man finds himself playing the roles of tutor, spy, confidant, lover, friend, and enemy as he becomes entangled in the intrigues of both upstairs and downstairs in a glittering society dominated by leisure.

 

Overview

by Matthew Angelo

http://www.twildersociety.org/works/theophilus-north/

 

Plot Summary

 

After a lifetime of achievement, at the age of 76, Thornton Wilder wrote his last novel, Theophilus North. The story of a restless schoolteacher who leaves his post in pursuit of more adventurous living strongly suggests autobiography. However, Wilder’s intention was really quite different; he was drawing not on his experience but fabricating someone else’s. In a letter to a Yale classmate Wilder explains, “I was born an identical twin; he lived an hour; if he had survived his name would have been Theophilus […] I wrote his memoirs.”1 Thus, Wilder imagined a life for his brother—and what a fantastic life he imagined!

 

The novel recounts Theophilus’s summer in the “nine cities” of Newport, but mostly in the fifth and sixth: the esoteric world of the very rich and the modest working middle-class of the present. Through Theophilus’s first-person narrative, Wilder offers a picaresque, a characterization of life in the summer cottages of the wealthy classes. Because of his rich education but lack of personal wealth, Theophilus finds himself among all class types throughout the novel—many days he shuffles from meetings with old-money aristocrat types to a nightcap at Ms. Cranston’s, a boarding house for the servile class. This broad access provides insights into class relations throughout the novel.

 

The story begins with Theophilus resigning from his position as a schoolteacher in New Jersey. As he is leaving his post—exhausted and bored—he explains, “I am recapturing a spirit of play […] the play of childhood which is all imagination, which improvises.”2 This newfound sense allows him to revisit the nine ambitions that have occupied his life: to become an anthropologist, archeologist, detective, actor, magician, lover, rascal, and free man. The most startling fact is not the variety of ambitions Theophilus possesses but that all nine are in some way satisfied in a single summer.

 

After leaving his post, Theophilus whimsically decides to revisit the coastal town where he had served during WWI. It is here that he advertises himself as a tutor of languages and a professional reader. In this capacity, Theophilus is invited into the homes of several prominent persons of the town. As his reputation in town grows, he is invited to mediate many intimate personal matters among families; this he does with both playfulness and a shrewd understanding of human behavior.

 

Given the heroic and sometimes fantastical nature of his escapades, the novel could have been titled The Adventures of Theophilus North, and run as a TV series. Each chapter offers an isolated incident in which the protagonist intervenes to help an individual in need—or rather, saves the day! From restoring the self-confidence in an elderly man by shattering doubt cast by familial avarice, to driving out counterfeiters; from stopping the elopement of a prominent daughter, to helping a handicapped genius find the courage to date, Theophilus leaves his clients with a new found sense of hope and a modest bill—$2 an hour for all time spent. Although he is intimately involved in the affairs of his clients, Theophilus remains at a distance from the real action of the Newport society people; his outside position allows him to greatly affect but never to enter the otherwise typical and stagnate action of the perennial city. This is characterized by his refusal to accept any invitation to dinner and his neglecting to attend the “Servant’s Ball,” an event he helped organize. In this way he achieves his ninth and overarching ambition: to remain a “free-man.”

 

As a result, the action does not reach a climactic point, yet resolves when, at summer’s end, Theophilus decides to leave Newport as unobtrusively as he entered it. On his first day in Newport, Theophilus sells his broken down car at Josiah’s Garage, and on his last, he purchases a new one. Here Wilder hints at the toll the summer has taken on the young Theophilus. Dexter, a mechanic, refers to a bit of playfulness Theophilus engaged in upon meeting him when he asks, “Did you want to say a few words to her [his old car]?” to which Theophilus replies, “No, I’m not so lighted headed as I was.”3 The philosophical conversation that follows suggests that perhaps his summer among the wealthy class has had a solemnizing effect; he leaves a much more serious man than he came.

 

Although his exploits in Newport sometimes hint at a deeper meaning, the episodes read like nostalgic fantasy; Theophilus becomes Wilder’s hero of a forgotten era: an audacious mid-westerner, surviving off of hard work and wit, believing only in his sense of personal enrichment and a duty to his fellow man. As to the purpose of such a character and such a story, Anatole Broyard explains: “Perhaps adults need fairy tales too.”4

 

Critical Analysis

 

The consensus opinion among Wilder scholars is that Theophilus North should not be considered one of his more serious novels. While the book was a commercial success—it remained a bestseller for twenty-one weeks—this last novel is held in much lower esteem than the rest of Wilder’s body of work. Although the reviews ranged from praising Theophilus North’s entertainment value to all but condemning it, much of the critical response is evasive with a patronizing reverence for Wilder and his influence. For example, Geoffrey Wagner wrote that he admired the novel’s “sunny disposition at the end of a long and distinguished career.”5 The Village Literary Supplement was a touch more blunt, describing the novel as “thoroughly amusing but as deeply unsatisfying as tickling an arthritic with a feather to take his mind off the pain.”6 The criticism Theophilus received can be attributed to three qualities uncharacteristic of Wilder’s other works: sentimentality, a flat main character, and thematic evasion.

 

However, there are a few critics who find hidden value in the exquisite nostalgia of the narrative. To some, it becomes a question of purpose. Lincoln Konkle explains the likely reason for Wilder’s lack of literary commitment to the novel; it was written “to indulge himself, to have fun, to write what Graham Greene called his less serious works—an entertainment.”7 And to that purpose, it would appear, to some critics at least, that the novel is successful. Granville Hicks called it, “extraordinarily entertaining,” while The New York Times contended, “you’d have to be a misanthrope to escape [the story’s] spell.”8

 

Despite its entertainment value, though, its lack of depth and ambiguous purpose could not be overlooked. Although the novel hints at class relations—notably when Theophilus lashes out at Persis, “Oh, I hate the cliquishness and the timidity of your so called privileged class”9 and when Edweena remarks, “Rich boys never really grow up—or seldom”10—it never seems to deliver a deeper lesson. Like an expert soloist who has missed his cue, Wilder leaves us anticipating a profound message or universal truth that never comes. Tappan Wilder notes the few themes that seem to garner substance: “the depiction of selfless service, or even love that seeks no reward,” and “expansion of the intellect and spirit.”11 However, these broad strokes do not meet the expectations most critics bring to Wilder’s work.

 

Perhaps these themes would have hit home were it not for the infallibility of the novel’s protagonist. Gilbert Harrison points out that while Wilder’s other traveling meddler, George Brush from Heaven’s My Destination, possessed “a touching innocence” and won our sympathies precisely because he did not “know it all,” Theophilus often appears “a smug manipulator.”12 His overconfidence and perfect execution make him more a caricature than character. Yet, the novel is not without opportunity to demonstrate a flaw. In fact, his zealous approach in any episode could have easily been undermined by the presence of an immovable force. This almost happens when Theophilus picks up an unhappy military wife named Alice, and plans a rendezvous. After Alice expresses reluctance, he convinces her with a comforting line about the infidelity: “you think that Jesus would send you to hell for a little sin that would make [your husband] happy.”13 The obvious way he manipulates her conscience is unforgivable.

 

The novel has also been admonished for its sentimentality. Wilder described the sentimentalist thus: “[he is] one whose desire that things be happy exceeds his desire and suppressed knowledge that things be truthful; he demands that he be lied to [but also] knows that it is a lie.”14 Perhaps Wilder himself, after many years diagramming the fatalistic nature of the human soul, invested in the lie, the result being a faultless character who reinvigorates and shakes up so easily the traditional mindsets and habits of an esoteric society. Maybe it was all just a fantasy, written by a man committed to the sentimental, for as Theophilus explains, “It’s so boring to tell the truth to people who’d rather hear the other thing.”15 After a lifetime of telling the truth, perhaps Wilder decided to try his hand at “the other thing.”

 

Footnotes

 

1Qtd. in Buckley, Christopher. Foreword. xv.

2Wilder, Thornton. Theophilus North. 6.

3Wilder, Thornton. Theophilus North. 370.

4Qtd. in Buckley, Christopher. Foreword. xiv.

5Wagner, Geoffery.

6Qtd. in Buckley, Christopher. Foreword.

7Konkle, Lincoln. 229.

8Qtd. in Buckley, Christopher. Foreword.

9Wilder, Thornton. Theophilus North. 342.

10Wilder, Thornton. Theophilus North. 332.

11Wilder, Tappan. Afterward.

12Harrison, Gilbert A. The Enthusiast: A Life of Thornton Wilder. New Haven: Ticknor & Fields, 1983. 369.

13Wilder, Thornton. Theophilus North. 271.

14Qtd. in Gilbert, Harrison. The Enthusiast. 369.

15Wilder, Thornton. Theophilus North. 178.

 

Bibliography

 

Buckley, Christopher. Foreword. Theophilus North. By Thornton Wilder. New York: HarperCollins, 2003.

 

Wilder, Tappan. Afterword. Theophilus North. By Thornton Wilder. New York: HarperCollins, 2003.

 

Goldstone, Richard H. Thornton Wilder: An Intimate Portrait. New York: Saturday Review Press/E. P. Dutton, 1975.

 

Konkle, Lincoln. Thornton Wilder and The Puritan Narrative Tradition. University of Missouri Press, 2006.

 

Wheatley, Christopher. Thornton Wilder and Amos Wilder: Writing Religion in Twentieth-Century America. University of Notre Dame Press, 2012.

 

Harrison, Gilbert A. The Enthusiast: A Life of Thornton Wilder. New Haven: Ticknor & Fields, 1983.

 Newport, Rhode Island,

The Charles Tyrwhitt Story

Charles Tyrwhitt Shirts Limited also known as CT Shirts) is a British multi-channel men's clothing retailer specialising in dress shirts, as well as ties, suits, casualwear, shoes and accessories. It was founded as a mail order company in 1986 by Nicholas Charles Tyrwhitt Wheeler, while he was a student at the University of Bristol. Wheeler has said that he started the business because he thought he "could make a shirt better than anybody else". Wheeler's wife, Chrissie Rucker, is the founder and owner of The White Company.

 

In 1997, the company opened its first store on Jermyn Street in London, notable for its history in British shirt making. Charles Tyrwhitt’s flagship store is now at 100 Jermyn Street.

 

In 1986, Charles Tyrwhitt was founded as a mail order company by Nicholas Charles Tyrwhitt Wheeler while studying at Bristol University. The company began operating from a small space on Fulham Road, London, before expanding the business with retail and e-commerce stores. Beginning as gentlemen's shirt makers, the offering has since expanded to include suits, shoes, knitwear, accessories and a collection of business casual wear.

 

Charles Tyrwhitt produces a regular series of brochures every year. They also have a large online store, with sites dedicated to the UK, Germany, France, The Netherlands, US, Canada and Australia that sell the full product range.

 

As of April 2019, Charles Tyrwhitt has 40 stores. Eleven are in London, 15 elsewhere in the UK, 13 in the US (four in New York (Manhattan), two in Washington D.C., two in Chicago, one each in Houston, Philadelphia, Massachusetts, Long Island and New Jersey) and one in Paris, France.

 

Charles Tyrwhitt uses an independent customer feedback service called Feefo. This allows customers to give feedback on the service they received from Charles Tyrwhitt. This is then published as a live, unedited feed on the Charles Tyrwhitt website. As of December 2019, Charles Tyrwhitt has a 4.7/5 positive customer service rate.

 

The customer service centre is currently based in London and Milton Keynes, England. Customers calling from the US and overseas will also be put through to a customer service representative in London or Milton Keynes.

 

Charles Tyrwhitt has received awards for their customer service in recent years. Most notably, Charles Tyrwhitt was awarded first place for customer service in the 2011 Sunday Times Profit Track 100 awards.

 

Charles Tyrwhitt earned awards at the Top 50 Companies For Customer Service Awards, including Best Web Chat, Best E-Retailer, second place for Calls and third for best overall customer service.Charles Tyrwhitt received the Queen's Award for Enterprise for International Trade in 2016.

 

David Cameron has shown his support for British Fashion at a reception to celebrate the start of the London Collections for Men, which he attended tieless, in a Richard James suit, Charles Tyrwhitt shirt and Oliver Sweeney shoes.

 

The president of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars North America, David Archibald, buys his suits from Charles Tyrwhitt.

 

Lord Sugar has tweeted his appreciation for Charles Tyrwhitt.

All Creatures Great and Small, 2020, Episode 1 Reviews. // VIDEO: Official Trailer

‘All Creatures Great and Small’ reviews

 

“The mixture of photogenic wildlife, ravishing Dales scenery and obstinate local eccentrics should delight devotees of escapist comfort food, such as The Durrells or Doc Martin…” ★★★★ – iNews

 

 “A charming antidote to all the doom and gloom.” ★★★★ – The Times

 

 “Rest assured, this six-part All Creatures Great and Small [succeeds in] piling on the charm without ever getting cloying, and tipping just enough winks to the original (the belated arrival of the famous theme is positively Proustian) to satisfy those who treasure the Christopher Timothy iteration … The casting is smart and veteran Downton Abbey director Brian Percival knows his way around spectacular scenery. The sense of warmth and community, now more than ever, feels nigh on irresistible.”  – The Telegraph

 

 “… a nostalgic haze hung over the memory, echoing the evocative mood of Call the Midwife … This series intends to milk every drop of melancholic pleasure from the lost and gentle past.” – The Daily Mail

 

 “Remaking such a classic comes with the risk of failure and disappointment. But from the opening moments of tonight’s episode, it looks as though Channel 5 are on to a winner … as before, it is the interplay between James, his wonderfully capricious boss Siegfried, and Siegfried’s errant younger brother Tristan that’s at the heart of the show … The other stars of the show, of course, are the animals – and the glorious, swooping landscape of the Yorkshire Dales.” – York Press

 

 “[This] revival of vintage vet show is full of Yorkshire promise … Comforting escapism for an age of pandemics and eco-panic.” ★★★★ – The Arts Desk

 

 “This well-crafted adaptation of the cherished James Herriot canon offers a welcome time-warp to 1930s Yorkshire.” The Guardian

 

 “Anyone expecting links to the iconic TV triumvirate of Robert Hardy, Peter Davison and Christopher Timothy might be disappointed. [Producer Burrell Burrell], having gone back to the original books, hopes for an open mind.” – The Yorkshire Post

 

 “James Herriot has returned to soothe us in these chaotic times.” ★★★★ – The Telegraph

Scottish independence: What will happen to the Queen? // VIDEO: Balmoral Castle 1 of 4

Scottish independence: What will happen to the Queen?

By Esther Webber

BBC News

11 September 2014

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29126569

 

Buckingham Palace has made it clear that the Queen does not wish to influence the Scottish referendum, saying it is "a matter for the people of Scotland". But would the Queen's role north of the border change if Scotland votes for independence?

 

The Royal Family's links with Scotland are well-known: Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire is one its most famous residences, bought for Queen Victoria by Prince Albert.

 

The Queen spends a week every year at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland.

 

Prince Charles went to boarding school in Scotland and is often seen sporting a kilt.

 

The Royal Family also has Scottish titles - Prince Charles carries the title Duke of Rothesay, while the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are referred to as the Earl and Countess of Strathearn.

 

Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond is keen to stress these associations, pointing out that the union of the crowns predates the union of the parliaments which he wishes to end.

 

His government has always maintained that the Queen would still be "Queen of Scots" if the country votes "Yes" on 18 September.

 

Earlier this week, he said the Queen "would be proud" to be the monarch of an independent Scotland.

 

The Royal Family's future in Scotland has been questioned by pro-independence campaigners such as chair of the Yes Scotland campaign Dennis Canavan, who has said he personally favours a referendum on who should be the head of state.

 

Buckingham Palace:

"The sovereign's constitutional impartiality is an established principle of our democracy and one which the Queen has demonstrated throughout her reign.

 

"As such the monarch is above politics and those in political office have a duty to ensure that this remains the case.

 

"Any suggestion that the Queen would wish to influence the outcome of the current referendum campaign is categorically wrong.

 

"Her Majesty is firmly of the view that this is a matter for the people of Scotland."

 

Monarch 'above politics' Palace says

 

Members of the Radical Independence movement - a coalition of activists on the left - would also like to enable Scotland to become a republic if it wants to do so.

 

Earlier this month, a YouGov poll suggested 54% of Scots favour keeping the monarchy if Scotland votes "Yes", compared with 39% who would like to see it scrapped. Among SNP voters this narrows to 46% compared with 39%, though the survey had a smaller sample size.

 

Although these figures indicate the monarchy still has more fans than it does detractors, in the UK as a whole support is higher, at 77%, and opposition is lower, at 17%, according to Ipsos MORI's latest survey.

 

Even if Mr Salmond gets his preference and the Queen remains head of state in an independent Scotland, her role would be likely to change, according to director of UCL's Constitution Unit, Professor Robert Hazell.

 

He says the Queen's duties would "depend on the role provided for head of state in Scotland's new written constitution".

 

The Scottish government has specified that under independence, the people of Scotland would be sovereign, whereas at present sovereignty rests with the Crown in Parliament.

 

There is also the question of funding. The White Paper says it would be "right for an independent Scotland to continue to contribute to the expenses of the monarchy through taxes" but precise arrangements would be decided in post-referendum negotiations.

 

Holyrood Palace would presumably be under particular scrutiny here, since unlike Balmoral, it is partly funded by the public purse and its conservation is carried out by a Scottish government executive agency, Historic Scotland.

 

Such a situation is not unprecedented. The Queen's responsibilities in Scotland are "likely to be very similar to her role she fills in the Commonwealth realms of which she is head of state such as Australia and New Zealand", says Prof Hazell.

 

In most Commonwealth countries, the Queen is regularly briefed through a governor-general who acts as her representative.

 

So would a governor-general be introduced in Scotland?

 

Constitutional historian Lord Hennessy told BBC Radio 4's The World at One the idea has not been floated because of Westminster's insistence on not making any contingency plans for Scottish independence.

 

"I'd be very surprised if in any cupboard there was 'what do we do about HM Queen in the event of a Yes vote'," he says.

Remembering : "Balmoral Castle 3 of 4" // Wallis Simpson test of acceptance by the Queen Mother at Balmoral in 1936.

'Balmoral is a test': How the Queen Mother's snub to Wallis Simpson at the Scottish estate proved she would NEVER be accepted by the royal family

 

New three-part documentary Inside Balmoral aired on Channel 5 last night

Reveals how visit to Scottish estate can make or break newcomers to royal family

King Edward VII invited Mrs Simpson to host dinner at Balmoral in 1936

Brother's wife was outraged and 'swept past', proving she'd failed Balmoral test

 

By SIOFRA BRENNAN FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 10:02 BST, 30 August 2017 | UPDATED: 10:08 BST, 30 August 2017

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4834158/How-Queen-Mother-s-snubbed-Wallis-Simpson-Balmoral.html

 

It's said to be the Queen's favourite home, the only place where she can truly relax and take stock amid the demands of public life.

 

But a new Channel 5 documentary has revealed the slightly darker heart of Balmoral, the vast 50,000 acre estate in the Scottish Highlands beloved of the royal family since the reign of Queen Victoria. 

 

Inside Balmoral reveals how Wallis Simpson, the divorcee for whom King Edward VIII abdicated, was snubbed by the Queen Mother who 'swished past' her when she hosted a dinner at the castle in 1936.

 

The then Duchess of York's refusal to acknowledge Mrs Simpson led to tension from which family relations 'almost never recovered', and proved that Wallis had failed the so-called 'Balmoral test'.

 

Sarah Gristwood, historian explained: 'That epitomises what Balmoral has come to mean in terms of the royal family.

 

'If you like, Balmoral is a kind of test and some newcomers pass and some newcomers fail.'

 

 

The documentary reveals how a visit to the royal's most private residence can determine your likelihood of being accepted into the family or not.

 

In 1936, Mrs Simpson was holidaying at Balmoral as a guest of King Edward who did 'the unthinkable' by giving her such a significant role at a family occasion.

 

'When the Duke and Duchess of York came over to Balmoral for dinner, they weren't at all pleased to find Mrs Simpson acting as hostess.

 

'The Duchess of York swished past Mrs Simpson and went to look for His Majesty. It was a complete slap in the face.

 

'Family relations really almost never recovered from that evening.

 

Hugo Vickers, author of Elizabeth, The Queen Mother added: 'Edward was besotted with Mrs Simpson.

 

'He was allowing her, encouraging her to act as hostess, he of course wanted her to have the highest position in the land.'

 

WHO WAS WALLIS SIMPSON?

Born in 1896 in Pennsylvania, she moved to London in 1931 after marrying her second husband, shipping executive Ernest Aldrich Simpson.

 

She met Lady Furness who was the mistress of the then Prince of Wales. Three year's later she became the Prince's mistress.

 

In 1936 Edward ascended the throne after the death of his father George V. He made clear his intentions to marry Wallis as soon as her second divorce came through.

 

It caused a national scandal and the Church of England decreed he couldn't marry a divorcee with two living former husbands.

 

Wallis went to live in exile in France to escape the pressure, and in December 1936 Edward abdicated so they could marry, assuming the lesser title of Duke of Windsor.

 

The King abdicated, signing off his brief reign with a broadcast that referred to ‘the woman I love’.

 

Edward become governor of The Bahamas between 1940 and 1945, and the couple lived out the rest of their days enjoying the life of high society figures.

 

When the Duke died in 1972, Wallis became something of a recluse and was rarely seen in public before her death in 1986, at the age of 89. 

 

 

Three months later Edward abdicated, paving the way for his brother to become King George VI.

 

The King was to later host a young Prince Philip as a guest at Balmoral who did his best to impress him, by employing his sense of humour. 

 

'It was the first time Prince Philip wore a kilt at Balmoral. To disguise his awkwardness, he performed a sort of mock curtsy to the King,' royal biographer Philip Eade explained.

 

Edward gave up the throne in 1936, allowing him to marry Mrs Simpson at the Chateau de Conde, near Tours, France   +5

Edward gave up the throne in 1936, allowing him to marry Mrs Simpson at the Chateau de Conde, near Tours, France

 

Balmoral is said to be the Queen's favourite residence and the one place where she can truly escape from the spotlight               +5

Balmoral is said to be the Queen's favourite residence and the one place where she can truly escape from the spotlight

 

'But it didn't go down the way he'd hoped, the King appeared to be slightly unamused.'

 

However, Philip did pass his Balmoral test when the then Princess Elizabeth accepted his proposal, going against her parents hopes for her to marry a Grenadier Guard. 

 

'It's really the only time the present Queen did something dramatically out of step,' Eade explained.