Multiple Engagements On the Horizon for Kate’s Calendar, UPDATED with Queen’s Milestone Day

We are back with a very quick post about what appears to be Kate’s return to a busy schedule of activities, with information about many of the engagements Kate will be undertaking in the next two months. First, a very brief update noting that Kate and William have arrived at Balmoral, as expected.

We already knew about Kate’s commitment Thursday the 17th at the Anna Freud Centre, a children’s mental health charity. The next day the Duchess will also have an appearance, this one with Harry and William at the opening ceremony for the Rugby World Cup. This will be at Twickenham Stadium in southwest London, the largest dedicated rugby ground in the world. Prince Harry is Honorary President of England Rugby 2015, the host organization staging the events; as many readers know, William is president of the Football Association. In addition to the formal ceremonies September 18th, England takes on Fiji in the opening match. Some quick facts about the upcoming event.

• The World Cup is held every four years, the winner takes home the William Webb Ellis Cup
• Australia, New Zealand and South Africa have both won the Cup twice, England has won it once
• Matches will be played at 13 venues in England and Cardiff, Wales
• There are 20 teams in the tournament competing over 6 weeks
• There is a charitable component to all of this, the Tackle Hunger initiative, a partnership between World Rugby and the UN’s World Food program.

It’s difficult to describe what an enormous event this is, but ticket sales are illustrative: when the first batch went on sale last September there were more than 5 million requests to purchase seats. All of this to say that it is a good event for Kate, and of course, William and Harry. The Duchess is expected at more than just the opening ceremony on the 17th; more from Gordon Rayner’s story in The Telegraph:

The six-week Rugby World Cup kicks off in 10 days and it is understood that she will attend several matches and events.

Possible appearances could come at any number of matches; Ireland, Wales and Australia all play at Millennium Stadium in Wales, while there are also matches at Twickenham that make sense. As far as Kate’s wardrobe for September 18th, I would expect something a step above the skinny jeans and Breton stripe tops we see at many sporting events. With England hosting the Cup I anticipate that Harry and William will have some kind of role at the ceremony; for this and other reasons I would look for a dress on the Duchess.

UPDATED Sept. 11 The British Monarchy has confirmed the engagement:

The Duke of Cambridge will attend a number of matches with The Duchess of Cambridge in his capacity as Vice-Patron of the Welsh Rugby Union.

That casts a better light on what matches William and Kate might attend. Following are some of the matches Wales is playing in:

• Sept 20: Wales vs Uruguay, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
• Sept 26: England vs. Wales, Twickenham
• Oct 1: Wales vs Fiji, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
• Oct. 10: Australia vs. Wales, Twickenham

As noted above, the competition is a Very. Big. Deal.  There have been events all over the world in advance of the competitive kickoff in ten days, with more and more taking place in London. We can look for other appearances in addition to the Rugby matches. From Rebecca English’s story in The Daily Mail:

The Duchess and her husband will also undertake several joint engagements together, including visits to Dundee and North Wales in late October and late November respectively.

Simon Perry’s story for People magazine says the October visit is to Fife, where the University of Saint Andrews is located. It’s possible the event late in October will be at the University, perhaps related to the ongoing 600th Anniversary fundraising effort. Many will remember the kickoff for Anniversary events that Kate and William helped launch back in February of 2011.

And the couple attended a major a fundraiser for the 600th Anniversary appeal when visiting New York last December.

Of course, I could be way off base and it may well turn out to be something completely unrelated to the University.

Other  engagements this fall are expected to emphasize mental health issues faced by children and teens. There is an October appearance at BAFTA, we return to The Daily Mail story for more details.

Looking ahead, say aides, both Harry, Kate and William will also attend an event for children celebrating the British creative industries, organised by their Charities Forum and hosted by Wallace and Gromit animators, Aardman, at BAFTA in London in October.

Wallace and Gromit have grown hugely over the years and have been featured in everything from comics to video games. Aardman Animation Studios has created many other claymation characters, it also produces films, music videos and other products.  The company has two major charitable initiatives, one of which is Wallace and Gromit’s Children’s Charity supporting children’s hospices and hospitals, obviously a great tie to Kate’s interests.  The firm’s other charity is called The Grand Appeal, supporting Bristol’s Children’s Hospital; it has a focus on other interests close to Kate’s heart:

Arts, music and play programmes form a vital part of a child’s recovery and rehabilitation, and arts workshops, dedicated music therapy sessions and school activities all provide opportunities for distraction and wellbeing for hospital patients.

It is good to know Kate is returning to public engagements, although we don’t yet know how busy her schedule will be in the upcoming months beyond these functions. We will update the activities on our Kate’s Calendar page as we receive confirmations from the Palace and learn more about the specific functions.

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Our other note involves tomorrow’s historic significance, when Her Majesty becomes the longest-reigning monarch in British history. Below you see HM with Prince Philip and others at the Braemar Games in Scotland over the weekend.

The Queen was just 25 years old when her title changed from Princess Elizabeth to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. Below we see her square dancing at Canada’s Rideau Hall in 1951.

The BBC surmises the Queen will have reigned for 23,226 days, 16 hours and approximately 30 minutes when she surpasses the record of her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria. Per usual for September, the Queen is in Scotland on her annual holiday; she will undertake an official engagement but has no plans for any event to mark the day. HM will enjoy a family dinner with Kate, William and others.

The occasion will be marked in many ways in London, including a special 5pm service at St. Paul’s Cathedral.

On Wednesday 9 September, a service of Choral Evensong will feature music and prayers to mark the special day on which her reign goes past that of her great great grandmother, Queen Victoria.

A story from Wales Online shares a smattering of the other observances in London:

On the day the milestone is reached normal business will be postponed in the House of Commons for half an hour from 11.30am to allow MPs to pay tribute to the head of state.

Tower Bridge will lift as a mark of respect and, as the procession passes HMS Belfast, a four-gun salute will sound out and the Massey Shaw fireboat will shoot jets of water into the air.

The capital will enjoy celebrations marking the milestone with the BT Tower scrolling the message “Long May She Reign” throughout Wednesday.

From a BBC profile piece:

She is already the oldest monarch in British history. That milestone was passed on 20 December 2007 when she overtook the record set by her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria, whose reign ended with her death in 1901 at the age of 81 years and 243 days.

And throughout it all, the highs and the lows, the Queen has been that “constant” figure, seeing off the detractors and defying the critics.

Decade after decade she has followed the same largely unchanging routine, as reassuringly predictable as the seasons, standing apart a little from her age and embodying the timeless virtues of stoicism and duty.

There are also some commercial endeavors tied to the occasion, ranging from the wonderful to weird. Who would have thought about Corn Flakes at this milestone. (Ahem.) More on the cereal from Maclean’s magazine:

Heck, even Kellogg’s got into the royal commemorative business. Since the Queen reportedly liked their cereal, it issued a limited edition Queen Flakes, filled with macadamia nuts as well as edible pearls and gold crowns.

Below, the front pages of several of Wednesday’s newspapers showcase a new photo of HM released for the occasion.

It is an extraordinary accomplishment.

UPDATE: We wanted to share a photo from the Queen’s historic day, and add links below to some of the more interesting sites & stories showcasing HM’s amazing reign. Below, the Queen in Scotland today at an engagement officially opening the last leg of the Scottish Borders Railway.

More on the Queen’s brooch from a story by Tom Sykes, aka The Royalist:

The Queen today wore a bow brooch commissioned by Queen Victoria from the royal jeweller Garrard, and made with 506 diamonds, in silent tribute to her forebear.

Her Majesty briefly noted the day’s significance in her remarks at the train station; we have a portion of those comments as shared in The Telegraph’s story chronicling today’s events:

“Many, including you First Minister, have also kindly noted another significance attaching to today, although it is not one to which I have ever aspired.

“Inevitably, a long life can pass by many milestones. My own is no exception. But I thank you all and the many others at home and overseas for your touching messages of great kindness.

Fashion-related coverage of the topic abounds. Grazia Daily has a nifty look at the Queen’s 63 Years Flying the Fashion Flag.

As noted above, the Cambridges arrived at Balmoral yesterday. More from Simon Perry’s story for People magazine:

When Queen Elizabeth arrived at Balmoral Castle on Wednesday afternoon after her outing to open a new rail line on her record-breaking day, she kicked back with two future kings.

But this is a particularly poignant moment as two of her immediate three heirs – William, 33, and 2-year-old George – are alongside her as the 89-year-old monarch becomes the longest-reigning monarch in British history.

Her Majesty has long nurtured a special relationship with her Armed Forces. Below, a factoid shared on the Facebook page for Her Majesty’s Armed Forces.

British Pathé has shared a brief video from 1945, ” Princess Elizabeth is now a competent mechanic.”

LINKAGE:

• The Rugby World Cup website is here, its Facebook page is here and Twitter feed here
• The BBC has some great rarely seen photos of the Queen you can see here,as well as some interesting factoids here
• Also from the BBC, “The Queen and I: 63 Memories for 63 Years as Monarch“
• The Monarchy’s pages about Her Majesty begin here and the Monarchy’s Facebook page has shared a wealth of information and images about her reign, that page is here
• The Mirror has a fascinating look at the Queen’s reign by the numbers you can see by clicking here
• Canada’s Maclean’s magazine has loads of pages and information here
• Maclean’s Patricia Treble has a nifty look at he Queen’s classic uniforms here, and another piece showcasing the Queen’s many brooches that can be read here
• The Daily Mail’s story featuring a photo of the Queen in every year of her reign is here, the Sun‘s royal photographer Arthur Edwards has penned a personal tribute commemorating the day
• The Duchess Diary has a post here featuring quotes from several noteworthy royal biographers
• The Queen’s reign by the numbers from Visit Britain can be seen here
• The Royal Yacht Britannia shares a blog post with 10 interesting fact and a dozen photos, several of which I’d not previously seen
• The Press Association has posted photos showing the Queen and others as they mark the day
• The Court Jeweler blog has a series looking at the ‘Bejeweled Reign of Queen Elizabeth,’ the most recent is here
• This link takes you to a marvelous graphic showing the Queen’s reign through her hats, with one for every year
• You can hear the Queen’s remarks at today’s engagement in this BBC story
• Romance novel review site Heroes and Heartbreakers has a special piece titled “All Hail the Queen: British Royalty in Fiction and Romance“