TOPIC:

Whilst snow was falling on the slopes of Mount Wellington in Hobart, members of the ABWAC discussed a wide range of topics relating to the Boer War. All conducted under the watchful gaze of Queen Victoria. We had no trouble in getting the lovely receptionist at this fine establishment to record the moment for us. Gents for your viewing pleasure, Ian & I paying due respect to a youthful looking portrait of Queen Victoria in Hobart, May 2015.

Good heavens Stephen,
What a super find, would be most interested to see a close photograph of the painting if you took any, Victoria was fascinating and I would think very beautiful indeed as a princess, of course, had Princess Charlotte not died in child birth, there would never have been a Queen Victoria.
You ended up with a royal baby race as a result, with this absolute panic amongst the Prince Regents brothers to acquire both a legitimate wife and then a child, who would be heir to the throne of Great Britain.
The Duke of Kent was considered to be the best of them and whilst he had a mistress, he had already seen Princess Victoria of Saxe Coburg and fallen in love, so he made her an offer and she went for it, I feel a little bit sorry for her because of what she was letting herself in for!
The Duke of Kent was broke as far as money went so they initially set up home in Germany, but, as soon as Victoria was pregnant, there was the obvious need to show the establishment here in Great Britain that the child was legitimate by witnessing the actual birth.
They raced back to London and on the 24th of May 1819, Victoria gave birth to a daughter at Kensington Palace, she was described as a "pretty little princess, as plump as a partridge" but, when the Prince Regent found out his brother had produced an heir, he was not happy!
The christening was not without it's issues, the Prince Regent argued about the name of the new princess and would not allow any of the traditional family regal sounding names, it has been suggested that the Archbishop of Canterbury stood by the font with the princess waiting to be told what to call her, finally the Prince Regent said "give her the mothers name" and so the child became the first little girl in England to be named Victoria!
Moreover, that was merely just the start of all the other problems that were to blight little Princess Victoria, she really did have to fight very hard indeed to achieve her destiny and become Queen and Empress.
Great photograph Stephen, hope all is well down there,
Kind regards Frank

Is this a secret organisation; I have lived on the island for over 20 years now, and have collected medals for over 40 years, and this is the first I have heard about the meeting.
Is it who you know rather than what you know before you can get an invite.
There is not a lot happening on the island with regard to this sort of thing, so I am rather annoyed at having missed this opportunity.

James.

James
There have been a few references to the little chapter on this site over the last couple of years; including an invitation for anyone interested to contact either Stephen or myself. Hardly a secret.
IL.

Great to see the ABWAC is still going strong! We will have to follow suit with an ABWUKC!

David
It would be interesting to put some faces to names/initials! IL already has formed mental pictures of several contributors based on their posts. Do they match reality?
Best regards
IL.