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New Year Resolutions What are your worst faults? Do you want to change them? In Britain a lot of people make New Year Resolutions on the evening of December 31st. For example, "I'll get up early every morning next ~ or ''I'll clean my shoes every day.'' But there's a problem. Most people forget their New Year Resolutions on January 2nd.

Royal traditions THE TROOPING OF THE COLOUR

The Queen is the only person in Britain with two birthdays. Her real birthday is on April 21st, but she has an "official" birthday, too. That's on the second Saturday in June. And on the Queen's official birthday, there is a traditional ceremony called the Trooping of the Colour. It's a big parade with brass bands and hundreds of soldiers at Horse Guards' Parade in London. A "regiment" of the Queen's soldiers, the Guards, march in front of her. At the front of the parade is the regiment's flag or "colour".

The Guards are trooping the colour. Thousands of Londoners and visitors watch in Horse Guards' Parade. And millions of people at home watch it on television.

THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD

This happens every day at Buckingham Palace, the Queen's home in London. Soldiers stand in front of the palace. Each morning these soldiers (the "guard") change. One group leaves and another arrives. In summer and winter tourists stand outside the palace at 11.30 every morning and watch the Changing of the Guard.

MAUNDY MONEY

Maun4y Thursday is the day before Good Friday, at Easter. On that day the Queen gives Maundy money to a group of old people. This tradition is over 1,000 years old. At one time the king or queen washed the feet of poor, old pedple on Maundy Thursday. That stopped in 1754.

SWAN UPPING

Here's a very different royal tradition. On the River Thames there are hundreds of swans. A lot of these beautiful white birds belong, traditionally, to the king or queen. In July the young swans on the Thames are about two months old. Then the Queen's swan keeper goes, in a boat, from London Bridge to Henley. He looks at all the young swans and marks the royal ones. The name of this strange but interesting custom is Swan Upping.           

THE QUEEN'S TELEGRAM

This custom is not very old, but it's for very old people. On his or her one hundredth birthday, a British person gets a telegram from the Queen.

THE BIRTHDAY HONOURS LIST AND THE NEW

YEAR'S HONOURS LIST

Twice a year at Buckingham Palace, the Queen gives titles or

"honours", once in January and once in June. There are a lot of different honours. Here are a few:

C.B.E. - Companion of the British Empire

O.B.E. - Order of the British Empire

M.B.E. - Member of the British Empire

(These honours began in the nineteenth century. Then Britain

had an empire.)

Knighthood- a knight has "Sir" before his name. A new knight kneels in front of the Queen. She touches first his right shoulder, then his left shoulder with a sword. Then she says "Arise, Sir. . . [his first name]", and the knight stands.

Peerage - a pee~ is a lord. Peers sit in the House of Lords. That's one part of the Houses of Parliament. The other part is the House of Commons. Peers call the House of Commons "another place".

Dame/Baroness - these are two of the highest honours for a woman.

THE STATE OPENING OF PARLlAMENT

Parliament, not the Royal Family, controls modern Britain. But traditionally the Queen opens Parliament every autumn. She travels from Buckingham Palace to the Houses of Parliament in a gold carriage - the Irish State Coach. At the Houses of Parliament the Queen sits on a “throne” in the House of Lords. Then she reads the “Queen's Speech”. At State Opening of Parliament the Queen wears a crown. She wears other jewels from the Crown Jewels, too.

THE ORDER OF THE GARTER CEREMONY

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