Brits Celebrate Queen's 85th Birthday

US president, first lady welcomed at Buckingham Palace

(NEWSER) - The Obamas were grandly received at Buckingham Palace today, greeted by a 41-gun salute as Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip welcomed them to London. Earlier in the day, the president and first lady had a chance to meet with Prince Charles and wife Camilla, as well as newlyweds Prince William and wife Kate—and the Obamas are even staying in the same suite Wills and Kate used on their wedding night. According to the AP , royal watchers say the queen took a liking to the Obamas after their 2009 visit, during which the first lady famously touched the royal back . Click for more pictures, and details on what all the ladies wore . More»

The Windsors are pretty wacky, says Christopher Hitchens

(NEWSER) - For those salivating over every bit of cake or gown drivel that oozes out of the royal wedding, Christopher Hitchens is here to rain on your parade. The "constitutional absurdity" (ie, monarchy) is getting ready to claim its latest victim, he writes in Slate, and Kate Middleton had best consider the spectacularly dysfunctional family she's marrying into:

• Queen Elizabeth: Praised for her "stoicism and a certain integrity," she really "refused to allow her younger sister Margaret to marry the man she loved and had chosen, and she let her authoritarian husband have charge of the education of her eldest son." Both to "gruesome" results.

Prince talks about Queen Elizabeth in new interview

(NEWSER) - When Prince William first started planning his wedding to Kate Middleton, he was handed the original guest list, with 777 names on it—"not one person I knew or Catherine knew," he reveals in an ITV1 documentary about Queen Elizabeth airing next month. He took the list to his grandmother and asked what to do. Her response: "Get rid of it. Start from your friends and then we’ll add those we need to in due course. It’s your day." More»

Elizabeth's clan hits church, attracts crowds

(NEWSER) - Britain's Prince Philip remained hospitalized today, recovering from coronary stenting , but the royal show must go on, and so it did: Queen Elizabeth and her entire brood attracted throngs of Brits as they attended Christmas services this morning at the queen's retreat in Sandringham. Kate, in her first Christmas as Duchess of Cambridge, likely boosted the number of watchers, notes People, and impressed in an eggplant-colored coat and hat. The royals were also joined by Mike Tindall, who married the queen's granddaughter, Zara Phillips, this year. More»

Public would skip Charles & Camilla to crown Wills & Kate

(NEWSER) - The British want the monarchy to skip a generation, passing over Charles to Prince William, Reuters reports. More than half of those polled preferred a King William to having his pop ascend the throne. Younger people were especially keen to see Wills crowned. A clear majority were in favor of keeping the monarchy. More»