Journals, St George’s Chapel and the Order of the Garter

 

Dear Family and Friends,

I’ve never been a journal writer- I’ve always wanted to be and admired those that do write, but for the most part I just look back and wish I had written down the events and feelings I’ve had over the years. One exception, during the years that Ken was the Stake President of the South Bend Indiana Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints, I did keep a journal. It mostly  detailed the General Authorities who stayed with us and the adventures we had with hosting them while trying to keep 5 small children under control.

Before we came on this mission I determined that I would record our mission experiences. Ken still has the missionary journal he kept as a young missionary in Scotland in 1962-64. With the encouragement and advise of other senior missionaries, I decided to write a blog as a journal and also as a way of communicating with our family and friends.

When our 2 sons and one of our daughters served their missions, I faithfully kept the letters we received from them during their service. I was recently reminded of this when our daughter Megan had an article published in the Deseret News.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865553235/Reader-Voices-Not-your-parents-missionary-mail.html

 

Visitors From Home

Two weeks ago we again made the journey out to Heathrow to pick up visitors from home. Our daughter Megan and son-in-law Steve came to visit. They spent a couple of days in London and went on to Paris and then back to spend more time with us in London.

Since their visit coincided with the Easter weekend and being closed at The National Archives, we were able to spend several days with them playing tourist.

   

Go Chelsea!

It was hard to say goodbye but it’s exciting to know that we will be with them and all of our family on June 22.

 

St George’s Chapel and the Order of the Garter

We had visited Windsor Castle last year but didn’t have time to see St George’s Chapel. When we went out to Windsor Castle on a tour with Megan and Steve, we bypassed the State Rooms so we would have time to see the chapel. Not only is this the burying place of many of the royals but it is also a ‘royal peculiar”. That means that it isn’t under the jurisdiction of a bishop but directly under the jurisdiction of Queen Elizabeth.

No matter where you go in  England, Henry VIII seems to be lurking around every corner.

Henry VIII is one of the monarchs buried in St George’s Chapel. He lies next to his favorite wife Jane Seymour. Henry’s six wives can be remembered as “divorced (Catherine of Argon), beheaded (Anne Boleyn), died (Jane Seymour), divorced (Anne of Cleves), beheaded ( Catherine Howard), survived (Katherine Parr)”. Buried with them is Charles I who was beheaded by Parliamentary forces led by Oliver Cromwell. We heard that his head was reattached before he was buried.

One of the web sites I use a lot in my family history research is Find A Grave. Here’s a link that shows royalty buried in St George’s Chapel:

http://www.findagrave.com/php/famous.php?page=cem&FScemeteryid=638798

 

As we were traveling out to Windsor, our tour guide explained that St George’s Chapel is also the chapel of the Order of the Garter. This is the highest level of knighthood and was founded in 1348. It is limited to 24 members in addition to the monarch, Queen Elizabeth and the Prince of Wales, Charles. Our guide told a story about one legendary origin of the order. It seems that while the Countess of Salisbury was dancing at a royal ball her garter came off her leg. While others laughed, the king picked it up and said, "Honi soit qui mal y pense," which means "Shamed be the person who thinks evil of it." This has become the motto of the order.

Banners hang in the stall of each of the current Knights of the Garter in the quire of the chapel.

 

Of course we are very excited about finishing our mission and heading home to our family, but we will really miss the friends we have made in London, our work at the London Family History Centre and the marvelous experiences we have had in this beautiful country. We were reminded that our time here is getting short when we received an invitation to our farewell dinner.

We will finish our work at The National Archives June 1 and then spend some time traveling before we head for home on June 22.

Happy Birthday to our oldest grandson, Josh, who will turn 15 on April 30. Josh, you are awesome example to your siblings and all of your cousins. We are so proud of you!

 

 

 

Our best to all of you from London,

Love, Elder and Sister Fugal (aka Cheryl and Ken, Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa)