Week Twenty-one: A Pregnant Princess Offers a Peek into Her World, Gardening Expert Leigh Bramwell Shows You How to Involve the Kids in the Garden, PLUS, Today in History!

There's finally some more good news for the royal family... but will the Princess's newborn break tradition in the same way her's did?

Oct 13, 2020

Royal Watch! A Pregnant Princess Offers A Peek into Her World

Two-and-a-half weeks ago Princess Eugenie delighted the royal family with some lovely news - she and her husband Jack Brooksbank are expecting their first child, due in early 2021. And this week, the princess revealed a little more for royal enthusiasts - taking to her Instagram account to celebrate her second wedding anniversary with a video montage of poignant photographs from the last two years with her husband.

Amongst the photographs were never-before-seen peeks into her wedding, as well as happy holiday snaps of the couple. Eugenie captioned the short video: "Been the best 2 years married to you and 10 years with you in total... happy memories always my dear Jack".

One of the more dramatic shots from her wedding, showed off the low scoop of her dress at the back, which Eugenie chose to highlight her scoliosis scar.

The dress was designed by Peter Pilotto and Christopher De Vos and Princess Eugenie - who is patron of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital - explained in an interview with the Telegraph that she knew early on that she wanted to highlight her scar, not hide it.

"After one or two initial meetings where I said I wanted to show my back and scar, we had a fitting and in their first attempt at the shape and design of the dress, they got me and the vision in one."

She added: "From there, we realised that the back of the dress was the centre point and a veil would take away from the scar and the beautiful design they had created."

Princess Eugenie’s wedding, which was held at St George's Chapel in Windsor on 12 October 2018, was a very traditional affair. Royal watchers are now counting down to the birth of her first baby to see what royal traditions she will follow - or perhaps buck!

Princess Eugenie’s holiday snaps included a photo of the pair in Antarctica

Eugenie’s birth in 1990 broke with royal tradition, when she was the first royal baby to have a public christening.

The ceremony took place at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham during a regular Sunday church service and was also broadcast by loud speaker across the estate. She was also the only one of the Queen’s grandchildren not to be baptised in the traditional Lily Font.

In the years since, all royals have continued to be baptised in private ceremonies.

And in other royal news, Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, is now in quarantine after coming in close contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19. As we have highlighted, Sophie has been busy with many events over the past few weeks, but luckily she had not been out in public since the incident. Sophie is also a regular guest at the home of the Queen, where she is often invited for afternoon tea, but thankfully, she had not visited her Majesty since.

In The Garden: Leigh Bramwell’s Best Tips For New Projects

Leigh Bramwell is a gardening expert - she’s spent “forever” as a journalist (at ODT, NZ Herald, her own glossy garden design mag Alfresco and as the Gardening Editor at New Zealand Woman’s Weekly), in public relations, TV, book author… she’s done it all! Who better to get some advice from!?

Q: How do you get kids to put down their devices for half an hour and do something outside?

A: Drink more. It was a gorgeous evening last night, so The Partner and I sat on the deck of the summerhouse and drank two piccolos of bubbly each. Then just to feel a bit naughty, we threw the bottles over the garden wall, and onto the lawn. When I picked them up this morning, feeling rather juvenile, I remembered a cool idea for a kid’s garden feature.

Try a bottle tree. Save up your bottles (smaller bottles are good for kids so drink piccolos) and hang them in a tree. Twist wire around the bottle neck and attach it to the branch, or of you don't have a suitable tree, stick pieces of fibreglass rod or slender bamboo branches in the ground and upend the bottles on those.

Try to overcome any tendency to be anal and allow your children to mix and match many colours as they like, rather than going for a stylish palette. Bottle trees are folk symbols of Southern slaves. The most traditional were created from dead crepe myrtle trees with blue bottles stuck on the cut ends of the branches. Hmmm – we have a crepe myrtle…..

Hear more from Leigh by clicking here

Quiz: This Week In History…

On October 16 1936 Jean Batten arrived in Auckland after one truly epic solo flight. She took off from Kent, England and landed/refuelled at numerous locations across Europe, the Middle East and Asia, sleeping very little. She arrived in Darwin 24 hours before the previous record holder, Jimmy Broadbent. She flew to New Zealand several days later. What was her record-breaking time, flying between Kent and Darwin: 5 days 21 hours, 7 days 22 hours or 9 days 23 hours?
Actress Deborra-Lee Furness was 41 when she married her now-husband who was 27 at the time. Today he celebrates his 52nd birthday and is now an A-List celebrity. What is his name?
Which milestone birthday is Cliff Richard celebrating on October 14 – 75, 80, 85 or 90?
Who did actor Jeff Goldblum divorce on October 14 1990 after two years of marriage – Jurassic Park’s Laura Dern, Sex and the City’sKristin Davis or Thelma and Louise’s Geena Davis?
Who Am I? On October 16 I will turn 95 years old. I was born in London and my acting career has now spanned seven decades. I’ve won five Tony Awards, and was nominated three times for a Best Actress Oscar (the first was in 1945 for Gaslight), but in 2014 I won an Honorary Award. I am best known for a television role – my character’s first name was Jessica and I won four Golden Globe Best Actress awards between 1985 and 1992 for the role.
After 13 years of marriage, Demi Moore and Bruce Willis divorced on October 18 of what year – 1994, 2000 or 2006?
It was one of New Zealand’s biggest scandals – and certainly one of our largest ever drug rings. On October 14 Marty Johnstone was murdered in England on the orders of drug lord Terry Clark which led to the demise of the drug ring here in NZ. How was Marty Johnstone better known in NZ?
Henry John Deutschedorf Jr passed away on October 12 1957 in a plane crash. How was the famous American country singer – who released more than 300 songs – better known as?
Actress and model Kelly Preston died after a private cancer battle in July this year – October 13 this week would have been her 58th birthday. She appeared in many movies, including Jerry Maguire, Twins and Mischief, but she was also well known for her long marriage to a high profile celebrity. Who was her husband?
On October 14 1926, Winnie the Pooh was released – who was the book’s author?
Be sure to look out for our next newsletter for the answers!

Coming to your inbox this week: Nici’s New Favourite Recipe: Mexican Pumpkin Tostadas!

Make sure you keep an eye out for our next newsletter this week, where Nici shows you how to whip up Mexican Pumpkin Tostadas! They’re delicious, so colourful - and as Nici recently discovered, they’re real crowd pleasers!

Until then, we hope you have a wonderful week - make sure you leave us a comment, or hit reply on this email with your thoughts and suggestions.

A Quiet Cuppa