One of the most famous among the oldest civilizations is the Mayan tribe. Until now, scientists in questions of the existence of the Maya civilization have left for themselves a lot of unknown. The researchers managed to determine that the Mayan civilization appeared in the 1st millennium BC. Their legacy lies in unusual writing and beautiful architectural structures, in advanced mathematics and astronomy, in art objects and in the famous incredibly accurate calendar.
Despite the huge amount of unknown facts, the most secret for historians was the question of what led to the fall of the highly developed Mayan civilization. At the same time, the first prerequisites for such a decay, according to scientists, appeared around the 9th century AD. Not only the decline of the Mayan civilization, but also many other mysterious moments from the life of this tribe to this day haunt scientists. The last place where such tribes were recorded was the north of Guatemala. Only archaeological excavations tell about the history and culture of the Maya.
Bemorepanda presents you this interesting facts about Mayan tribe.
1. Many people mistakenly assume that the Mayan tribe is extinct and the entire civilization is in the past, but this is not so. Maya to this day live in North America. Their number has decreased and today amounts to about 6 million.
2. The Maya never predicted the end of the world. This people had not 1, but 3 calendars. Each of them was not a harbinger of the apocalypse. The point was that the cycle of the longest Mayan calendar could reset to zero approximately every 2,880,000 days. One of these updates was planned for 2012.
3. The huge Mayan tribe lived in the vast territory of present-day Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize, in the west of Honduras and El Salvador. The development center of such a civilization was in the North.
4. Apart from the Babylonian systems, the Maya were the first to use the number "0". Indian mathematicians later began to use zero as a mathematical value in calculations.
5. Some linguists managed to prove that the word "shark" came to us from the language of the Mayan tribe.
6. The pre-Colombian Maya wanted to "improve" the physical characteristics of their own children. For this, mothers tied the boards to the child's forehead so that over time the forehead became flat.
7. Aristocrats from the Mayan tribes were hunchbacked, and their teeth were inlaid with jade.
8. In the ancient Maya tribes, all children were named according to the day they were born.
9. Some members of the Maya tribe to this day practice bloody sacrifices. Fortunately, chickens are now being sacrificed, not people.
10. All major cities of the Mayan civilization had stadiums. Their type of "football" involved decapitation. In this case, the team of losers was the victim. The severed heads, as historians suggest, were used as balls. The modern version of this game is called "ulama", but decapitation is no longer used.
11. Like the Aztecs, the Maya never used steel or iron in their construction. Their main weapon was obsidian or volcanic rocks.
12. They could create incredible constructions with geometric precision. Smooth corners and walls coupled with perfect computation is something that is difficult to achieve now. But in the Mayan civilization there were many such structures.
13. The main dish of the Maya in the diet was corn, and therefore it is not surprising that, according to Mayan mythology, the creator god Hunab created mankind precisely from the cob of corn.
14. The Maya played football, but their game was to use a rubber ball. It had to be hammered into a round hoop.
15. Baths and saunas played a large role in the Mayan civilization. This tribe believed that with the release of sweat, they got rid of not only dirt, but also from perfect sins.
16. Archaeologists have been able to find evidence that the Mayan tribes used human hair to sew up a wound. Representatives of this civilization treated unsurpassed not only bone fractures, but were also considered skilled dentists.
17. In the Maya tribe, prisoners, slaves, and other people who were to be sacrificed were painted blue and sometimes tortured. After that, they were brought to the top of one of the pyramids, where they were shot from a bow or their still beating heart was cut out from their chest. Sometimes the priests' assistants then removed the skin of the victim, which the high priest put on. Then a ritual dance was performed.
18. The Maya tribes had one of the most advanced writing systems among all the ancient civilizations. They wrote on everything that came to hand, especially on structures.
19. It was also possible to prove that the Maya used means of pain relief. So for various religious rituals, hallucinogenic drugs were used. They used them in everyday life quite widely. Such a hallucinogen was made from a specific mushroom, peyote, bindweed, and also from tobacco.
20. The Mayan pyramids were included in the list of 7 wonders of the world. Until now, many structures are hidden under a thick layer of earth, and their excavation has become difficult due to the impassability of the rainforest. Those constructions that have already been restored impress with their own extraordinary layering.
20 facts that aren't taught in schools that will be a breath of fresh air for your brain
A person always strives for new knowledge, even if he does not even always realize it. Someone is studying scientific information, and someone is following the heroes of the next reality show. Nobody says that this must necessarily be useful knowledge, because the most important thing is that it is interesting. This is the kind of knowledge Reddit users are trying to give in the Today I Learned thread, sharing a variety of facts. Bemorepanda collected for you 20 of the most interesting and informative facts, and all of them are waiting for you further.
Dogs of Mercy are service dogs trained to comfort mortally wounded soldiers lying in no man's land during World War I.
In 1656, Judith Catchpole, a young maid from the colony of Maryland, was tried for witchcraft and the murder of her newborn child.
In those early days, a judge decided to call a jury composed of women only, who ruled that Judith did not kill her child, and that in fact there was no indication that Judith was pregnant at all.
The youngest hero of the French Resistance during World War II was a little boy
The boy acted as a courier for the Resistance fighters, he sneaked past enemy patrols and transmitted messages. In 1950 he was posthumously awarded the rank of sergeant. The boy's name was Marcel Pinte, he died for France at the age of 6.
Saudi Arabia accidentally printed thousands of textbooks depicting Yoda sitting next to King Faisal when he signed the UN charter in 1945
In the 1830s, the Swedish navy planted 300,000 oak trees to be used for shipbuilding in the future.
When they received the news in 1975 that the trees were fully grown, they hardly ever used them, since modern warships are made of metal.
In 1856, a woman named Mary Ann Brown Patten took over command of a merchant ship after the captain, who was also her husband, fell ill.
After the captain fell ill, the first mate began to sabotage the navigation of the ship in order to take the place of the captain. Mary Ann not only repulsed the attempted rebellion, but also safely returned the ship to port.
French soldier AndrƩ Parmentier, who served as a military doctor in the French army, was captured by the Prussians in the 1760s during the Seven Years War. During several years of captivity, he was forced to eat only potatoes, which were then fed only to pigs in France.
Feeling that potatoes saved him, he made it his life's goal to convince the world of the nutritional value of potatoes. AndrƩ Parmentier became famous primarily as an active promoter of potato cultivation as a vegetable crop, and even his grave is decorated with potatoes.
In 1952, London was covered with the so-called Great Smog, which was so strong that pedestrians could not even see their feet
During the 5 days of the Great Smog, about 4,000 people died, but the most interesting thing is that some of them died not because of lung problems - they fell into the Thames and drowned because they did not see the river.
The famous painting "The Scream" by Edvard Munch was painted on cardboard
If you rub a sea sponge through a sieve into salt water, then it turns into a sponge again
It is the only plant known to do this.
30 years ago, you had 15-17 minutes to evacuate in a fire. Currently you only have 3-5 minutes
This is due to the fact that many things in homes are made of plastics and petroleum-based products. Large rooms and high ceilings also play a role.
There are still those in the USA who live inside the "iron lungs"
Iron Lungs - were applied to polio victims whose lung muscles were paralyzed. The air is pumped in, then pumped out. This causes the patient's chest to expand and contract, forcing air into and out of the lungs.
During the Danish colonization of Greenland, missionary Hans Egede discovered that the local Inuit had no idea what bread was.
Therefore, he changed the words in the prayer "Our Father" from "give us our daily bread this day" to "give us our daily seal this day."
In 2007, a man in a wheelchair was hit by a huge 18-wheel truck
The handles of the stroller were caught in the radiator grille and the truck pushed the man for several kilometers at a speed of almost 100 km per hour. Surprisingly, the man was able to avoid injury.
One of Tchaikovsky's overtures, written in 1812, included cannon firing and cathedral bells, whose sounds should have been synchronized with the sounds of the orchestra
It so happened that in those days it was impossible to synchronize them. It was only in 1954 that composer Antal Dorati mixed the orchestra's studio recording with cannons and bells and the overture finally sounded the way it was intended.
Reagan and Gorbachev agree to suspend the Cold War in the event of an alien invasion
The worst nuclear accident in British history could have ended much worse if not for Sir John Douglas Cockcroft
Cockcroft insisted on installing filters in the mines of the Windscale nuclear power plant. Thanks to the filters, when the accident occurred, the amount of radioactive dust released was reduced by 95%.
If you give a zebrafish fish alcohol and place it in an aquarium with sober zebrafish, the sober fish will accept it as their leader and follow the drunk fish around the aquarium.
A Harvard study found that not having friends is as deadly as smoking
Scientists have found a link between loneliness and blood protein levels that can cause heart attacks and strokes.
In 2012, a survey in East Germany showed that there is not a single person under the age of 28 in this area who believes in God.
Despite the fact that foxes do not live with humans, they do not need special introduction. Thanks to folklore, children already at an early age get acquainted with a small animal, which compensates for weakness with cunning, but does not miss its own, if it is possible to offend a weaker one. Of course, it is worth separating the image of the fox, formed in our imagination under the influence of children's fairy tales and cartoons, from the real lifestyle of the fox.
As one of the most famous researchers, Charles Roberts, wrote, it is always difficult for a person describing the habits of highly organized animals to resist endowing them with some human traits. The notorious fox's cunning in real life appears only when the animal leaves the chase. At this time, the fox very skillfully winds around, confusing tracks, and can disguise itself in an instant, disappearing from sight.
On the hunt, foxes are quite straightforward. They operate according to the scheme ādetection of prey - lightning attack - end of the huntā. On average, foxes range in size from half a meter to a meter in length. The tail, which is approximately two-thirds of the body length, is counted separately. The maximum weight of foxes is 10 - 11 kg, while it is subject to significant seasonal fluctuations. Foxes are by no means exclusively forest dwellers. Rather, even, they can be conditionally attributed to the inhabitants of the forest-steppe and woodlands - it is in these natural zones that fox food lives and grows.
Geographically, foxes are found almost everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere, with the exception of extreme climates. In the Southern Hemisphere, foxes live only in Australia, where humans have successfully introduced them. However, the success of fox breeding in Australia is relative - they were turned on, desperate to cope with rabbits, but foxes, finding themselves on the smallest continent, preferred to hunt smaller fauna. The rabbits, to the desperation of the farmers, successfully continued to breed. Bemorepanda presents you some interesting facts.
1. Despite their small size, foxes are rarely hunted by larger animals. Of course, a wolf, bear, lynx or wolverine will not refuse the opportunity to catch a gaping fox. However, such a chance appears very rarely - foxes are attentive and fast. Purposefully, they practically do not hunt adult foxes. Young animals are in great danger. Even birds of prey hunt on it, not without success.
Taking into account the human factor - and the hunters, if possible, knock out foxes by the thousands - the average life span of a fox does not exceed three years. At the same time, foxes do not die at all because of the exhaustion of the body's resources - in captivity, cases were recorded when foxes lived for 20 - 25 years.
2. Foxes are practically not afraid of humans, so they are well studied and take root in captivity, allowing people to breed new subspecies. People living in rural areas naturally do not like foxes - red-haired beauties often destroy birds and small livestock. However, zoologists argue that the damage from foxes is often exaggerated.
3. English "Fox Hunting" fun did not come about because the villagers lacked entertainment. England is so densely populated that the last wolf was killed at the beginning of the 16th century. The disappearance of wolves has led to an unprecedented breeding of foxes, who have lost their last natural enemy. The consequences for the farmers were clear. Angry peasants began to organize massive fox hunts. They managed to kill some animals, but the noise raised by the crowd of āhuntersā was more important.
The first mention of such a hunt dates back to 1534. The technology turned out to be more than successful - by 1600, specially bred dogs were required to hunt foxes. At the same time, economic processes were going on in England, which led to the deprivation of the peasants of free non-agricultural land, and fox hunting became the property of the nobility. It turned into a whole ritual with lush ladies' toilets, old-fashioned hunter's costumes, etc. At the beginning of the 21st century, after a short debate, the British Parliament banned fox hunting with the help of a pack of more than 3 dogs. One vote in the House of Commons was enough to abolish the age-old tradition.
4. There is a hunt for foxes without the death of these animals. This is still the unofficial name for sports radio direction-finding competitions. The role of foxes is performed by constantly working transmitters hidden in rough terrain. Athletes are armed with receivers. Their task is to find all transmitters in the shortest possible time (usually there are 5 of them). Fox hunting competitions were very popular during the Cold War.
The essence of the competition is very close to counterintelligence work to identify and eliminate intelligence channels of communication. Therefore, state structures, primarily the military and counterintelligence, supported the athletes in every possible way. The end of the Cold War and the rapid development of information technology devalued "fox hunting", and now only enthusiasts are engaged in this sport.
5. The caution and quickness of foxes forced hunters to invent several methods of hunting these animals. The fox is lured with a bait. The carcass of an animal or a large piece of meat is left in a well-shot place, and the hunters hide nearby. The fox is lured with decoys, and in recent years, two-module electronic decoys have gained popularity.
In them, the control path is in the hands of the hunter, and the luring sounds are emitted by an external loudspeaker. This design allows you to take the fox to a place convenient for shooting. Large companies of hunters practice hunting with a salary, with flags. Hunting dogs are used, both hounds and greyhounds, chasing foxes in the field (greyhounds also strangle fugitives themselves) and burrowing dogs, driving the fox out of the hole.
6. Despite the fact that fox hunting is popular wherever these animals are found, even the most successful hungry hunter will not be able to feast on fox meat in Russia. The fox is a very active predator, so there is practically no fat in the fox meat. This makes it extremely tough, fox meat is much tougher than the meat of other predators.
The refreshed carcass emits a very unpleasant odor, which is weakened, but does not completely disappear even after 12 hours of soaking in vinegar and salt. Finally, the rodents that make up the fox's diet are packed with parasites. Foxes have developed a very powerful immunity that humans do not have. Therefore, the meat must be subjected to long heat treatment. When boiling, the unpleasant odor reappears, so the only way to cook fox is stewing with a lot of seasonings and spices. The Scandinavians, striking everyone with their surstroemming - pickled herring - distinguished themselves here too. In Sweden and Denmark, foxes are raised for meat on special farms and even some of the products are exported. At retail, fox meat costs about 15 euros per kilogram.
7. Around the middle of the 20th century, foxes began to be bred and domesticated as pets. On a scientific basis, Dmitry Belyaev's group in Novosibirsk worked on this. A careful selection of the most intelligent and affectionate individuals gave results only after many years. D. Belyaev became an academician, a nice monument was erected to him and one of his pupils in the Novosibirsk town - the scientist and the fox sit on a bench, stretching out their hands to each other. But even many years of efforts did not lead to the development of a new breed. Scientists who continue to work on improving the behavioral qualities of foxes refer to their pets as āpopulationā only. That is, it is just a large group of individuals living in a limited area.
8. Unscrupulous ābreedersā of foxes have long managed to instill in cheating buyers the idea that a fox is the same dog, only a cat. In a sense, the animal is very loyal to the owner and, at the same time, cleanly and independently. And if the animal does not behave the way the owner wants, then this is the owner's problem. Only with the development of mass communications did the hapless fox breeders manage to share with the world the delights of keeping a fox as a pet. The character of the fox does not depend on the place of purchase, whether it is a special nursery, a reseller, or even the side of the road on which a potential pet was hit by a car.
Regardless of whether you got a rather extravagant pet for free, or you paid 10 or 80 thousand rubles for it, it will have extremely unpleasant behavioral features. He will shit anywhere; gnaw and dig wherever possible; make noise at night and stink around the clock. It is the smell that is the most serious negative property of the fox. It can be somehow accustomed to the tray (the contents of which will have to be changed at least twice a day), but the fox will never get rid of the habit of secreting the secret of the paranoid glands, which is unpleasant and painful in the eyes, with any strong emotion from love to fear. Therefore, keeping a fox pet is best in a spacious enclosure in a private house, but not in an apartment. But in any case, you need to take care of rubber gloves and strong detergents in commercial quantities.
9. Foxes adapt to almost any environment. There is little animal food - foxes easily switch to vegetable food, without suffering from this at all. It gets colder - we grow, to the delight of hunters, a thick undercoat. It gets warmer - the undercoat falls out, and the fox looks like a sick puppy. Even the color of foxes' fur depends solely on the environmental conditions.
If there are many predators in the habitat, foxes dig deep holes with branched passages and a dozen, or even more, exits. Such holes in area can reach 70 square meters. m. There are relatively few predators - and the hole will be short and shallow, and two or three emergency exits will be enough. In cold regions, the main entrance of the burrow faces south, in warm and hot regions - to the north, and in deserts and steppes - to where the winds blow less often.
10. "Fox hole" for some reason is called a type of residential buildings, similar to a hole, except for the location of the entrance on the slope. Modern "fox holes", projects of which are proposed by many construction companies, may not go deep into the ground at all - they are just structures, the walls of which are heaped with earth. Human "fox holes" have both advantages and disadvantages, but they have nothing to do with foxes, except for the name.
11. The tightening of hunting rules and environmental legislation everywhere leads to the fact that foxes are gradually approaching human habitation. It is much easier to find food near people than in the wild, than foxes enjoy and enjoy. On the territory of the countries of the former USSR, by and large, only residents of villages and small settlements located near forests suffer from them. It is impossible to fight thieves who destroy small animals. The law expressly prohibits shooting within populated areas only at rabid animals. To do this, you need to confirm the disease, which cannot be done without killing the fox - a vicious circle.
In Europe, foxes are firmly established in the largest cities. According to estimates of epidemiologists, about 10,000 foxes live in London. 86% of the townspeople have a positive attitude to the red-haired robbers who fight with dogs and cats, gut garbage bags, and shit wherever they have to. Humans, it turns out, feel guilty about animals that have been bullied for hundreds of years. In Birmingham, foxes became such a disaster that a special team had to be created to capture them.
The team did a great job, catching a hundred animals. They were taken to the nearest forest and released - it is inhumane to kill. The foxes returned back to the city (and it's good if they didn't bring friends and girlfriends with them) and continued their dirty deeds. The careless attitude of the townspeople towards foxes is surprising - foxes endure the most terrible infections, including rabies.
12. The sea fox is a stingray of a sizeable size (up to 1.2 meters in length). It lives off the coast of Europe, including the Black and Azov Seas, and along the entire Atlantic coast of Africa. Fox sharks can also be found in the water column. These are three species of predators, ranging in size from 3 to 6 meters. In theory, fox sharks are considered shy and not dangerous to humans. Flying foxes also belong to foxes solely by name. These are the largest fruit bats in the world, until recently they were combined with bats. The body of a flying fox reaches a length of 40 cm, and a wingspan of one and a half meters.
13. The English word āfoxā - āfoxā has nothing to do with the familiar phrase āFox is the 20th century film companyā. āFoxā in this case is the surname of an enterprising Hungarian whose name was either Wilhelm Fuchs, or even Vilmos Fried. Having arrived in the USA, the Hungarian changed his name for the sake of euphony and founded a film company. In 1930, the company was taken away from him during a hostile takeover. Fox - Fuchs - Freed fought but lost. From him the film company remained, as the song says, only the name.
14. "Desert Fox" - German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, who in 1940-1943 successfully commanded German troops in North Africa. However, Rommel did not use any special cunning in the command. Like all successful German military leaders of World War II, he knew how to concentrate forces on a narrow sector of the front and break through enemy defenses. When there was nothing to concentrate, "Desert Fox" abandoned troops in Africa and went to Hitler to ask for reinforcements.
15. āFox's tail and a wolf's mouthā - this is how some jokingly and some shaking with fear called the policy of General Mikhail Loris-Melikov in Russia at the end of the 19th century. Under Emperor Alexander II, Loris-Melikov, who became famous in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, was simultaneously the Minister of Internal Affairs and the head of the gendarme corps. The authority of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at that time included practically all domestic politics, from the basic sectors of the economy to the care of the weak and orphans.
In this post, Loris-Melikov had a "fox's tail" - he advocated the weakening of laws, the growth of public initiative, etc. Having moved to the office of the chief of the gendarmes, the general used the "wolf's mouth", not letting the revolutionaries go (in his understanding) ... The fox tail involuntarily outplayed the wolf's mouth - on March 1, 1881, Emperor Alexander II was killed, and one of the captured terrorists said that their leader had been arrested before the assassination attempt, but Loris-Melikov's charges did not receive any evidence from him about the impending assassination attempt.
16. Foxes are firmly included in the mythology of dozens of peoples, and their influence on a person can be exactly the opposite, regardless of the place of residence of the peoples. Koreans, Chinese, and Japanese compete in the degree of fear experienced by foxes. The transformation of an animal into a seductive woman with the subsequent torture of the victim through pleasures is not yet the most terrible outcome that lies in wait for a Far Eastern man. Kitsune (in Japanese "fox") spread the life of those to whom they came in the form of a beauty, to smithereens - they ruin merchants or drive rulers into disgrace. It is difficult to imagine what they did in medieval Japan with the men to whom Kitsune appeared in the form of a handsome young guy.
At the same time, in India, the North American Indians and a number of European peoples, the fox symbolizes prosperity, good luck or wealth. Christians already at an early stage identified the fox as Satan's accomplices - beautiful, wagging its tail, and even wool the color of hellfire. Nevertheless, some peoples, including the Slavic, have retained a negative but complacent attitude towards the fox. āWe know, the fox, about your miraclesā, āAnd the fox is cunning, and they sell its skinā, āThe fox takes care of, the cat curls up to itā - these proverbs clearly indicate that people have long imagined the nature of the red predator.
17. Employee of the Voronezh Zoo Tatiana Sapelnikova told a very interesting case. Zoo workers had to determine the concentration of small animals such as mice in one of the forest areas. During a routine procedure, zoo workers set traps for mice. However, the work of scientists was greatly hampered by the foxes living in the district. For several years, zoologists set up identical traps, and the number of mice caught in them determined the size of the population.
However, over time, the tracks showed that someone was reducing the number of mice trapped in the trap by carefully removing them and eating them nearby. Zoologists realized that the fox is no longer guided by mice, but by the smell of people setting traps. After a short game of "catch me" they managed to lure the fox - the zoologists originally nicknamed him Ginger - into a kind of aviary. The fox was absolutely not worried about bondage. When the scientists managed to carry out the necessary experiment with mice, Ryzhik was released. He did not run far, and even two chanterelles appeared nearby. They themselves did not figure out how to find the mice and take them out of the traps, but they unmistakably appreciated the extraordinary abilities of the future groom.
Many would like to be part of the British royal family. The attention of the whole world, many servants, jewelry, palaces and other joys of aristocrats - isn't it a fairy tale? However, everyone forgets that being in the public eye of millions of people and constantly maintaining a brand can be incredibly difficult. The life of royals is subject to regulations and is filled with sometimes really strange requirements that they must certainly fulfill.
The British royal family is called one of the main attractions of Great Britain. The British are proud of their monarchy. They celebrate the Queen's Birthday along with other holidays. They follow with interest the relationship in the royal family. But not all Englishmen know about the origin of the dynasty, about the real names of its members and about other interesting facts.
The name of the ruling dynasty in Great Britain is Windsor. But until 1917 it was called Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, which indicates its connection with the German rulers. During World War I, King George V decided to change the name of the dynasty in order to give up the German titles. He chose the surname Windsor after Windsor Castle, one of the royal residences. This surname became official to all members of the royal family. And after the wedding of the then Princess Elizabeth to Philip Mountbatten, the surname began to sound Mountbatten-Windsor.
Interestingly, none of the members of the royal family is required to use the surname. And when they go to school, serve or work, they can take a different surname. For example, Princes William and Harry were known in the army as Wales. And the two grandchildren of Queen Elizabeth from Princess Anne have their father's surname - Phillips.
Bemorepanda collected some more interesting facts about the royal family.
1. Princess Diana was supposed to play the main role in the 2nd part of "The Bodyguard" with Kevin Costner. A kissing scene was planned, but the film itself never came out due to the tragic death of Lady Dee in 1997 in a car accident in Paris. In the story, a romantic relationship between the protagonists begins when a bodyguard is tasked with protecting the princess from the paparazzi.
2. On their travels, Elizabeth II and her son Charles are accompanied by a doctor of the British Royal Navy, who must have a supply of their blood with him. This measure is necessary for an emergency transfusion in case of an emergency.
3. Shellfish, crabs, lobsters, shrimps, and garlic are banned in Buckingham Palace, as sea creatures are allergenic and garlic has an unpleasant odor. However, this rule is now adhered to only by the queen.
4. Six ravens (and one spare) must always dwell in the Tower of London. According to one of the versions, this rule is observed, since the prediction of the royal court astrologer-monk Charles II (1630-1685) says: "If the crows leave the Tower, the kingdom will fall." After the famous fire of 1666, almost all the birds were exterminated, but thanks to the prophecy of the ravens, they were left in the care of the crown. They are considered part of the royal family, they have servants and a special raven keeper who is chosen from 38 members of the Tower's ceremonial Yeomen guard ("beefeaters"). In addition, the birds are officially enlisted in the ranks of the royal army.
5. Long before becoming part of the royal family, Kate Middleton lived with her family in Amman, Jordan. The father of the future Duchess, Michael Middleton, worked as a manager for British Airways and ended up in the Middle East on duty. Then Kate was 2 years old, but she already went to kindergarten and, in addition to English, studied Arabic. The Middletons have lived in Jordan for almost 3 years.
6. During the opening of the new session of Parliament, the Queen must take a hostage - one of the Members of Parliament, who will be guarded by the staff of Buckingham Palace throughout the ceremony. This tradition appeared due to the fact that earlier monarchs and parliament, to put it mildly, did not get along. Now everything is peaceful, but no one is going to change anything.
7. Queen Elizabeth II, then 21-year-old Princess Elizabeth, married Prince Philip on 20 November 1947 in a coupon-purchased wedding dress. She deliberately did not take advantage of her opportunities, since in the post-war period the whole country was slowly getting out of the ruins.
8. The crown of Elizabeth II is nothing more than the diadem of King George IV, created in 1820 at the request of the king himself. It is set with 1,333 diamonds for a total of 320 carats (64 g), including a 4-carat yellow diamond. There are 2 strands of pearls along the base. Initially, the upper thread had 86 pearls and the lower one - 94, but in 1902 the number of pearls was changed to 81 and 88.
9. To avoid embarrassment in windy weather, all the hem of the skirts of Queen Elizabeth II are weighed down by small loads
10. Initially, princes William and Harry were supposed to be called Arthur and Albert, as their father Charles wanted, but Lady Diana insisted on William and Harry, although Arthur and Albert are the middle names of the princes.
11. Queen Elizabeth II is a godmother for 30 crowned godchildren and this is not the limit.
12. Kate Middleton is a relative of George Washington.
13. At Christmas in the royal family, it is customary to give funny gifts. For example, Meghan Markle gave the Queen a toy singing hamster. But besides the fun, the royal couple - Elizabeth II and Prince Philip - must remember their duty. They send about 750 Christmas cards to heads of state, top politicians, Commonwealth leaders and family members.
14. Before and after Christmas dinner, all members of the royal family must weigh themselves. This long tradition was introduced by King Edward VII around 1900. He was very worried that someone would go away hungry after a sumptuous reception.
15. The Queen has the right to dissolve the current parliament both in Britain and in Australia and Canada.
16. Princess Diana gave her son, Prince William, an incredible 13th birthday surprise. Since the boy was in love with supermodel Cindy Crawford, she invited her to a festive tea party.
17. The most unusual titles that Elizabeth II bears are Duke of Lancanster and Duke of Normandy.
18. Pearl necklace of three strands almost always adorns the queen's neck - this is a visiting card of her style. When Elizabeth was 10 years old, she received such a necklace as a gift from her grandfather George V, and it became her favorite piece of jewelry.
A little later, Queen Mary, Elizabeth's grandmother, gave her pearl earrings. To this day, they, complete with a necklace, form part of the image of a modern monarch.
19. Since ancient times, monarchs from different countries have adopted a throne name during their time in power, which is different from that which was given to them at birth. In Britain, this tradition was also maintained. So, Queen Victoria was Princess Alexandrina before her coronation, and King George was named Albert. Elizabeth II chose not to change her name, because this is only permissible, but not mandatory for the monarch.
20. Elizabeth is often called the queen of England, but this is not true. First, she is the monarch of the entire United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and England is just a part of it.
21. Misconceptions about princesses are no less common. Lady Dee after her wedding with Prince Charles began to be called the princess. However, she was not a princess by birth, so by all the rules her title should have sounded like "Her Royal Highness Princess Charles of Wales", as strange as it may sound.
22. As for the chosen one of their eldest son William, Kate Middleton is also not a princess. She married the Duke of Cambridgeshire, and therefore her official title is Duchess of Cambridge.
23. According to official sources, different family members have their own privileges in addressing the Queen. So, the husband of Elizabeth II calls her Lilibet. The future queen called herself this name when she was very little and could not pronounce āElizabethā.
24. Elizabeth II is very economical and serves as an excellent example in this for her subjects. So, it is known that she always turns off the light when leaving the room, and requires this from all the inhabitants of the palace. The queen wears the same dresses for a long time.
25. Representatives of Buckingham Palace report that all of the Queen's overseas travel is in accordance with the recommendations of the British government. Therefore, most often Elizabeth visits those countries in which she needs to be present based on current state affairs.
During her 65 years on the throne, the Queen has made over 120 official visits. Most often, the queen visited Canada (27 times) and Australia (18 times).
26. Some people who were born shortly before or immediately after the New Year celebrate their birthday twice, but in general, usually a person has one birthday. But the Queen has two of them - on April 21, she was born for real, and in May or June, official celebrations are usually organized on her birthday.
27. Queen Elizabeth II currently rules Britain for the longest time in history: her term of reign is now 64 years. Queen Victoria, who ruled before her, remained on the throne for 63 years and 216 days. Nowadays, it is difficult for a person not to lose his job even for a year, let alone more than 60 years!
28. Only in 2013, Great Britain moved away from the concept of male succession, thus proclaiming that any member of the royal family, regardless of gender, can inherit the throne. You may ask: how then did Elizabeth II ascend to the throne? Elementary: her father had no sons.
29. What is the Queen's surname? I think many would like to know. But in fact, this is not so important: being on the throne, a person can take almost any surname for himself. Elizabeth II's father changed his surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor; later Windsor became Mountbatten-Windsor.
30. If you have ever seen Buckingham Palace up close, at least in a movie, you know that it is huge. It is located on an area of āā77,000 square meters, it has 775 rooms and about 800 employees who keep it and the life of the royal family normal. There are cooks, maids, butlers, security guards and even watchmakers!
