title: British Antarctic Territory

text: The United Kingdom also claimed Victoria Land in 1841 and Enderby Land in 1930. However, all territory between 160°E and 45°E was transferred to Australia in 1933. In 1943, at the height of World War II, the UK undertook a military operation known as Operation Tabarin to provide reconnaissance and meteorological information in the South Atlantic Ocean. This "secret" wartime project became the civilian Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey and later the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). BAS is responsible for most of the United Kingdom's scientific research in Antarctica. In the 1950s, the Antarctic Treaty was negotiated to demilitarise the region and retain Antarctica – defined as all land and ice shelves south of 60°S latitude – for peaceful research purposes. The treaty was passed in 1961.


title: British Antarctic Territory

text: The Antarctic Treaty, signed by all relevant regional claimants, does not in itself either recognise or dispute any territorial claims, leaving this matter to individual signatories. Most of the world's countries do not recognise any national claims to Antarctica. Australia, France, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom, all of whom have territorial claims on the continent, mutually recognise each other's claims. Argentina and Chile dispute the British claim, and make their own counter-claims that overlap both Britain's and each other's (see Argentine Antarctica and Chilean Antarctic Territory).


title: British Antarctic Territory

text: The British Antarctic Territory includes the Antarctic Peninsula, the South Shetland Islands, South Orkney Islands and numerous other offshore islands, the Ronne Ice Shelf (Weddell Sea), parts of Coats Land. A triangle of central Antarctica converging on the South Pole was named Queen Elizabeth Land in December 2012, in honour of the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II.


title: British Antarctic Territory

text: Over 99 per cent of the territory's land surface is covered by a permanent ice sheet, up to about thick. The highest peak in BAT was thought to be Mount Jackson, on the Antarctic Peninsula, at . However, in 2017 Mount Hope was calculated to be taller at .


title: British Antarctic Territory

text: There are very few plants in the British Antarctic Territories; most of them are mosses and lichens, but there are also two flowering plants: the Antarctic hairgrass and Antarctic pearlwort.


title: British Antarctic Territory

text: Many bird species, including seven species of penguin breed in the British Antarctic Territories. The British Antarctic Territories are also home to six species of seals.


title: British Antarctic Territory

text: The British Antarctic Territory is administered by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). A Commissioner is appointed and is always the Director of the FCO's Overseas Territories Directorate.


title: British Antarctic Territory

text: The Territory has a full suite of laws and legal and postal administrations. Given the provisions of the Antarctic Treaty System, the Territory does not enforce its laws on foreign nations who maintain scientific bases within the Territory. It is self-financing, with income from the sale of postage stamps and income tax.


title: British Antarctic Territory

text: The Royal Navy deploys the ice patrol ship, HMS Protector, in South Atlantic and Antarctic waters for about seven months during the regional summer. The ship fulfills a variety of roles, including support for the British Antarctic Survey. The British Antarctic Survey also operates the RRS Sir David Attenborough in the region during the Antarctic summer, a ship owned by the Natural Environment Research Council.


title: British Antarctic Territory

text: The territory is fully a part of the British Overseas Territories for nationality purposes. It is possible to hold British Overseas Territories citizenship (BOTC) by virtue of a connection with the territory. Additionally, since the relevant provisions of the British Overseas Territories Act 2002 came into force on 21 May 2002, a BOTC connected with the territory would also hold British citizenship.


title: British Antarctic Territory

text: Although this territory's immigration laws would not allow for naturalisation, a person born in the territory before 1983 would hold BOTC (and British citizenship) on that basis. British citizenship and BOTC would also extend to the first generation born overseas. No people currently fall into this category. While Emilio Palma was born in the Antarctic territories claimed by the UK, he has not claimed British citizenship. Since his parents were both Argentine citizens and he was born at an Argentine base, he was automatically granted Argentine citizenship by the Argentine government. Changes to British nationality law from 1 January 1983 mean that children born in the territory can only gain BOTC and/or British citizenship if his/her father or mother holds BOTC and/or British citizenship or if his/her father or mother is "ordinarily resident" in the territory in compliance with the relevant immigration legislation. This effectively prevents any more children born in Argentine or Chilean bases within the area of the British claim being able to claim BOTC or British citizenship by virtue of being born within the territory.


title: British Antarctic Territory

text: The British Antarctic Survey has two permanently staffed facilities in the Territory: Halley Research Station and Rothera Research Station.


title: British Antarctic Territory

text: Signy Research Station was operated from 1947 until 1996 and now is only staffed in the summer. There are also two summer-only forward operating stations at Fossil Bluff and Sky Blu. Faraday was maintained until 1996, when it was sold to Ukraine and renamed Akademik Vernadsky Station.


title: British Antarctic Territory

text: Since 1996, the historic base at Port Lockroy on Goudier Island has been staffed by the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust during the Antarctic summer. Receiving about 10,000 visitors a year, it is one of the most visited sites on the continent. Visitors can tour the museum, buy souvenirs, post mail, and view the large gentoo penguin colony. Argentine presence in the territory dates to the foundation of the Orcadas Base, South Orkney Islands, in 1903. A number of other nations maintain bases in the territory, many in the South Shetland Islands.


title: British Antarctic Territory

text: Despite the lack of permanent inhabitants, the British Antarctic Territory issues its own postage stamps. While some are actually used by visiting tourists and resident scientists, the bulk are sold overseas to collectors. The first issue came in 1963, an engraved set with 15 values ranging from ½d to one pound, featuring a portrait of Queen Elizabeth overlooking various scenes of human activity in Antarctica. Several additional issues in the 1960s were followed by a decimalisation issue in 1971 produced by overprinting the 1963 stamps.


title: British Antarctic Territory

text: In 2008–2009, as part of the celebrations of the centenary of the 1908 British territorial claim, the British Antarctic Territory issued its first ever legal-tender coin.


title: British Antarctic Territory

text: On 18 December 2012, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office announced that the southern part of British Antarctic Territory has been named Queen Elizabeth Land in honour of Queen Elizabeth II in her Diamond Jubilee year. The area, the southern third of the territory, has an area of about – almost twice the size of the United Kingdom – and is roughly triangular in shape, with the South Pole at one apex and with the and lines of longitude forming the eastern and western boundaries. The northern boundary is formed by the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf on the west and by Coats Land on the east.


title: British Antarctic Territory

text: The name "Queen Elizabeth Land" will be used in future on all British maps, but due to the unique status of Antarctica, it will be up to other countries to recognise the name if they see fit. Argentina, which lays claim to part of the area, criticised the naming.


title: Jason Russell

text: Jason Russell (born October 12, 1978) is an American film and theater director, choreographer, and activist who co-founded Invisible Children, Inc. He is the director of "Kony 2012", a short documentary film that went viral in the beginning of March 2012. In the first two weeks it gained more than 83 million views on YouTube and became the subject of media scrutiny and criticism. Its subject is the Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony, his alleged war crimes, and the movement to bring him to the International Criminal Court.


title: Jason Russell

text: Russell is the younger son of Sheryl (née Hortman) and Paul Russell, co-founders of Christian Youth Theater, which Russell was part of as a child. Russell discussed acting in an interview when he was 13 years old: "That was my life. It was what everybody around me did. I didn't even think about it. I did my first show at 8, and I have done over 20 plays since. You can't do this if you don't like it. You have to commit yourself to it."


title: Jason Russell

text: Russell, with Bobby Bailey and Laren Poole, created the Invisible Children organization in 2006 after they "traveled to Uganda and witnessed children camping out in the city of Gulu to avoid being kidnapped into the militia in their villages." With camera equipment obtained from eBay, they went to Uganda as student filmmakers but had no plan for the focus of their intended documentary. According to Russell, the trip was inspired by the 1993 death of Dan Eldon, who had been beaten to death while trying to document the ongoing famine in Somalia.


title: Jason Russell

text: After Russell's group reached the Sudan their caravan was attacked by the Lord's Resistance Army, forcing a retreat to Northern Uganda. In Gulu, Russell and the others interviewed and videotaped children who had to commute to the city every night to elude raids by the LRA on their home villages in Acholiland. During filming, the three men contracted malaria, but omitted covering their illness so that the documentary would remain focused on the children. The footage they shot resulted in the original "Invisible Children" documentary draft, which was first screened in June 2004.


title: Jason Russell

text: Russell and others returned to Uganda for six months in 2005 to collect more interviews and documentation for the next "Invisible Children" documentary. In 2006, after the Washington D.C. screening of Russell and Poole's rough cut, the U.S. Congress approved discussion of the plight of the Acholi before the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. The 2006 "" also won Russell, Bailey, and Poole the Pioneering Spirit Award at the 2007 Heartland Film Festival.


title: Jason Russell

text: With his wife Danica Jones and Jon M. Chu, Russell co-wrote a musical, "Moxie", which the team sold to Steven Spielberg.


title: Jason Russell

text: On March 15, 2012, at the height of the "Kony 2012" video's viral popularity, San Diego police detained a naked Russell for psychiatric evaluation after he allegedly vandalized cars and made sexual gestures after removing his underwear, during a public breakdown that was filmed and released online. Russell was hospitalized for several weeks. A statement by his family said the diagnosis was a "brief reactive psychosis, an acute state brought on by extreme exhaustion, stress and dehydration" as a result of the popularity of the campaign. In October 2012, Russell appeared on the TV show "Oprah's Next Chapter" to discuss the incident, describing it as an "out of body experience" and stating "that wasn't me, [...] that's not who I am".


title: Mahakali

text: Similar to Kali, Mahakali is a fierce goddess associated with universal power, time, life, death, and both rebirth and liberation. She is the consort of Bhairava, the god of consciousness, the basis of reality and existence. Mahakali, in Sanskrit, is etymologically the feminised variant of Mahakala, or "Great Time" (which is interpreted also as "Death"), an epithet of the deities Narasimha and Shiva in Hinduism.


title: Mahakali

text: Mahakali's origin is contained in various Puranic and Tantric Hindu Scriptures (Shastras). In the texts of Shaktism, she is variously portrayed as the Adi-Shakti, the Primeval Force of the Universe, identical with the Ultimate Reality, or Brahman. She is also known as the (female) Prakriti or World as opposed to the (male) Purusha or Consciousness, or as one of three manifestations of Mahadevi (The Great Goddess) that represent the three Gunas or attributes in Samkhya philosophy. In this interpretation Mahakali represents Tamas or the force of inertia. A common understanding of the Devi Mahatmya ("Greatness of the Goddess") text, a later interpolation into the Markandeya Purana, considered a core text of Shaktism (the branch of Hinduism which considers Durga to be the highest aspect of Godhead), assigns a different form of the Goddess (Mahasaraswati, Mahalakshmi, and Mahakali) to each of the three episodes therein. Here, Mahakali is assigned to the first episode. She is described as an abstract energy, the "yoganidra" of Vishnu.


title: Mahakali

text: Her most common four armed iconographic image shows each hand carrying variously a crescent-shaped sword, a trishul (trident), a severed head of a demon and a bowl or skull-cup (kapala) catching the blood of the severed head. Her eyes are described as red with intoxication and in absolute rage, her hair is shown disheveled, small fangs sometimes protrude out of her mouth and her tongue is lolling. The blood of the demons she slays drips out of her lolling tongue, having consumed it. She is adorned with a garland consisting of the heads of demons she has slaughtered, variously enumerated at 108 (an auspicious number in Hinduism and the number of countable beads on a Japa Mala, similar to a rosary, for repetition of Mantras) or 50, which represents the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, Devanagari, and wears a skirt made of demon arms.


title: Mahakali

text: Her ten headed (dashamukhi) image is known as the 10 Mahavidyas Mahakali, and in this form she is said to represent the ten Mahavidyas or "Great Wisdom (Goddess)s". She is sometimes shown sitting on a flaming grave or a rotting corpse. Her complexion is described as that of the night sky, devoid of stars. She is depicted in this form as having ten heads, thirty flaming eyes, ten arms, and ten legs but otherwise usually conforms to the four armed icon in other respects. Each of her ten hands is carrying an implement which varies in different accounts, but each of these represent the power of one of the devas, and are often the identifying weapon or ritual item of a given Deva. The implication is that Mahakali subsumes and is responsible for the powers that these deities possess and this is in line with the interpretation that Mahakali is identical with Brahman. While not displaying ten heads, an ""ekamukhi"" or one headed image may be displayed with ten arms, signifying the same concept: the powers of the various Gods come only through her grace.


title: Mahakali

text: In either one of these images she is shown standing on the prone, inert body of Shiva. This is interpreted in various ways but the most common is that Mahakali represents Shakti, the power of pure creation in the universe, and Shiva represents pure Consciousness which is inert in and of itself. While this is an advanced concept in monistic Shaktism, it also agrees with the Nondual Trika philosophy of Kashmir, popularly known as Kashmir Shaivism and associated most famously with Abhinavagupta. There is a colloquial saying that "Shiva without Shakti is Shava" which means that without the power of action (Shakti) that is Mahakali (represented as the short "i" in Devanagari) Shiva (or consciousness itself) is inactive; Shava means corpse in Sanskrit and the play on words is that all Sanskrit consonants are assumed to be followed by a short letter "a" unless otherwise noted. The short letter "i" represents the female power or Shakti that activates Creation. This is often the explanation for why she is standing on Shiva, who is her husband in Shaktism, and also the Supreme Godhead in Shaivism. Another understanding is that the wild destructive Mahakali can only stop her fury in the presence of Shiva the God of Consciousness, so that the balance of life is not completely overrun over by wild nature.


title: Mahakali

text: In Kashmir Shaivism, the highest form of Kali is Kalasankarshini, who is "nirguna", formless and is often shown as a flame above the head of Guhyakali, the highest gross form of Kali. In Nepali Newar arts, both form and formless attributes of Kali are often envisioned in a single art form showing the hierarchy of goddesses in their tradition. In it, the Guhyakali image culminates in flame, with Kalasankarshini, the highest deity in the sequence, who consumes time within herself and is envisioned solely as a flame representing Para Brahman. She is like a divine actress in her own universal play who assumes the form and role of Sristi Kali, Rakta Kali, Yama Kali, Samhara Kali, Mrityu Kali, Rudra Kali, Mahakaala Kali, Paramaraka Kali, Kalagnirudra Kali, Martanda Kali, Sthitinasha Kali and Mahabhairavaghorachanda Kali who is none other than Kalasankarshini Kali.


title: Lucretius

text: Titus Lucretius Carus ( , ;  – ) was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is the philosophical poem "De rerum natura", a didactic work about the tenets and philosophy of Epicureanism, and which usually is translated into English as "On the Nature of Things"—and somewhat less often as "On the Nature of the Universe". Lucretius has been credited with originating the concept of the three-age system that was formalised in 1836 by C. J. Thomsen.


title: Lucretius

text: Very little is known about Lucretius's life; the only certainty is that he was either a friend or client of Gaius Memmius, to whom the poem was addressed and dedicated.


title: Lucretius

text: "De rerum natura" was a considerable influence on the Augustan poets, particularly Virgil (in his "Aeneid" and "Georgics", and to a lesser extent on the "Eclogues") and Horace. The work was almost lost during the Middle Ages, but was rediscovered in 1417 in a monastery in Germany by Poggio Bracciolini and it played an important role both in the development of atomism (Lucretius was an important influence on Pierre Gassendi) and the efforts of various figures of the Enlightenment era to construct a new Christian humanism. Lucretius's scientific poem "On the Nature of Things" has a remarkable description of Brownian motion of dust particles in verses 113–140 from Book II. He uses this as a proof of the existence of atoms.


title: Lucretius

text: Virtually nothing is known about the life of Lucretius, and there is insufficient basis for a confident assertion of the dates of Lucretius's birth or death in other sources. Another, yet briefer, note is found in the "Chronicon" of Donatus's pupil, Jerome. Writing four centuries after Lucretius's death, he enters under the 171st Olympiad: "Titus Lucretius the poet is born." If Jerome is accurate about Lucretius's age (43) when Lucretius died (discussed below), then it may be concluded he was born in 99 or 98 BC. Less specific estimates place the birth of Lucretius in the 90s BC and his death in the 50s BC, in agreement with the poem's many allusions to the tumultuous state of political affairs in Rome and its civil strife.


title: Lucretius

text: Lucretius probably was a member of the aristocratic "gens Lucretia", and his work shows an intimate knowledge of the luxurious lifestyle in Rome. Lucretius's love of the countryside invites speculation that he inhabited family-owned rural estates, as did many wealthy Roman families, and he certainly was expensively educated with a mastery of Latin, Greek, literature, and philosophy.


title: Lucretius

text: A brief biographical note is found in Aelius Donatus's "Life of Virgil", which seems to be derived from an earlier work by Suetonius. The note reads: "The first years of his life Virgil spent in Cremona until the assumption of his "toga virilis" on his 17th birthday (when the same two men held the consulate as when he was born), and it so happened that on the very same day Lucretius the poet passed away." However, although Lucretius certainly lived and died around the time that Virgil and Cicero flourished, the information in this particular testimony is internally inconsistent: if Virgil was born in 70 BC, his 17th birthday would be in 53. The two consuls of 70 BC, Pompey and Crassus, stood together as consuls again in 55, not 53. Another yet briefer note is found in the "Chronicon" of Donatus's pupil, Jerome. Writing four centuries after Lucretius's death, Jerome contends in the aforementioned "Chronicon" that Lucretius "was driven mad by a love potion, and when, during the intervals of his insanity, he had written a number of books, which were later emended by Cicero, he killed himself by his own hand in the 44th year of his life." The claim that he was driven mad by a love potion, although defended by such scholars as Reale and Catan, is often dismissed as the result of historical confusion, or anti-Epicurean bias. In some accounts the administration of the toxic aphrodisiac is attributed to his wife Lucilia. Regardless, Jerome's image of Lucretius as a lovesick, mad poet continued to have significant influence on modern scholarship until quite recently, although it now is accepted that such a report is inaccurate.


title: Lucretius

text: His poem "De rerum natura" (usually translated as "On the Nature of Things" or "On the Nature of the Universe") transmits the ideas of Epicureanism, which includes atomism and cosmology. Lucretius was the first writer known to introduce Roman readers to Epicurean philosophy. The poem, written in some 7,400 dactylic hexameters, is divided into six untitled books, and explores Epicurean physics through richly poetic language and metaphors. Lucretius presents the principles of atomism, the nature of the mind and soul, explanations of sensation and thought, the development of the world and its phenomena, and explains a variety of celestial and terrestrial phenomena. The universe described in the poem operates according to these physical principles, guided by "fortuna", "chance", and not the divine intervention of the traditional Roman deities and the religious explanations of the natural world.


title: Lucretius

text: Within this work, Lucretius makes reference to the cultural and technological development of humans in his use of available materials, tools, and weapons through prehistory to Lucretius's own time. He specifies the earliest weapons as hands, nails, and teeth. These were followed by stones, branches, and, once humans could kindle and control it, fire. He then refers to "tough iron" and copper in that order, but goes on to say that copper was the primary means of tilling the soil and the basis of weaponry until, "by slow degrees", the iron sword became predominant (it still was in his day) and "the bronze sickle fell into disrepute" as iron ploughs were introduced. He had earlier envisaged a pre-technological, pre-literary kind of human whose life was lived "in the fashion of wild beasts roaming at large". From this beginning, he theorised, there followed the development in turn of crude huts, use and kindling of fire, clothing, language, family, and city-states. He believed that smelting of metal, and perhaps too, the firing of pottery, was discovered by accident: for example, the result of a forest fire. He does specify, however, that the use of copper followed the use of stones and branches and preceded the use of iron.


title: Lucretius

text: Lucretius seems to equate copper with bronze, an alloy of copper and tin that has much greater resilience than copper; both copper and bronze were superseded by iron during his millennium (1000 BC to 1 BC). He may have considered bronze to be a stronger variety of copper and not necessarily a wholly individual material. Lucretius is believed to be the first to put forward a theory of the successive uses of first wood and stone, then copper and bronze, and finally iron. Although his theory lay dormant for many centuries, it was revived in the nineteenth century and he has been credited with originating the concept of the three-age system that was formalised from 1834 by C. J. Thomsen.


title: Lucretius

text: In a letter by Cicero to his brother Quintus in February 54 BC, Cicero said: "The poems of Lucretius are as you write: they exhibit many flashes of genius, and yet show great mastership." In the work of another author in late Republican Rome, Virgil writes in the second book of his "Georgics", apparently referring to Lucretius, "Happy is he who has discovered the causes of things and has cast beneath his feet all fears, unavoidable fate, and the din of the devouring Underworld."


title: Lucretius

text: An early thinker in what grew to become the study of evolution, Lucretius believed nature experiments endlessly across the aeons, and the organisms that adapt best to their environment have the best chance of surviving. Living organisms survived because of the commensurate relationship between their strength, speed, or intellect and the external dynamics of their environment. Prior to Charles Darwin's 1859 publication of "On the Origin of Species", the natural philosophy of Lucretius typified one of the foremost non-teleological and mechanistic accounts of the creation and evolution of life. In contrast to modern thought on the subject, he did not believe that new species evolved from previously existing ones and denied that modern animals, which dwell on land, derived from marine ancestors. Lucretius challenged the assumption that humans are necessarily superior to animals, noting that mammalian mothers in the wild recognize and nurture their offspring as do human mothers.


title: Lucretius

text: Despite his advocacy of empiricism and his many correct conjectures about atomism and the nature of the physical world, Lucretius concludes his first book stressing the absurdity of the (by then well-established) spherical Earth theory.


title: Lucretius

text: While Epicurus left open the possibility for free will by arguing for the uncertainty of the paths of atoms, Lucretius viewed the soul or mind as emerging from arrangements of distinct particles.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: Queen Elizabeth II owned a historic collection of jewels – some as monarch and others as a private individual. They are separate from the gems and jewels of the Royal Collection, and from the coronation and state regalia that make up the Crown Jewels.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: The origin of a distinct royal jewel collection is vague, though it is believed the jewels have their origin somewhere in the 16th century. Many of the pieces are from overseas and were brought to the United Kingdom as a result of civil war, coups and revolutions, or acquired as gifts to the monarch. Most of the jewellery dates from the 19th and 20th centuries.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: The Crown Jewels are worn only at coronations (St Edward's Crown being used to crown the monarch) and the annual State Opening of Parliament (the Imperial State Crown). At other formal occasions, such as banquets, Elizabeth II wore the jewellery in her collection. She owned more than 300 items of jewellery, including 98 brooches, 46 necklaces, 37 bracelets, 34 pairs of earrings, 20 tiaras, 15 rings, 14 watches and 5 pendants, the most notable of which are detailed in this article.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: Unlike the Crown Jewels—which mainly date from the accession of Charles II—the jewels are not official regalia or insignia. Much of the collection was designed for queens regnant and queens consort, though some kings have added to the collection. Most of the jewellery was purchased from other European heads of state and members of the aristocracy, or handed down by older generations of the Royal family, often as birthday and wedding presents. In recent years, Elizabeth had worn them in her capacity as Queen of Australia, Canada and New Zealand, and can be seen wearing jewels from her collection in official portraits made specially for these realms.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: In 1714, with the accession of George I, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Hanover both came to be ruled in personal union by the House of Hanover. Early Hanoverian monarchs were careful to keep the heirlooms of the two realms separate. George III gave half the British heirlooms to his bride, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, as a wedding present. In her will, Charlotte left the jewels to the 'House of Hanover'. The Kingdom of Hanover followed the Salic Law, whereby the line of succession went through male heirs.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: Thus, when Queen Victoria acceded to the throne of the United Kingdom, her uncle Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale became King of Hanover. King Ernest demanded a portion of the jewellery, not only as the monarch of Hanover but also as the son of Queen Charlotte. Victoria flatly declined to hand over any of the jewels, claiming they had been bought with British money. Ernest's son, George V of Hanover, continued to press the claim. Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, suggested that she make a financial settlement with the Hanoverian monarch to keep the jewels, but Parliament informed Queen Victoria they would neither purchase the jewels nor loan funds for the purpose.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: A parliamentary commission was set up to investigate the matter and in 1857 they found in favour of the House of Hanover. On 28 January 1858, 10 years after Ernest's death, the jewels were handed to the Hanoverian Ambassador, Count Erich von Kielmansegg. Victoria did manage to keep one of her favourite pieces of jewellery: a fine rope of pearls.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: Some pieces of jewellery made before the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 are regarded as heirlooms owned by the monarch in right of the Crown and pass from one monarch to the next in perpetuity. Objects made later, including official gifts, can also be added to that part of the Royal Collection at the sole discretion of a monarch. It is not possible to say how much the collection is worth because the jewels have a rich and unique history, and they are unlikely to be sold on the open market.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: In the early 20th century, five other lists of jewellery, which have also never been published, supplemented those left to the Crown by Queen Victoria:


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: The Delhi Durbar Tiara was made by Garrard & Co. for Queen Mary, the wife of King George V, to wear at the Delhi Durbar in 1911. As the Crown Jewels never leave the country, George V had the Imperial Crown of India made to wear at the Durbar, and Queen Mary wore the tiara. It was part of a set of jewellery made for Queen Mary to use at the event which included a necklace, stomacher, brooch and earrings. Made of gold and platinum, the tiara is 8 cm (3 in) tall and has the form of a tall circlet of lyres and S-scrolls linked by festoons of diamonds. It was originally set with 10 of the Cambridge emeralds, acquired by Queen Mary in 1910 and first owned by her grandmother, the Duchess of Cambridge. In 1912, the tiara was altered to take one or both of the Cullinan III and IV diamonds; the pear-shaped diamond was held at the top, and the cushion-shaped stone hung in the oval aperture underneath. Mary lent the tiara to Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) for the 1947 royal tour of South Africa, and it remained with her until she died in 2002, when it passed to Elizabeth II. In 2005, Elizabeth II lent the tiara to her daughter-in-law, the Duchess of Cornwall (now Queen Camilla).


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: This tiara, which can also be worn as a necklace, was made for Queen Mary in 1919. It is not, as has sometimes been claimed, made with diamonds that once belonged to George III, but reuses diamonds taken from a necklace/tiara purchased by Queen Victoria from Collingwood & Co. as a wedding present for Princess Mary in 1893. In August 1936, Mary gave the tiara to her daughter-in-law, Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother). When Queen Elizabeth, consort of King George VI, first wore the tiara, Sir Henry Channon called it "an ugly spiked tiara". Later, she lent the piece to her daughter, Princess Elizabeth (future Elizabeth II), as "something borrowed" for her wedding to Prince Philip in 1947. As Princess Elizabeth was getting dressed at Buckingham Palace before leaving for Westminster Abbey, the tiara snapped. Luckily, the court jeweller was standing by in case of any emergency, and was rushed to his work room by a police escort. Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) reassured her daughter that it would be fixed in time, and it was. The Queen Mother lent it to her granddaughter, Princess Anne, for her wedding to Captain Mark Phillips in 1973. It was later lent to Princess Beatrice for her wedding to Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in 2020.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: The Queen Adelaide’s Fringe Necklace is a circlet incorporating brilliant diamonds that were formerly owned by George III. Originally commissioned in 1830 and made by Rundell, Bridge & Co, the necklace has been worn by many queens consort. Originally, it could be worn as a collar or necklace, Queen Victoria modified it so it could be mounted on a wire to form the tiara. Queen Victoria wore it as a tiara during a visit to the Royal Opera in 1839. In Franz Xaver Winterhalter's painting "The First of May", completed in 1851, Victoria can be seen wearing it as she holds Prince Arthur, the future Duke of Connaught and Strathearn. In a veiled reference to the adoration of the Magi, the Duke of Wellington is seen presenting the young prince with a gift. It was classified as an “heirloom of the Crown” in Garrard’s 1858 inventory of Queen Victoria’s jewels.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: The Grand Duchess Vladimir Tiara (), sometimes the Diamond and Pearl Tiara, was bought, along with a diamond rivière, by Queen Mary from Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia, mother of the Duchess of Kent, in 1921 for a price of £28,000. The grand duchess, known after her marriage as Princess Nicholas of Greece, inherited it from her mother, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, who received it as a wedding gift from her husband in 1874. It originally had 15 large drop pearls, and was made by the jeweller Carl Edvard Bolin at a cost of 48,200 rubles.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: During the Russian Revolution in 1917, the tiara was hidden with other jewels somewhere in Vladimir Palace in Petrograd, and later saved from Soviet Russia by Albert Stopford, a British art dealer and secret agent. In the years to follow, Princess Nicholas sold pieces of jewellery from her collection to support her exiled family and various charities.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: Queen Mary had the tiara altered to accommodate 15 of the Cambridge cabochon emeralds. The original drop pearls can easily be replaced as an alternative to the emeralds. Elizabeth II inherited the tiara directly from her grandmother in 1953. It is almost exclusively worn together with the Cambridge and Delhi Durbar parures, also containing large emeralds. Elizabeth wore the tiara in her official portrait as Queen of Canada as none of the Commonwealth realms besides the United Kingdom have their own crown jewels.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: Elizabeth II's first tiara was a wedding present in 1947 from her grandmother, Queen Mary, who received it as a gift from the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland in 1893 on the occasion of her marriage to the Duke of York, later George V. Made by E. Wolfe & Co., it was purchased from Garrard & Co. by a committee organised by Lady Eva Greville. In 1914, Mary adapted the tiara to take 13 diamonds in place of the large oriental pearls surmounting the tiara. Leslie Field, author of "The Queen's Jewels", described it as, "a festoon-and-scroll with nine large oriental pearls on diamond spikes and set on a base of alternate round and lozenge collets between two plain bands of diamonds". At first, Elizabeth wore the tiara without its base and pearls but the base was reattached in 1969. The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara is one of Elizabeth's most recognisable pieces of jewellery due to its widespread appearance in portraits of the monarch on British banknotes and coinage.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: Elizabeth ordered the Burmese Ruby Tiara in 1973, and it was made by Garrard & Co. using stones from her private collection. It is designed in the form of a wreath of roses, with silver and diamonds making the petals, and clusters of gold and rubies forming the centre of the flowers. A total of 96 rubies are mounted on the tiara; they were originally part of a necklace given to her in 1947 as a wedding present by the people of Burma (now Myanmar), who credited them with having the ability to protect their owner from sickness and evil. The diamonds were also given to her as a wedding present, by the Nizam of Hyderabad and Berar, who possessed a vast jewellery collection of his own.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: The Kokoshnik Tiara was presented to Alexandra, Princess of Wales, as a 25th wedding anniversary gift in 1888 by Lady Salisbury on behalf of 365 peeresses of the United Kingdom. She had always wanted a tiara in the style of a kokoshnik (Russian for "cock's comb"), a traditional Russian folk headdress, and knew the design well from a tiara belonging to her sister, Maria Feodorovna, the Empress of Russia. It was made by Garrard & Co. and has vertical white gold bars pavé-set with diamonds, the longest of which is 6.5 cm (2.5 in). In a letter to her aunt, the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Princess Mary wrote, "The presents are quite magnificent [...] The ladies of society gave [Alexandra] a lovely diamond spiked tiara". Upon the death of Queen Alexandra, the tiara passed to her daughter-in-law, Queen Mary, who bequeathed it to Elizabeth in 1953. The tiara is featured in a 1960 portrait of the Queen taken by Anthony Buckley, which was used as the banknote portrait of the Queen for several countries and territories. The tiara is also featured on a 1979 New Zealand coin effigy of the Queen designed by James Berry.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: In 1913, Queen Mary asked Garrard & Co. to make a copy of a tiara owned by her grandmother, Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel, using Queen Mary's own diamonds and pearls. French in its neo-classical design, the tiara has 19 oriental pearls suspended from lover's knot bows each centred with a large brilliant. Mary left the tiara to Elizabeth II, who later loaned it to Diana, Princess of Wales, for her wedding, but she worn her family tiara instead. She wore it often, notably with her 'Elvis dress' on a visit to Hong Kong in 1989, but on her divorce from Prince Charles it was returned to Elizabeth. The Princess of Wales has worn it to a number of state occasions since 2015.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: This tiara was a wedding present to Elizabeth from her mother-in-law, Princess Alice of Greece and Denmark. The Meander Tiara is in the classical Greek key pattern, with a large diamond in the centre enclosed by a laurel wreath of diamonds. It also incorporates a wreath of leaves and scrolls on either side. Elizabeth II never wore this item in public, and it was given in 1972 to her daughter, Princess Anne, who has frequently worn the tiara in public, notably during her engagement to Captain Mark Phillips and for an official portrait marking her 50th birthday. Anne lent the tiara to her daughter, Zara Philips, to use at her wedding to Mike Tindall in 2011.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: This tiara, made by Cartier in 1936, was purchased by the Duke of York (later King George VI) for his wife (later the Queen Mother) three weeks before they became king and queen. It has a rolling cascade of 16 scrolls that converge on two central scrolls topped by a diamond. Altogether, it contains 739 brilliants and 149 baton diamonds. The tiara was given to Elizabeth on her 18th birthday in 1944, and was borrowed by Princess Margaret, who used it at the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Later, Elizabeth lent the Halo Tiara to Princess Anne, before giving her the Greek Meander Tiara in 1972. The Halo Tiara was lent to the Princess of Wales to wear at her wedding to Prince William in 2011.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: This tiara was left to Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) by Dame Margaret Greville upon Greville's death in 1942. Made by Boucheron in 1920, the tiara features a honeycomb-patterned diamond lattice and was a favorite of the Queen Mother. Elizabeth II inherited the tiara from her mother in 2002 and subsequently placed it under long-term loan to the Duchess of Cornwall.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: The tiara was made in 1932 for Queen Mary. Its centre brooch had been a wedding gift from the County of Lincoln in 1893. The tiara is a platinum band, made up of eleven sections, a detachable centre brooch with interlaced opals and diamonds. The tiara was lent to the Duchess of Sussex to use at her wedding to Prince Harry in 2018.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: This tiara was created by Garrard London in the 1920s. Made out of pearls and diamonds, it was made from a necklace originally given to Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) as a wedding gift. It was often worn by Princess Margaret, upon whose death, the tiara was returned to Elizabeth II. The tiara has been worn at a number of state occasions by Elizabeth II's granddaughter-in-law, the Princess of Wales.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: Given to the Queen Mother as a wedding gift by her father the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, this floral piece was worn by the Queen Mother for a few years following her marriage. It was a part of Elizabeth II's collection since her mother's death in 2002.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: Like the Greville [honeycomb] Tiara, this tiara was also part of Dame Margaret Greville's 1942 bequest to Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother). The tiara was constructed by Boucheron in 1919 and features diamonds and several large emeralds in a kokoshnik-style platinum setting. Princess Eugenie of York wore the tiara at her October 2018 wedding; this marked the first public wearing of the tiara by a member of the royal family.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: Composed of ruby, emerald, and sapphire bracelets given to Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) by King George VI, the set was worn by the Queen Mother in the form of a bandeau. It is now a part of Elizabeth II's collection; she had worn the pieces individually as bracelets over the years and had also lent them to other members of the royal family.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: Designed by Prince Albert and made by Garrard for Queen Victoria in 1853. Originally a complete circlet set with diamonds and opals. Remodeled in 1858 to remove diamonds lost in the Hanoverian claim, leaving space open at the back of the tiara. Opals were replaced with rubies by Queen Alexandra in 1902. It is made up of 'Moghul arches and lotus flowers' in diamonds and rubies.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: Originally belonging to Louise of Belgium, Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1858, the Queen bought this tiara in 1963 to add to her collection.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: This tiara made by Garrard in 1957 comes as part of a set of necklace and earrings gifted to the Queen for her coronation in 1953 by the President Getúlio Vargas and the people of Brazil. It is made up of emerald-cut aquamarines and diamonds. It has been redesigned in 1971 with aquamarines given by the Governor of São Paulo in 1968.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: This floral diamond tiara was chosen by Princess Elizabeth and given to her on her wedding day in 1947 by Nizam of Hyderabad. It was originally made by Cartier in 1935. Dismantled in 1973, the diamonds were reused to make Burmese Ruby tiara. Rose brooches were preserved.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: Like the Coronation Necklace, these earrings have been worn by queens regnant and consort at every coronation since 1901. Made for Queen Victoria in 1858 using the diamonds from an old Garter badge, they are of typical design: a large brilliant followed by a smaller one, with a large pear-shaped drop. The drops were originally part of the Koh-i-Noor armlet. After they had been made, Victoria wore the earrings and matching necklace in the painting "Queen Victoria" by the European court painter, Franz Winterhalter.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: These earrings originally had detachable pearl and diamond cluster tops. These tops were given to Princess Elizabeth by Queen Mary in 1947, and Princess Elizabeth wore them on her wedding day. The drops now have a diamond solitaire topper. The pendant earrings have been worn regularly by Queen Elizabeth including important state occasions, such as the State Opening of Parliament in Mauritius in 1972.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: These earrings were made for Queen Mary by Garrards, and consist of a large central diamond surrounded by seven smaller diamonds. The two large central diamonds were a wedding present from Sir William Mackinnon.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: These earrings were made for Queen Mary by Garrards. The central stones were a wedding present from the Bombay Presidency.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: These 7.5 cm (3 in) long chandelier earrings made by Cartier in 1929 have three large drops adorned with every modern cut of diamond. The earrings were purchased by Margaret Greville, who left them to her friend the Queen Mother in 1942, and Elizabeth's parents gave them to her in 1947 as a wedding present. However, she was not able to use them until she had her ears pierced. When the public noticed that her ears had been pierced, doctors and jewellers found themselves inundated with requests by women anxious to have their ears pierced too.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: As well as the chandelier earrings, and 60 other pieces of jewellery, Margaret Greville left the Queen Mother a set of pear-drop earrings that she had bought from Cartier in 1938. The pear-shaped drop diamonds each weigh about 20 carats (4 g). Diana, Princess of Wales, borrowed them in 1983 to wear on her first official visit to Australia. At a state banquet, she wore the earrings with a tiara from her family's own collection. The Greville Pear-drop Earrings passed to Elizabeth II upon her mother's death in 2002.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: Made out of a "shell containing seven pearls" that were given to Elizabeth as a wedding gift by the Hakim of Bahrain, these earrings consist of a round diamond followed by a circle diamond from which three baguette diamonds are suspended. At the bottom, three smaller diamonds are attached to the round pearl. These earrings were occasionally lent by Elizabeth II to Diana, Princess of Wales, the Countess of Wessex, and the Duchess of Cambridge.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: Both necklaces consist of a single row of large graduated pearls with pearl clasps. The Queen Anne Necklace is said to have belonged to Queen Anne, the last British monarch of the Stuart dynasty. Horace Walpole, the English art historian, wrote in his diary, "Queen Anne had but few jewels and those indifferent, except one pearl necklace given to her by Prince George". Queen Caroline, on the other hand, had a great deal of valuable jewellery, including no fewer than four pearl necklaces. She wore all the pearl necklaces to her coronation in 1727, but afterwards had the 50 best pearls selected to make one large necklace. In 1947, both necklaces were given to Elizabeth by her father as a wedding present. On her wedding day, Elizabeth realised that she had left her pearls at St James's Palace. Her private secretary, Jock Colville, was asked to go and retrieve them. He commandeered the limousine of King Haakon VII of Norway, but traffic that morning had stopped, so even the king's car with its royal flag flying could not get anywhere. Colville completed his journey on foot, and when he arrived at St James's Palace, he had to explain the odd story to the guards who were protecting Elizabeth's 2,660 wedding presents. They let him in after finding his name on a guest list, and he was able to get the pearls to the princess in time for her portrait in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: A gift from King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, it is a necklace in design and set with brilliant and baguette cut diamonds. King Faisal bought the necklace, made by the American jeweller Harry Winston, and presented it to Elizabeth II while on a state visit to the United Kingdom in 1967. Before his departure, she wore it to a banquet at the Dorchester hotel. She also lent the necklace to Diana, Princess of Wales, to wear on a state visit to Australia in 1983. It was loaned to the Countess of Wessex in 2012.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: In 1947, George VI commissioned a three-strand necklace with over 150 brilliant cut diamonds from his inherited collection. It consists of three small rows of diamonds with a triangle motif. The minimum weight of this necklace is estimated to be .


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: This necklace was given to Elizabeth II by King Khalid of Saudi Arabia in 1979. It is of the sunray design and contains both round and pear shaped diamonds. Like the King Faisal necklace, it was made by Harry Winston, and Elizabeth often lent the necklace to Diana, Princess of Wales.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: This necklace was made in 1907 by Boucheron for Margaret Greville. It was a part of her 1942 bequest to Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother), and Elizabeth's parents gave them to her in 1947 as a wedding present. She wore the necklace frequently in her younger years up until the 1980s. In 2017, it was loaned to the Duchess of Cambridge for a State Banquet for King Felipe VI of Spain. Elizabeth II wore it again for the first time in over 30 years in 2018 at a dinner as part of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: Cartier had the piece designed as a 2-row necklace in 1929 but three more strands were added in 1938 at the owner's request. The piece was frequently worn by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother throughout her life. It was worn by the Duchess of Cornwall for the first time during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 2007.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: A diamond necklace made by Cartier in the 1930s. It was a wedding gift to Elizabeth on her wedding to Prince Philip from the last Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan, in 1947. The Nizam's entire gift set for the future Queen of the United Kingdom included a diamond tiara and matching necklace, whose design was based on English roses. The tiara has three floral brooches that can be detached and used separately. The Duchess of Cambridge has also worn the necklace.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: Made for Queen Victoria in 1858 by Garrard & Co., the Coronation Necklace is 38 cm (15 in) long and consists of 25 cushion diamonds and the 22-carat (4.4 g) Lahore Diamond as a pendant. It has been used together with the Coronation Earrings by queens regnant and consort at every coronation since 1901.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: Presented to Queen Victoria by the Duchess of Buccleuch on 30 July 1888 on behalf of the “Daughters of Her Empire”. Made by Carrington & Co. in 1888.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: This necklace and a pair of matching earrings were given to Princess Alexandra as a wedding present from the City of London.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: This necklace was given to Princess Alexandra as a wedding present from King Frederick VII of Denmark. The necklace was made by the Danish Court Jeweller and modified by Garrard.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: The four-strand piece of "layered strings of cultured pearls" was originally given to Elizabeth from Japan in the 1970s. She wore it to many occasions, including Margaret Thatcher's 70th birthday in 1995. It was loaned to Diana, Princess of Wales, for one of her first engagements as a royal, as well as a 1982 banquet at Hampton Court Palace and a trip to the Netherlands in the same year. Later, the piece was loaned to the Duchess of Cambridge, who wore it to the 70th wedding anniversary of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in 2017 as well as Philip's funeral in 2021. She later wore it for Elizabeth II's funeral in 2022.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: In 1947, Princess Elizabeth was presented with a necklace consisting of 21 diamonds from the South African government as a 21st birthday present. This was later shortened to 15 diamonds and the remainder was used to create a matching bracelet.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: This necklace was made by Garrards in 1911 for Queen Mary as part of a suite of jewellery made for the 1911 Delhi Durbar. The diamond pendant is the Cullinan VII, and the 9 cabochon emeralds are from a cache of 40 emeralds won by Princess Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge in a State lottery in Frankfurt.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: This large bracelet is made of five square foliage pieces. It was worn by Queen Victoria for her official Golden Jubilee portrait photograph. It was classified as an ‘heirloom of the Crown’ in 1858.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: This pair of bangles were a wedding present from the Bombay Presidency. They were given to Princess Elizabeth by Queen Mary as a wedding present.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: This ring was thought to be made by Garrards in 1911, and is made using the smallest of the main stones cut from the Cullinan diamond (4.4 carat pear-shaped diamond.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: The brooch was made by Rundell, Bridge & Co. in 1831. It was originally commissioned by William IV for Queen Adelaide as a clasp to a necklace. Subsequent Queens have always worn it as a brooch. It is classified as an “heirloom of the Crown” and was inherited by Queen Elizabeth II in 1952.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: The Prince Albert sapphire brooch was given by Prince Albert to Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace on 9 February 1840. It was the day before their wedding, and Victoria wrote in her diary that Albert came to her sitting room and gave her "a beautiful sapphire and diamond brooch".


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: This piece is made out of "nine chains pave-set with brilliant-cut diamonds" at the bottom and larger diamonds put together at the top, which were given to Queen Victoria by the Ottoman Sultan in 1856. The piece was frequently worn by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and after her death it formed part of Elizabeth II's collection.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: These brooches were made in 1858 for Queen Victoria by R. & S. Garrard & Co. They were designated as “heirlooms of the Crown” by Queen Victoria.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: Six wheat-ear brooches or hair ornaments were commissioned by William IV for Queen Adelaide, and made in 1830 by Rundell, Bridge & Co. Three were remade in 1858 after the successful Hanover claim. They were designated heirlooms of the crown by Queen Victoria.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: Made by Garrard in 1897, and was given to her by her Household as part of her Diamond Jubilee celebrations. It was designated as an “heirloom of the Crown” by Queen Victoria.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: Made out of gold and silver and set with pave-set brilliants and a hinged pendant loop, the brooch resembles a ribbon-tied bow. The piece was made in 1893 by Carrington & Co. as a wedding present by County of Dorset to Mary, Duchess of York (later Queen Mary). Mary gave the brooch to her granddaughter Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth II) in 1947 as a wedding present.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: Made by Garrard for Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge, it features a large pearl surrounded by a cluster of diamonds. Hanging from it as a pendant is a smaller pearl. It was inherited by Augusta's daughter, Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck, who passed it on to her daughter, Queen Mary. The piece had been worn occasionally by Queen Elizabeth II and appeared in the first formal joint portrait of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, with her husband Prince William.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: The Richmond Brooch was made by Hunt and Raskell in 1893, and given to Queen Mary as a wedding present. She wore it on her honeymoon, and bequeathed it to Elizabeth after her death. It features "diamonds, set with two pearls—one large round center pearl and the detachable pearl", as well as a pear-shaped, pearl-drop component that is removable. The grand diamond piece is one of the largest within Elizabeth II's collection. Elizabeth had worn it to many evening receptions and engagements, including the 2018 Festival of Remembrance and the 2021 funeral of her husband.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: Cullinan III and IV are two of several stones cut from the Cullinan Diamond in 1905. The large diamond, found in South Africa, was presented to Edward VII on his 66th birthday. Two of the stones cut from the diamond were the Cullinan III, a clear pear-shaped stone, and a cushion-shaped stone. Queen Mary had these stones made into a brooch with the Cullinan III hanging from IV. Elizabeth II inherited the brooch in 1953 from her grandmother. On 25 March 1958, while she and Prince Philip were on a state visit to the Netherlands, she revealed that Cullinan III and IV are known in her family as "Granny's Chips". The couple visited the Asscher Diamond Company, where the Cullinan had been cut 50 years earlier. It was the first time the Queen had publicly worn the brooch. During her visit, she unpinned the brooch and offered it for examination to Louis Asscher, the brother of Joseph Asscher who had originally cut the diamond. Elderly and almost blind, Asscher was deeply moved by her bringing the diamonds, knowing how much it would mean to him seeing them again after so many years.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: The smaller Cullinan V is a heart-shaped diamond cut from the same rough gem as III and IV. It is set in the centre of a platinum brooch that formed a part of the stomacher made for Queen Mary to wear at the Delhi Durbar in 1911. The brooch was designed to show off Cullinan V and is pavé-set with a border of smaller diamonds. It can be suspended from the VIII brooch and can be used to suspend the VII pendant. It was often worn like this by Mary who left all the brooches to Elizabeth when she died in 1953.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: The Cullinan VI stone (11.5 carats) was bought for Queen Alexandra by Edward VII in 1908. Since Queen Mary inherited it, it has been worn as a pendant to the Cullinan VIII brooch (6.8 carats).


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: The piece was crafted by J. W. Histed Diamonds Ltd. in Vancouver, Canada. It holds baguette-cut diamonds mounted in platinum, formed in the shape of the sugar maple tree leaf, the national emblem of Canada. The brooch was originally presented to Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) on her tour of Canada with her husband in 1939. The piece was worn by Elizabeth II, then a princess, on her 1951 trip to Canada, and multiple instances since both within the country and in Britain. It was worn by the Duchess of Cornwall on her trips to the nation in 2009 and 2012. The Duchess of Cambridge has worn it during both her tours of Canada in 2011 and 2016.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: This pair of aquamarine and diamond clips was given to Princess Elizabeth as an 18th birthday present by her parents.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: The brooch was given to Elizabeth II by Annie Allum, wife of John Allum, Mayor of Auckland, during her 1953 visit to New Zealand, as a Christmas present "from the woman of Auckland". It is "bejewelled with round brilliant and baguette shaped diamonds", having been designed to form the shape of a fern, an emblem of New Zealand. Various members of the royal family have worn the piece on visits to the country, including the Duchess of Cambridge.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: The Queen owns a Wattle brooch, which was gifted to her by Prime Minister Robert Menzies on behalf of the Government and people of Australia on her first visit in 1954. Made of platinum, and set with yellow and white diamonds, the brooch is in the form of a spray of wattle, and tea tree blossoms. The Queen had worn the brooch many times on her visits to Australia, for instance, at the Randwick Racecourse in Sydney in 1970, Sydney Opera House in 2000, and during her arrival to Canberra in 2006 and 2011, or to Australia-related events in Britain.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: The Governor-General of Canada, David Johnston, presented Elizabeth II with the Sapphire Jubilee Snowflake Brooch at a celebration of Canada's sesquicentennial at Canada House on 19 July 2017 as a gift from the Government of Canada to celebrate her Sapphire Jubilee and to commemorate Canada 150. David Johnston presented her with the brooch moments before she and the Duke of Edinburgh unveiled a new Jubilee Walkway panel outside Canada House. The brooch was designed as a companion to the diamond maple leaf brooch, the piece was made by Hillberg and Berk of Saskatchewan and consists of sapphires from a cache found in 2002 on Baffin Island by brothers Seemeega and Nowdluk Aqpik.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: To mark her Platinum Jubilee, the Manx government gave the Queen a brooch in the shape of island, made there by Element Isle. The 'Infinity Isle of Man' brooch design outlines the Island with four gems (Blue Topaz, Citrine, Amethyst and Emerald) representing the towns of Ramsey, Peel, Castletown and the city of Douglas. The colours of the stones were selected to represent Manx tartan.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: Made by Cartier in 1929, the piece features "three pearls anchoring a simple diamond-flecked scroll design" and was worn by the Queen Mother who eventually passed it down to the Queen.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: Gifted by the mayor of Colombo to the Queen during her state visit in 1981, the piece features "pink, blue and yellow sapphires, garnets, rubies


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: A parure is a set of matching jewellery to be used together which first became popular in 17th-century Europe.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: This set of jewellery was owned by Queen Victoria’s mother, the Duchess of Kent. The set consists of a necklace, three brooches, a pair of earrings, and a pair of haircombs.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: The Brazil Parure is one of the newest items of jewellery in the collection. In 1953, the president and people of Brazil presented Elizabeth II with the coronation gift of a necklace and matching pendant earrings of aquamarines and diamonds. It had taken the jewellers Mappin & Webb an entire year to collect the perfectly matched stones. The necklace has nine large oblong aquamarines with an even bigger aquamarine pendant drop. Elizabeth II had the drop set in a more decorative diamond cluster and it is now detachable. She was so delighted with the gift that in 1957 she had a tiara made to match the necklace. The tiara is surmounted by three vertically set aquamarines. Seeing that she had so liked the original Coronation gift that she had a matching tiara made, the Government of Brazil decided to add to its gift, and in 1958 it presented her with a bracelet of oblong aquamarines set in a cluster of diamonds, and a square aquamarine and diamond brooch.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: The George VI Victorian Suite was originally a wedding present by George VI to his daughter Elizabeth in 1947. The suite consists of a long necklace of oblong sapphires and diamonds and a pair of matching square sapphire earrings also bordered with diamonds. The suite was originally made in 1850. The stones exactly matched the colour of the robes of the Order of the Garter. Elizabeth had the necklace shortened by removing the biggest sapphire in 1952, and later had a new pendant made using the removed stone. In 1963, a new sapphire and diamond tiara and bracelet were made to match the original pieces. The tiara is made out of a necklace that had belonged to Princess Louise of Belgium, daughter of Leopold II. In 1969, Elizabeth wore the complete parure to a charity concert.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: This set, a larger diamond and pearl parure made by Garrard in 1862, was commissioned by Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) for his bride Alexandra of Denmark. It included an all-diamond tiara with knot and fleur-de-lis motifs, accompanied by a necklace, a brooch, and a pair of earrings, which feature button-style pearl and diamond clusters and pear-shaped pearl pendants. On Alexandra's death, the tiara, known as the "Rundell Tiara", passed to her daughter Princess Victoria, and was disposed of by her. The rest of the parure was passed down to Queen Mary, who wore the brooch and lent the necklace to her daughter-in-law, the Duchess of York (later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother). The necklace became a favourite of hers, and upon her death it was bequeathed to Elizabeth II, who lent it to her granddaughter-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: The exact origin of the suite, which consists of an emerald necklace and emerald earrings, is unknown. The necklace features square-cut emeralds set in diamond clusters, and the earrings consist of pear-shaped cabochon emeralds suspended from diamond studs. The suite was frequently worn by the Queen Mother and later passed on to the Queen.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: In 1979, the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, gifted the Queen a suite from Asprey, which included a necklace of diamond loops, a pair of earrings and a ring, during the Queen's tour of the Gulf States. The earrings were worn by the Duchess of Cambridge at a movie screening in 2021.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: First worn by the Queen in the 1980s, the suite consists of a necklace, a pair of earrings, a bracelet, and a ring. The earrings and the bracelet were worn by the Duchess of Cambridge during a tour of Jamaica in 2022.


title: Jewels of Elizabeth II

text: For the coronation of their parents in 1937, it was decided that Elizabeth and Margaret should be given small versions of crowns to wear at the ceremony. Ornate coronets of gold lined with crimson and edged with ermine were designed by Garrard & Co. and brought to the royal couple for inspection. However, the king and queen decided they were inappropriately elaborate and too heavy for the young princesses. Queen Mary suggested the coronets be silver-gilt in a medieval style with no decorations. George VI agreed, and the coronets were designed with Maltese crosses and fleurs-de-lis. After the coronation, Mary wrote: "I sat between Maud and Lilibet (Elizabeth), and Margaret came next. They looked too sweet in their lace dresses and robes, especially when they put on their coronets". The coronation ensembles are in the Royal Collection Trust.


title: The Way (2010 film)

text: The Way is a 2010 American-Spanish drama film directed, produced and written by Emilio Estevez and starring Martin Sheen, Deborah Kara Unger, James Nesbitt, and Yorick van Wageningen. In it, Martin Sheen's character walks the Camino de Santiago, a traditional pilgrimage route in France and Spain.


title: The Way (2010 film)

text: Dr. Thomas Avery is an American ophthalmologist who goes to France following the death of his estranged adult son, Daniel, killed in the Pyrenees during a storm while walking the "Camino de Santiago" (the Way of St. James), a Christian pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. Tom's purpose is initially to retrieve his son's body. However, in a combination of grief and homage to his son, Tom decides to walk the ancient spiritual trail where his son died, taking Daniel's ashes with him.


title: The Way (2010 film)

text: While walking the "Camino", Tom meets other people, all looking for greater meaning in their lives. He reluctantly falls in with three other pilgrims in particular. Joost is an overweight man from Amsterdam who says he is walking the route to lose weight to get ready for his brother's wedding and also so that his wife will desire him again. He is a friendly extrovert who is the first to start walking with Tom. Sarah is a Canadian fleeing an abusive husband, who says she is walking the pilgrimage to quit smoking. Jack is an Irish travel writer who when younger had desires to be a great author like William Butler Yeats or James Joyce but never wrote the novel he dreamed of. He is the last to join the quartet and has been suffering from "writer's block". As the pilgrims travel the "Camino", they occasionally meet and talk with other pilgrims—two Frenchmen, a young Italian and Father Frank, an elderly priest from New York. Tom occasionally has visions of Daniel alive and smiling among other people. Tom starts out the journey being cold to his fellow pilgrims, but over the course of their journey he eventually opens up to them.


title: The Way (2010 film)

text: On the pilgrimage, the group experiences challenges, such as when a young Romani steals Tom's backpack containing his son's ashes. Although the thief escapes, his father drags him back to Tom to return the pack, with embarrassed apologies and an offer in compensation to attend a Romani street party in the evening.


title: The Way (2010 film)

text: After the group arrives at Santiago de Compostela, Tom is ultimately accompanied to Muxía by the other three members. There, he scatters the remainder of Daniel's ashes in the Atlantic Ocean.


title: The Way (2010 film)

text: With Daniel's backpack on his back, Tom is shown happy setting out on another journey, this time in Morocco.


title: The Way (2010 film)

text: The film was inspired by Emilio Estevez's son, Taylor. The inspiration for the project happened in 2003. Taylor, at the time 19 years old, and Sheen, whose TV series "The West Wing" was on hiatus, traveled the pilgrimage route. Taylor, who served as an associate producer on the film, had driven the length of the "Camino" with his grandfather. On the way, he met the woman who would become his wife; thus, the "Camino" held special meaning for him. After the trip, a series of discussions started between Sheen and his son for a movie about the "Camino de Santiago". Sheen originally suggested it be a low-budget documentary, but Estevez was not interested in such a small project, wanting instead a bigger experience.


title: The Way (2010 film)

text: Estevez also found inspiration in his vineyard, Casa Dumetz, where he wrote much of the dialogue for the film. Exploring the themes of loss, community, and faith, he saw parallels with the characters of the film "The Wizard of Oz" (1939). The script took six months to get a first draft.


title: The Way (2010 film)

text: The story is also based on selected stories from Jack Hitt's book "Off the Road: A Modern-Day Walk Down the Pilgrim's Route into Spain" (1994).


title: The Way (2010 film)

text: Filming started on 21 September 2009 and took 40 days. The production company and actors walked between 300 and 350 kilometers during filming. Estevez had a very small crew and shot with available light; night-time sequences were filmed by candle and firelight. Considering the "Camino" is special to local people on the route, the filmmakers felt great pressure to get the details right.


title: The Way (2010 film)

text: According to a Christian Broadcasting Network interview, a key scene almost did not happen. With church leadership opposed to allowing the crew to shoot inside the famous cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, Estevez says he took a leap of faith and asked everyone on set to pray for access. "And it worked", claimed Sheen. The crew was given permission just 48 hours before they were scheduled to shoot the scenes, which they felt were critical to the film.


title: The Way (2010 film)

text: Sheen originally suggested Michael Douglas or Mel Gibson for the lead role, but Estevez had written the main character's role specifically for his father. Aside from the main actors, those seen on-screen are real pilgrims from all over the world. One episode in the film involves a group of actual Romani people from Burgos.


title: The Way (2010 film)

text: "The Way" was marketed largely via a word-of-mouth campaign. "We don’t have a lot of money to do a big $40 million P. & A.", Estevez said, talking about his marketing print-and-advertising budget.


title: The Way (2010 film)

text: "The Way" premiered in September 2010 at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival and was commercially released in Spain first, with its Spanish premiere on November 10, 2010. The Maltese premiere on February 28, 2011 benefited a tiny Maltese organization, the Pope John XXIII Peace Lab of Ħal Far, which provides shelter to asylum seekers. The shelter, established in 1971, had not sought the funding.


title: The Way (2010 film)

text: The film was released in the United Kingdom in May 2011 and in the United States in October 2011. Estevez and Sheen took a promotional bus tour in promotion of the film across the United States and through some parts of Canada. The film was released on DVD in February 2012.


title: The Way (2010 film)

text: The film took in $110,418 in its U.S. opening weekend; as of February 2012, it had made $4,430,765 (or $4,430,650) domestically (with its widest release in 283 U.S. theaters), and $7,451,541 internationally.


title: The Way (2010 film)

text: Ultimately, the theatrical performance reached a gross of $11,882,191 and the home market performance an additional gross of $8,127,751, thus the film reached a total gross of $20,009,942.


title: The Way (2010 film)

text: The film has received a "Certified Fresh" rating of 83% on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on a sample of 100 reviews, with an average score of 6.6/10. The consensus description is: "It may be a little too deliberately paced for more impatient viewers, but "The Way" is a worthy effort from writer/director Emilio Estevez, balancing heartfelt emotion with clear-eyed drama that resists cheap sentiment." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 64 out of 100 based on 28 critics indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: The Way (2010 film)

text: Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" magazine gave the film three out of four stars, while Andrew Schenker of "Slant Magazine" gave it 1 out of 4 stars. Eric Kohn of Indiewire gave the film a "B+" rating, commenting that "Estevez's narrative is dominated by master shots of the landscape capturing Tom and his pals wandering through the wilderness and small villages, exploring ancient cathedrals and local traditions." Kirk Honeycutt of "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote a mixed review, stating: "Emilio Estevez's "The Way" is an earnest film, its heart always in the right place, but it's severely under dramatized." Sheri Linden of "Los Angeles Times" noted that "The Way" is more low-key, cohesive, and personal than Estevez's preceding film "Bobby".


title: Flying car

text: A flying car or roadable aircraft is a type of vehicle which can function both as a road vehicle and as an aircraft. As used here, this includes vehicles which drive as motorcycles when on the road. The term "flying car" is also sometimes used to include hovercars and/or VTOL personal air vehicles. Many prototypes have been built since the early 20th century, using a variety of flight technologies. Most have been designed to take off and land conventionally using a runway. Although VTOL projects are increasing, none has yet been built in more than a handful of numbers.


title: Flying car

text: Their appearance is often predicted by futurologists, and many concept designs have been promoted. Their failure to become a practical reality has led to the catchphrase "Where's my flying car?", as a paradigm for the failure of predicted technologies to appear. Flying cars are also a popular theme in fantasy and science fiction stories.


title: Flying car

text: In the late 1800s, American immigrant Gustave Whitehead designed aircraft with wheels and a gasoline-powered engine, including his no.21 model built in 1901. Consensus among historians is that Whitehead's no. 21 did not achieve sustained self-powered flight. Some historians continue to assert Whitehead's craft flew at various dates prior to the Wright Brothers' craft, based on a series of unverifiable and contradictory eye-witness accounts.


title: Flying car

text: Aircraft designer Glenn Curtiss built his Autoplane in 1917. It had a pusher propeller for flight, with removable flight surfaces including a triplane wing, canard foreplane and twin tails. It was able to hop, but not fly.


title: Flying car

text: In 1935, Constantinos Vlachos built a prototype of a 'tri-phibian' vehicle with a circular wing, but it caught fire after the engine exploded while he was demonstrating it in Washington, D.C. Vlachos was badly injured and spent several months in hospital. The machine is most notable for a newsreel that captured the incident.


title: Flying car

text: The Autogiro Company of America AC-35 was a prototype roadable autogyro, flown on 26 March 1936 by test pilot James G. Ray. Forward thrust was initially provided by twin counter-rotating propellers for thrust, later replaced with a single propeller. On 26 October 1936, the aircraft was converted to roadable configuration. Ray drove it to the main entrance of the Commerce Building, Washington, D.C., where it was accepted by John H. Geisse, chief of the Aeronautics Branch. Although it had been successfully tested, it did not enter production.


title: Flying car

text: The first fixed wing roadable aircraft to fly was built by Waldo Waterman. Waterman was associated with Curtiss while Curtiss was pioneering amphibious aircraft at North Island on San Diego Bay in the 1910s. On 21 March 1937, Waterman's Arrowbile first took to the air. The Arrowbile was a development of Waterman's tailless aircraft, the Whatsit. It had a wingspan of and a length of . On the ground and in the air it was powered by a Studebaker engine. It could fly at and drive at .


title: Flying car

text: In 1942, the British army built the Hafner Rotabuggy, an experimental roadable autogyro that was developed with the intention of producing a way of air-dropping off-road vehicles. Although initial tests showed that the Rotabuggy was prone to severe vibration at speeds greater than , with improvements the Rotabuggy achieved a flight speed of . However, the introduction of gliders that could carry vehicles (such as the Waco Hadrian and Airspeed Horsa) led to the project's cancellation.


title: Flying car

text: Although several designs (such as the ConVairCar) have flown, none have enjoyed commercial success, and those that have flown are not widely known by the general public. The most successful example, in that several were made and one is still flying, is the 1949 Taylor Aerocar.


title: Flying car

text: In 1946, the Fulton FA-2 Airphibian was an American made flying car designed by Robert Edison Fulton Jr., it was an aluminum-bodied car, built with independent suspension, aircraft-sized wheels, and a six-cylinder 165 hp engine. The fabric wings were easily attached to the fuselage, converting the car into a plane. Four prototypes were built. Charles Lindbergh flew it 1950 and, although it was not a commercial success (financial costs of airworthiness certification forced him to relinquish control of the company, which never developed it further), it is now in the Smithsonian.


title: Flying car

text: The Aerocar, designed and built by Molt Taylor, made a successful flight in December 1949, and in following years versions underwent a series of road and flying tests. Chuck Berry featured the concept in his 1956 song "You Can't Catch Me", and in December 1956 the Civil Aviation Authority approved the design for mass production, but despite wide publicity and an improved version produced in 1989, Taylor did not succeed in getting the flying car into production. In total, six Aerocars were built. It is considered to be one of the first practical flying cars.


title: Flying car

text: One notable design was Henry Smolinski's Mizar, made by mating the rear end of a Cessna Skymaster with a Ford Pinto, but it disintegrated during test flights killing Smolinski and the pilot.


title: Flying car

text: Moller began developing VTOL craft in the late 1960s, but no Moller vehicle has ever achieved free flight out of ground effect. The Moller Skycar M400 was a project for a personal VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft which is powered by four pairs of in-tandem Wankel rotary engines. The proposed Autovolantor model had an all-electric version powered by Altairnano batteries. The company has been dormant since 2015.


title: Flying car

text: In the mid-1980s, former Boeing engineer Fred Barker founded Flight Innovations Inc. and began the development of the Sky Commuter, a small duct fans-based VTOL aircraft. It was a compact, two-passenger and was made primarily of composite materials. In 2008, the remaining prototype was sold for £86k on eBay.


title: Flying car

text: In 2009 the U.S., the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) initiated the $65 million Transformer program to develop a four-person roadable aircraft by 2015. The vehicle was to have had VTOL capability and a range. AAI Corporation and Lockheed Martin were awarded contracts. The program was cancelled in 2013.


title: Flying car

text: The Parajet Skycar utilises a paramotor for propulsion and a parafoil for lift. The main body consists of a modified dune buggy. It has a top speed of and a maximum range of in flight. On the ground it has a top speed of and a maximum range of . Parajet flew and drove its prototype from London to Timbuktu in January 2009.


title: Flying car

text: The Maverick Flying Dune Buggy was designed by the Indigenous People's Technology and Education Center of Florida as an off-road vehicle that could unfurl an advanced parachute and then travel by air over impassable terrain when roadways were no longer usable. The 'Maverick' vehicle is powered by a engine that can also drive a five-bladed pusher propeller. It was initially conceived in order to help minister to remote Amazon rainforest communities, but will also be marketed for visual pipeline inspection and other similar activities in desolate areas or difficult terrain.


title: Flying car

text: The Plane Driven PD-1 Roadable Glastar is a modification to the Glastar Sportsman GS-2 to make a practical roadable aircraft. The approach is novel in that it uses a mostly stock aircraft with a modified landing gear "pod" that carries the engine for road propulsion. The wings fold along the side, and the main landing gear and engine pod slide aft in driving configuration to compensate for the rearward center of gravity with the wings folded, and provide additional stability for road travel.


title: Flying car

text: The Super Sky Cycle was an American homebuilt roadable gyroplane designed and manufactured by The Butterfly Aircraft LLC. It is a registered motorcycle.


title: Flying car

text: At the 2014 Pioneers Festival at Wien (Austria) AeroMobil presented their version 3.0 of their flying car. The prototype was conceived as a vehicle that can be converted from an automobile to an aircraft. The version 2.5 proof-of-concept took 20 years to develop and first flew in 2013. CEO Juraj Vaculik said that the company planned to move flying cars to market: "the plan is that in 2017 we'll be able to announce ... the first flying roadster." In 2016, AeroMobil was test-flying a prototype that obtained Slovak ultralight certification. When the final product will be available or how much it will cost is not yet specified. In 2018, it unveiled a concept that resembled a flying sportscar with VTOL capability.


title: Flying car

text: The Aeromobil 2.5 has folding wings and a Rotax 912 engine. It can travel at with a range of , and flew for the first time in 2013. On 29 October 2014, Slovak startup AeroMobil s.r.o. unveiled AeroMobil 3.0


title: Flying car

text: Klein Vision in Slovakia have developed a prototype AirCar, which drives like a sports car and for flight has a pusher propeller with twin tailbooms, and foldout wings. In June 2021, the prototype carried out a 35-minute flight between airports. It was type certified as an aircraft in January 2022.


title: Flying car

text: The Terrafugia Transition is a roadable aircraft intended to be classed as a Personal Air Vehicle. It can fold its wings in 30 seconds and drive the front wheels, enabling it to operate both as a traditional road vehicle and as a general aviation aeroplane with a range of . An operational prototype was displayed at Oshkosh in 2008 and its first flight took place on 2009-03-05. It will carry two people plus luggage and its Rotax 912S engine operates on premium unleaded gas. It was approved by the FAA in June 2010.


title: Flying car

text: The production-ready single-engine, roadable PAL-V Liberty autogyro, or gyrocopter, debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2018, then became the first flying car in production, and was set to launch in 2020, with full production scheduled for 2021 in Gujarat, India. the PAL-V ONE is a hybrid of a gyrocopter with a leaning 3-wheel motorcycle. It has two seats and a 160 kW flight certified gasoline engine. It has a top speed of on land and in air, and weighs max.


title: Flying car

text: On 15 April 2021, Los Altos, California, became home to the world's first consumer flying car showroom. However, as yet there are no certified flying cars in production.


title: Flying car

text: A flying car must be capable of safe and reliable operation both on public roads and in the air. For mass adoption, it will also need to be environmentally friendly, able to fly without a fully qualified pilot at the controls, and come at affordable purchase and running costs.


title: Flying car

text: Design configurations vary widely, from modified road vehicles such as the AVE Mizar at one extreme to modified aircraft such as the Plane Driven PD-1 at the other. Most are dedicated flying car designs. While wheeled propulsion is necessary on the road, in the air lift may be generated by fixed wings, helicopter rotors or direct engine power. The Alef Model A project offers an unusual configuration in which the body of the car is hollow and the sides are slabs; in the air it rolls sideways so that the slabs become a biplane wing. The cabin remains upright.


title: Flying car

text: Like other aircraft, lift in flight is provided by a fixed wing, spinning rotor or direct powered lift. The powered helicopter rotor and direct lift both offer VTOL capability, while the fixed wing and autogyro rotor take off conventionally from a runway.


title: Flying car

text: The simplest and earliest approach was to take a driveable car and attach removable flying surfaces and propeller. However when on the road, such a design must either tow its removable parts on a separate trailer or leave them behind and drive back to them before taking off again.


title: Flying car

text: Other conventional takeoff fixed-wing designs, such as the Terrafugia Transition, include folding wings that the car carries with it when driven on the road.


title: Flying car

text: Vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) is attractive, as it avoids the need for a runway and greatly increases operational flexibility. Typical designs include rotorcraft and ducted fan powered lift configurations. Most design concepts have inherent problems.


title: Flying car

text: Rotorcraft include helicopters with powered rotors and autogyros with free-spinning rotors. For road use, a rotor must, like many naval helicopters, be either two-bladed or foldable. The quadcopter requires only a simple control system with no tail. The autogyro relies on a separate thrust system to build up airspeed, spin the rotor and generate lift. However, some autogyros have rotors that can be spun up on the ground and then disengaged, allowing the aircraft to jump-start vertically. The PAL-V Liberty is an example of the autogyro type.


title: Flying car

text: Ducted-fan aircraft such as the Moller Skycar tend to easily lose stability and have been unable to travel at greater than 30–40 knots.


title: Flying car

text: The flying car places unique demands on the vehicle power train. For a given all-up weight, an aero engine must deliver higher power than its typical road equivalent. However on the road the vehicle must handle well and not be overpowered. Power must also be diverted between the airborne and road drive mechanisms. Some designs therefore have multiple engines, with the road engine being supplemented, or even replaced by, additional flight engines.


title: Flying car

text: As with other vehicles, power has traditionally been supplied by internal combustion engines, but electric power is undergoing rapid development. It is coming into increasing use on road vehicles, but the weight of the batteries currently makes it unsuited to aircraft. However its low environmental signature makes it attractive for the short trips and dense urban environments envisaged for the flying car.


title: Flying car

text: On the road, most flying cars drive the road wheels in the conventional way. A few use the aircraft propeller in similar manner to an airboat, but this is inefficient.


title: Flying car

text: In the air, a flying car will typically obtain forward thrust from one or more propellers or ducted fans. A few have a powered helicopter rotor. Jet engines are not used due to the ground hazard posed by the hot, high-velocity exhaust stream.


title: Flying car

text: In order to operate safely, a flying car must be certified independently as both a road vehicle and an aircraft, by the respective authorities. The person controlling the vehicle must also be licensed as both driver and pilot, and the vehicle maintained according to both regimes.


title: Flying car

text: Mechanically, the requirements of powered flight are so challenging that every opportunity must be taken to keep weight to a minimum. A typical airframe is therefore lightweight and easily damaged. On the other hand, a road vehicle must be able to withstand significant impact loads from casual incidents while stationary, as well as low-speed and high-speed impacts, and the high strength this demands can add considerable weight. A practical flying car must be both strong enough to pass road safety standards and light enough to fly. Any propeller or rotor blade also creates a hazard to passers-by when on the ground, especially if it is spinning; they must be permanently shrouded, or folded away on landing.


title: Flying car

text: For widespread adoption, as envisaged in the near future, it will not be practicable for every driver to qualify as a pilot and the rigorous maintenance currently demanded for aircraft will be uneconomic. Flying cars will have to become largely autonomous and highly reliable. The density of traffic will require automated routing and collision-avoidance systems. To manage the inevitable periodic failures and emergency landings, there will need to be sufficient designated landing sites across built-up areas. In addition, poor weather conditions could make the craft unsafe to fly.


title: Flying car

text: Regulatory regimes are being developed in anticipation of a large increase in the numbers of autonomous flying cars and personal air vehicles in the near future, and compliance with these regimes will be necessary for safe flight.


title: Flying car

text: A basic flying car requires the person at the controls to be both a qualified road driver and aircraft pilot. This is impractical for the majority of people and so wider adoption will require computer systems to de-skill piloting. These skills include aircraft manoeuvring, navigation and emergency procedures, all in potentially crowded airspace. The onboard control system will also need to interact with other systems such as air traffic control and collision-risk monitoring. A practical flying car may need to be capable of full autonomy, in which people are present only as passengers.


title: Flying car

text: A flying car capable of widespread use must operate acceptably within a heavily populated urban environment. The lift and propulsion systems must be quiet enough not to cause a nuisance, and must not create excessive pollution. For example, pollution emissions standards for road vehicles must be met.


title: Flying car

text: The needs for the propulsion system to be both small and powerful, the vehicle structure both light and strong, and the control systems fully integrated and autonomous, can only be met at present, if at all, using advanced and expensive technologies. This may prove a significant barrier to widespread adoption.


title: Flying car

text: Flying cars are used for relatively short distances at high frequency. They travel at lower speeds and altitudes than conventional passenger aircraft. However optimal fuel efficiency for aeroplanes is obtained at higher speeds and altitudes, so a flying car's energy efficiency will be lower than that of a conventional aircraft. Similarly, the flying car's road performance is compromised by the requirements of flight and the need to carry around the various extra parts, so it is also less economical than a conventional motor car.


title: Flying car

text: In April 2012, the International Flying Car Association was established to be the "central resource center for information and communication between the flying car industry, news networks, governments, and those seeking further information worldwide". Because flying cars need practical regulations that are mostly dealt with on a regional level, several regional associations were established as well, with the European Flying Car Association (EFCA) representing these national member associations on a pan-European level (51 independent countries, including the European Union Member States, the Accession Candidates and Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine). The associations are also organizing racing competitions for roadable aircraft in Europe, the European Roadable Aircraft Prix (ERAP), mainly to increase awareness about this type of aircraft among a broader audience.


title: Flying car

text: The flying car was and remains a common feature of conceptions of the future, both predicted and imaginary.


title: Flying car

text: Flying cars have been under development since the early days of motor transport and aviation, and many futurologists have predicted their imminent arrival. Aircraft manufacturer Glenn Curtiss unveiled his unflyable Autoplane in 1917. In 1940, vehicle manufacturer Henry Ford predicted that; "Mark my word: a combination airplane and motorcar is coming. You may smile, but it will come.”


title: Flying car

text: From 1945, industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes promoted his concept for a streamlined flying car with folding wings. In the late 1950s, Ford's Advanced Design studio publicised a 3/8 scale concept car model, the Volante Tri-Athodyne. It featured three ducted fans, each with its own motor, that would lift it off the ground and move it through the air. Ford admitted that "the day where there will be an aero-car in every garage is still some time off", also suggesting that "the Volante indicates one direction that the styling of such a vehicle would take".


title: Flying car

text: Despite a century of anticipation, no flying car has yet proved a practical proposition and they remain an experimental curiosity. This long-term failure to make any impact on society has led to the meme, "Where's my flying car?"


title: Flying car

text: The question "Where's my flying car?" has become emblematic of the wider failure of many modern technologies to match futuristic visions that were promoted in earlier decades.


title: Flying car

text: The flying car has been depicted in many works of fantasy and science fiction. Some notable examples include:


title: Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte

text: Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte is a 1964 American psychological thriller film directed and produced by Robert Aldrich, and starring Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead and Mary Astor in her final film role. It follows a middle-aged Southern woman, suspected in the unsolved murder of her lover from decades before, who is plagued by bizarre occurrences after summoning her cousin to help challenge the local government's impending demolition of her home. The screenplay was adapted by Henry Farrell and Lukas Heller, from Farrell's unpublished short story "What Ever Happened to Cousin Charlotte?"


title: Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte

text: Aldrich conceived the project as a follow-up to his surprise success with "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?", also based on Farrell's novel and starring Davis and Joan Crawford.


title: Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte

text: Originally, Davis and Crawford—who had experienced a turbulent working relationship on the set of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?"—were cast as Charlotte and Miriam, respectively, but Crawford ultimately dropped out of the production after shooting began. Principal photography was temporarily postponed until de Havilland was recast in the role of Miriam. The film was a critical success and was nominated for seven Academy Awards.


title: Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte

text: In 1927, young Southern belle Charlotte Hollis and her married lover John Mayhew plan to elope during a party at the Hollis family's antebellum mansion in Ascension Parish, Louisiana. Charlotte's father, Sam, confronts John over the affair and intimidates him with the news that John's wife Jewel visited the day before and revealed the affair. John pretends to Charlotte he can no longer love her and that they must part. Shortly after, John is ambushed and decapitated in the summerhouse by an assailant with a cleaver. Charlotte returns to the house in a bloodstained dress, which all of the guests witness.