Kristine and Victoria have completed our travels for the time being -- and both are in Florida at the moment, avoiding the snowstorms of the East Coast and Midwest.
And while in Florida, we know what kind of pubs in which to hang out!
2014 is an exciting year -- we are leading our first tour, The Wellington Tour, featuring haunts of you-know-who. We hope you will consider joining us. All the details are here.
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
The Wellington Tour will begin in London on September 4, visiting the Duke of Wellington's London residence Apsley House, his offices at Horse Guards in Whitehall, and other spots he was known to frequent.
We will travel by bus to Walmer Castle, where the Duke lived as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and where he died on September l4, 1852. Onward to Brighton and the Royal Pavilion where the Duke conferred with George IV, William IV, and Queen Victoria.
Brighton Pavilion
We will also visit Stratfield Saye, the Duke's country home and tour the nearby Highclere Castle, better known today as Downton Abbey. The Castle is the home of the Earls Carnarvon, some of whom were both neighbors and colleagues of the Duke in the House of Lords. We complete our tour in Windsor, also a royal residence where the Duke often attended monarchs -- and that is just a smattering of the many delights you will enjoy on our tour.
Highclere Castle, aka Downton Abbey
Please join us!! www.wellingtontour.blogspot.com/
Frogmore House, Windsor
2014 is also the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park, about you will hear much on this blog and elsewhere. The Jane Austen Society of North America will hold its Annual General Meeting in Montreal This year, on the theme "Mansfield Park in Montreal: Contexts, Conventions, and Controversies."
2014 is also the 200th anniversary of the first "end" of England's war with Napoleonic France. And it will mark significant anniversaries of events in the War of 1812, including the British burning Washington, D.C. Perhaps we should mark these events this year as well as next since the 100th anniversaries were almost forgotten because of the Great War, which began in 1914.
So a belated welcome to 2014, and now we return you to your regularly scheduled program....
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