(no subject)
The absolute best thing about my weekend: I MET THE QUEEN!!! :D (No, not the real one... but she's the only one I'm likely to ever meet. :) )
Many of the shops at the Renaissance Faire where I work have "patrons" who theoretically "own" the shop. In actuality, this just means that patron (a member of the royal court) tends to come in on occasion, interact with the customers who are there, and sometimes send business our way, and in return, we play along and we hang the patron's coat of arms on our wall. The Lord Patron (Sir Gilbert Talbot) of the shop that I work at is an absolute *hoot* (not to mention gorgeous ;) ) and everyone in the shop adores him. I mentioned to him early in the season that I'd been coming out to the Faire for 8 years, have worked there for 4, and I have never met the Queen (either in or out of character)... he declared that this was something that needed to be corrected.
For some time, I have wanted to get a vial of the perfume named "Bess" from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab to give to Her Majesty. It's a perfume that is based on a perfume worn by the aristocracy in Queen Elizabeth's time. For as many years as I have been going to Faire, I've never seen her be anything but gracious to the people she interacts with, and everyone who has dealt with her in any way has nothing but praise for her. In my mind, she *is* Queen Elizabeth, and seeing her while I'm at Faire actually does give me a thrill, just like it would have done during that actual time period. When Lord Talbot insisted that he was going to present me to the Queen, I told him to wait until I could get the perfume, and he agreed. For the entire season, I've been TERRIFIED of this interaction. I realize this is all pretend, but it's still a big deal to me because I do admire Mary (the actress) so very much.
Well, this was the last weekend of Faire, and I had received the perfume, so Lord Talbot decided on Saturday that it was time to do this thing. So he arranged for me to be presented, in front of the entire court, during the afternoon session. I spent the entire day squeaking everytime I thought about it, and I was shaking by the time 6 PM rolled around. Lord Talbot and I decided to play with the fact that I was so nervous, so I couldn't actually speak when I was presented... all I could do was squeak and nod lots. Luckily, Lord Talbot was able to "translate" from Peasant to English. LOL!
When she accepted the gift, she said something along the lines of "Many believe that being King or Queen means that you receive so many gifts that it must at some point become commonplace. God save me from ever reaching that place, for gifts such as these truly touch my heart and I shall never take them for granted."
It was fun, and I survived without falling on my face, and I giggled for the rest of the weekend. :D
But that's not the end of the story... When Lord Talbot stopped by the store on Sunday afternoon, he told me that when the Queen was on progress earlier that morning, she had stopped near one of the perfume shops and was discussing perfume oils with some of the customers. One of them asked which perfume she wore... and the Queen proceeded to tell them that the oil she was wearing was specially blended specifically for her by one of the shopmistresses of Felix Needleworthy's shop, and told them which scents were in it, and how much she was pleased with it and how honored by the gift... and she *was* actually wearing the perfume, too! :D
That's not the end of the story, either... I happened to run into Mary (in a baseball cap and t-shirt, which just hurts my head!) when we stopped for dinner last night. Although I've seen her from afar at the restaurant before, I've never actually spoken to her. Last night, she happened to be leaving just as I was coming in, so we nearly ran into each other. I decided that I might as well introduce myself to her... as soon as I said her name and she actually *looked* at me, she recognized me immediately, remembered my name, and thanked me for the perfume. She said that she was truly grateful and was trying to decide whether she wanted to wear it all the time or if she wanted to reserve it for use only when she was portraying Elizabeth. :)
I'm STILL grinning from ear to ear. :)
Many of the shops at the Renaissance Faire where I work have "patrons" who theoretically "own" the shop. In actuality, this just means that patron (a member of the royal court) tends to come in on occasion, interact with the customers who are there, and sometimes send business our way, and in return, we play along and we hang the patron's coat of arms on our wall. The Lord Patron (Sir Gilbert Talbot) of the shop that I work at is an absolute *hoot* (not to mention gorgeous ;) ) and everyone in the shop adores him. I mentioned to him early in the season that I'd been coming out to the Faire for 8 years, have worked there for 4, and I have never met the Queen (either in or out of character)... he declared that this was something that needed to be corrected.
For some time, I have wanted to get a vial of the perfume named "Bess" from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab to give to Her Majesty. It's a perfume that is based on a perfume worn by the aristocracy in Queen Elizabeth's time. For as many years as I have been going to Faire, I've never seen her be anything but gracious to the people she interacts with, and everyone who has dealt with her in any way has nothing but praise for her. In my mind, she *is* Queen Elizabeth, and seeing her while I'm at Faire actually does give me a thrill, just like it would have done during that actual time period. When Lord Talbot insisted that he was going to present me to the Queen, I told him to wait until I could get the perfume, and he agreed. For the entire season, I've been TERRIFIED of this interaction. I realize this is all pretend, but it's still a big deal to me because I do admire Mary (the actress) so very much.
Well, this was the last weekend of Faire, and I had received the perfume, so Lord Talbot decided on Saturday that it was time to do this thing. So he arranged for me to be presented, in front of the entire court, during the afternoon session. I spent the entire day squeaking everytime I thought about it, and I was shaking by the time 6 PM rolled around. Lord Talbot and I decided to play with the fact that I was so nervous, so I couldn't actually speak when I was presented... all I could do was squeak and nod lots. Luckily, Lord Talbot was able to "translate" from Peasant to English. LOL!
When she accepted the gift, she said something along the lines of "Many believe that being King or Queen means that you receive so many gifts that it must at some point become commonplace. God save me from ever reaching that place, for gifts such as these truly touch my heart and I shall never take them for granted."
It was fun, and I survived without falling on my face, and I giggled for the rest of the weekend. :D
But that's not the end of the story... When Lord Talbot stopped by the store on Sunday afternoon, he told me that when the Queen was on progress earlier that morning, she had stopped near one of the perfume shops and was discussing perfume oils with some of the customers. One of them asked which perfume she wore... and the Queen proceeded to tell them that the oil she was wearing was specially blended specifically for her by one of the shopmistresses of Felix Needleworthy's shop, and told them which scents were in it, and how much she was pleased with it and how honored by the gift... and she *was* actually wearing the perfume, too! :D
That's not the end of the story, either... I happened to run into Mary (in a baseball cap and t-shirt, which just hurts my head!) when we stopped for dinner last night. Although I've seen her from afar at the restaurant before, I've never actually spoken to her. Last night, she happened to be leaving just as I was coming in, so we nearly ran into each other. I decided that I might as well introduce myself to her... as soon as I said her name and she actually *looked* at me, she recognized me immediately, remembered my name, and thanked me for the perfume. She said that she was truly grateful and was trying to decide whether she wanted to wear it all the time or if she wanted to reserve it for use only when she was portraying Elizabeth. :)
I'm STILL grinning from ear to ear. :)