Losing Queen Elizabeth II was a blow to all of the Commonwealth countries. I grew up singing God Save the Queen and reciting the Lord's Prayer every morning before classes started. Every classroom or government office had/has a portrait or picture of her on the wall. Saw her face on all the currency in Canada. She will be missed.
In the spirit of the start of this thread I'll post a picture of this one. Bear with me, it may have a tenuous connection to QE II, or at least her family. It is a 16 bore James Purdey bar in wood hammer gun, #2 of a pair, with an unusual push forward underlever completed in 1877 for the Baron A. Rothschild. It was later returned for cleaning by F.R. Knollys. I reached out to the Rothschild Archive in London to see if they could help fill in the blanks. I was surprised the archivist, Justin Cavernelis-Frost, took the time to do a bit of research and came back with this.
"If the shotgun was purchased in England, it may possibly have been Sir Anthony Nathan de Rothschild Bt. (1810-1876). Anthony’s country estate was Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire, where he was a noted ‘countryman’ and owner of race-horses. The ‘F.E Knolly’ may have been Francis Knollys, 1st Viscount Knollys, (1837 -1924), a British courtier who in 1862, he became Secretary to the Treasurer to the Prince of Wales. In 1870, he was appointed Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales, an office he held until the Prince, Edward, became King in 1901, afterwards serving as Private Secretary to the Sovereign until 1913. The Knollys and the Rothschilds may have known each other through the management of Royal finances. However if the date is 1877, Anthony died in 1876. It is possible that the gun was ordered before his death and delivered afterwards; and thus given to Knollys as gift."
King Edward VII was Queen Elizabeth II's great grandfather. After his death in 1910 Knollys stayed on as principal secretary to the new king, King George V, until 1913. So, a mystery. Was it as the archivist thought above? Or did Knollys use his name when he returned the gun for cleaning for his King in 1905? I don't suppose they would use the Kings name if it was a gift from a banker
. I guess I'll never know. I do know it is one damn fine and well balanced grouse gun that fits me well! So, thanks to them for that.