Stiff Upper Lip: Madame Tussaud Unveils Amazingly Lifelike Queen Elizabeth Statue

The famous "stiff upper lip" of the House of Windsor was on Royal display in London yesterday, as famed wax museum Madame Tussaud's revealed its amazingly lifelike statue of Queen Elizabeth.

The statue, commissioned exclusively to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee this year, is the 23rd replica of the monarch to be created by the world famous museum, but many believe this to be the most realistic portrait yet. Royal subjects will be hard pressed to select which is the real Queen and which is the wax replica in photographs, as the artists responsible for the sculpture spared no detail in creating the master work.

The Queen is wearing her official State dress made of pure white silk, satin and lace covered with silver-colored sequins and bearing a subtle scalloped hemline. Atop her perfect silver coiffure, she is wearing an exquisite replica of the State Diadem crown, a circlet of diamonds, created in 1820, which the Monarch wears during the procession to and from the State Opening of Parliament each year. She also wore the stunning crown on her Coronation Day in 1953, for the procession to Westminster Abbey.

The Queen's husband, Prince Philip, stands guard beside his wife, looking dapper in his tuxedo with a red jacket and royal sash. 


The Queen will have a very full calendar over the next few weeks, with many activities planned to mark her 60th year of rule, as well as the start of the Summer Olympic Games in London.

Fit for a Queen: Ugly Eel from Great Lakes to Be Baked in Pie for Queen's Jubilee

"Okay, I'm not very photogenic. But the Queen wants to eat me!"

A rather hideously ugly creature from the Great Lakes has received a Royal Command Performance from Queen Elizabeth II.

The creature, known as a sea lamprey, is actually quite the menace around the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, but is considered something of a delicacy in the UK, where icky cuisine is the norm. The parasitic lamprey was once common in Great Britain, but is now on the endangered species list and is protected.

The city of Gloucester, which has given the pie as a gift to the monarch since the Middle Ages, made a request for the lamprey to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, which was only too happy to supply them with a case of the ugly beasts. The commission has already sent two pounds of the slimy eel taken from Lake Huron to the UK, where they will be baked into the archaic lamprey pie dish to help Queen Elizabeth celebrate her Diamond Jubilee, which will mark the 60th year of her monarchy.

Sarrah Maccey of the Gloucester Folk Museum says that she and a royally approved chef will bake the pie, and she is researching ancient local recipes. One traditional 15th-Century recipe calls for the lamprey to be cooked in a sauce of red wine, vinegar, cinnamon and its own blood, then baked in a thick, handmade crust. Yum!

The Queen is a real trooper of course, and will undoubtedly consume the "pie" with a pleasant smile on her face!