Royal Swanning

This just in from our "quaint and quirky rituals of the British Isles" files: Queen Elizabeth II this week became the first monarch in recorded history to watch as her staff began the annual job of counting her swans.

Her swans? Yes, her swans. All unmarked mute swans in open water belong to the reigning monarch, aka the Seigneur of the Swans. According to the BBC, the Swan Upping ceremony dates back to the 12th century, when the crown announced it owned all unmarked swans. Why? For royal banquets and feasts, of course. The royals no longer eat the swans (with or without the queen's favorite Tabasco), but the ceremony has lived on for conservation purposes.

So this week the 83-year-old queen sailed up the Thames on the old-fashioned steamer Alaska to watch the weighing and measuring of the swans and the counting of the cygnets, or swan babies.

Her Majesty’s Swan Marker — yes, that’s really his title — was up at 5 a.m. alongside a scarlet-clad flock of Swan Upping men to make sure everything was just perfect for the queen’s visit.

It was. They counted and weighed about 120 newborn swans. Long may they swim.

(Photo courtesy Plumper via Wikimedia Commons)