Tag Archives: Royal Family

Happy 90th Birthday to The Queen and memories of Ooty

We have been posting about memories the Royal Tour has been bringing back and a post on the Queen’s 90th birthday is along similar lines. It reminds us of a time when we lived in Ooty, in the Nilgiris, or Blue Mountains, in South India. Ooty_Crop The Mountains in Ooty are not quite as high as the Himalayas, but are very pleasant and are also known for their beauty, the lake and tea estates, amongst other things. Picking strawberries, Plums from the plum trees in the back, peaches in a friend’s garden, picnicking on the picturesque spots such as Doddabetta and Lamb’s Rock, visiting nearby elephant sanctuary in Kodaikanal, travelling up using the narrow gauge Nilgiri ‘Blue Hills’ train, and enjoying beautiful flowers including hydrangeas and morning glory in the garden is a fond memory.
Picturesque Emerald Lake
Picturesque Emerald Lake
As children we were intrigued with the Queen’s head being featured on British stamps, (as most other stamps we came across were pretty varied)-the only difference appeared to be the colours of the stamps. These consistently appeared from time to time as and when new stamps were issued.  Quite similar to those stamps, the quiet dignity with which Her Majesty carries on with her duties year after year (several of them in any given day), almost seems to tie in with consistent regularity of the appearance of those stamps. Having seen the Royal family constantly equated to ‘any other family’ and knowing that a lot more is expected of them despite this ‘equation’, we would like to mark the Queen’s 90th birthday with sincere congratulations. As quoted by someone quite rightly on being the longest reigning Monarch, the Queen has had ‘a singular reign, and a singularly successful reign at that’. And we think it is fitting that we use the image that made the stamps from our childhood in the Nilgiri Hills so intriguing and unwaveringly constant. Happy birthday, Your Majesty!  (All images of the queen Courtesy Twitter; images of Ooty, Courtesy Wikipedia)

The Royal Tour and Handblock Prints!

Its lovely to see the Royal Tour of India going so well-it looks like it is with sheer delight that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have taken to the bright and beautiful country that is India if the images on BBC News/Daily Mail/Hello Magazine/NDTV/Tatler are anything to go by! We love this picture of  the Duchess in the hand block print dress in Tatler the best! (Photos of the Duchess Courtesy Tatler) You can see more pictures of their tour on BBC News here The first day of the Royals Tour in India didn’t just involve floral garlands and meeting celebrities from Bollywood, but also visiting the site of the Mumbai attacks in 2008 including the famous Taj Mahal Hotel. Jasmine White London Handblock printed designsWhat caught our eye most, and we can’t help it, is the beautiful array of dresses worn by the Duchess, including the lovely hand block printed dress which we think is very elegant. Its in keeping with our ethos of an ‘artisanal chiclifestyle-which is true of Jasmine White London product ranges-both homeware and attire which promotes ethical production values and allows rural communities to survive.  We recently launched new designs in Ikat and Hand Block prints, the Gaia, Freya and Laxmi range and are delighted to see some similar designs on the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton. Our hand block print range is coming soon…so email us if you would like to reserve any items before they arrive on enquiries@jasminewhitelondon.com  hand block colour napkins Laxmi make up bags