UK to name part of Antarctica Queen Elizabeth Land
Part of Antarctica is to be named Queen Elizabeth Land in honour of the Queen, it was announced as she made a historic visit to Downing Street.
A guide to Queen Elizabeth Land
Twice the size of the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth Land is a strange, beautiful and dangerous world of towering mountains and infinite ice.
Inland is a desolate vision of vast peaks and massive glaciers inching towards the coast. But the shoreline is the scene for the delicate waddling of penguins and the lumbering of elephant seals.
The profusion of wildlife is among the most astounding of the natural world. Geographically closest to South America, this slice of Antarctica is where the British presence has been strongest for the past fifty years with a long record of brave expeditions and Union flags planted in vicious gales.
The naming of Queen Elizabeth Land is another reminder - in the centenary year of the death of Captain Scott - that Britain has not forgotten its stake in this distant land.
She is the first monarch since 1781 - during the US war of independence - to attend a cabinet meeting.
She met ministers, who gave her a set of 60 place mats, to mark her Diamond Jubilee after 60 years on the throne.
The Queen joined the cabinet while they were updated on a range of forthcoming parliamentary business.
After leaving Downing Street she went with Foreign Secretary William Hague to the Foreign Office, where it was announced that the southern part of the British Antarctic Territory had been named.
The territory, covering 169,000 sq miles - almost twice the size of the UK - was previously unnamed, the Foreign Office said.
"This is a fitting tribute at the end of Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee year, and I am very proud to be able to announce it as she visits the Foreign and Commonwealth Office," Mr Hague said.
The Foreign Office said there was a precedent - there was already a Princess Elizabeth Land in East Antarctica, which was named after the Queen before she took the throne, and in 2006 an unnamed mountain range in the Antarctic peninsula was named the Princess Royal Range in tribute to the Queen's daughter.
At the cabinet meeting, the Queen sat in the PM's usual seat - with Mr Cameron and Mr Hague sitting on either side of her.
It is believed to be the first time a monarch has attended peace-time cabinet since George III in 1781. George I ceased to chair cabinet in 1717.
The Queen's father, King George VI, attended war cabinet during the Second World War.
The cabinet, which usually meets weekly, is the group of 20-30 senior ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and decide government policy
Her car, accompanied by motorcycle outriders, arrived shortly after 10:05 GMT.
Members of the cabinet had already arrived, while a man with a broom had swept the red carpet, laid in front of the door of Number 10 for the occasion.
Jokes
Once inside, the Queen was introduced to each of the government's senior ministers in turn, as they bowed or curtseyed.
She shared jokes with Chancellor George Osborne, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond, and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.
After the Queen and the cabinet had taken their seats, Mr Cameron formally welcomed her to the meeting and outlined the items of business on the agenda.
It began with Chief Whip Sir George Young talking about the change to royal succession rules, to allow a first-born girl to become head of state even if she has a younger brother.
There were also updates on the forthcoming parliamentary business and Ken Clarke spoke about prospective justice measures.
There was a much larger than usual press pack opposite No 10, although no questions were shouted at the Queen as she arrived.
'Constitutional landmark'
While the Queen is head of state, her involvement in day-to-day political decisions is largely formal.
The prime minister visits her regularly for an audience where he updates her on events, while she is also expected to rubber-stamp ministerial decisions at meetings of the Privy Council.
The Queen plays a central ceremonial role in the state opening of Parliament, when she travels by ornate horse-drawn coach to the House of Lords to read out a speech prepared by ministers unveiling details of their legislative plans.
She also retains the power to appoint the prime minister.
Rodney Barker, professor of government at the London School of Economics, said her attendance at the cabinet was "daft", because "it will mean potentially the Queen will know things she is not supposed to know and hear things she is not supposed to hear".
But Professor Jane Ridley, biographer of Edward VII, disagreed, telling BBC Radio 4's Today it was "testimony of the Queen's ability to elevate the monarchy above politics" that she could attend cabinet.
It was a "constitutional landmark", she added.
Former Cabinet Secretary Lord O'Donnell told BBC Radio 4 that he thought the visit was the "right thing to do" - the Queen was above politics, "for the whole country, for everyone".
"I'm sure cabinet want to do this because they want to say thank you. I mean, I've always viewed the Queen as kind-of the ultimate public servant. You think what she's done during her jubilee period and they just want to say thank you," he added.
He said that there had been other people attending cabinet in the past - such as business bosses during regional cabinet meetings, and someone like Lord Coe for presentations on specific events, in his case the Olympics.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20757382
