A FAMOUS BUILDING IN LONDON

Buckingham Palace is the Queen's official and main royal London home. It has been the official London residence of Britain's monarchy since 1837. Queen Victoria was the first monarch to live there.

Buckingham Palace is the home of the Queen and Prince Philip, the Duke of York (Prince Andrew) and the Earl and Countess of Wessex (Prince Edward and his wife) and their daughter.

Buckingham Palace is also an office used also for the administrative work for the monarchy.

When the Queen is at home, you can see her royal flag on top of Buckingham Palace. It never flies at half staff.

Five regiments of Foot Guards guard the Palace. They wear red jackets and tall, furry hats called bearskins.

When the guards come on duty, there is a ceremony called the Changing of the Guard.

THE ROYAL FAMILY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; born 21 April 1926) is the Queen regnant of sixteen independent sovereign states known informally as the Commonwealth realms. As a constitutional monarch, she is politically neutral and by convention her role is largely ceremonial.

Elizabeth married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in 1947. The couple has four children and eight grandchildren.

The most famous member of the Royal Family is, maybe, Lady Di who was married to Prince Charles. She performed a lot of social and charity activities and people in England loved her very much. Her life was full of controversy when she decided to divorced the Prince and start a new life. Love affairs of the Prince made that England loved her even more. She died in a car accident and since then she became more famous.

The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Members of the royal family belong to the House of Windsor, since 1917.

Buckingham Palace is where the Queen lives.

RUGBY, A VERY SPECIAL SPORT IN ENGLAND

Rugby is a sport that was born in England. It is very popular there. There exist no rigid clothes authorised that can be used as protection. Rugby players is characterised by the respectful attitude for the rules. The decisions of the referee are hardly discussed by the players. Besides, sociability is encouraged, above all at the end of every match between the players of a team and the opponents in a meeting called third period together with the referees and part of the public to talk about the match.

It consists of two teams of fifteen players that have to score goals with a ball. The opponents have to stop the others in several ways. Sometimes rugby seems a hard game. The objective of the game is to gain more points than the opposing team within the allotted time of play. A tie is called if the scores are equal at the end of play.

THE SPANISH ROYAL FAMILY

Spain is a Parlimentary System with a Constitutional Monarchy. This is similar to the system in Great Britain. The King is the head of the state and as such, represents Spain internationally.

The Spanish Constitution limits the authority of the King (and all future Monarchs) to mostly ceremonial powers.

King Juan Carlos I is the current ruler of Spain. He particularly enjoys skiing and sailing.

Queen Sofía was born in Athens. In addition to her royal duties the Queen spends a lot of time in social and charity activities.

Prince Felipe is the 3rd child of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophía. His royal title is Prince of Asturias. Like his father he spent time at the military academies of the Army, Navy and Air Force. Also like his father he became a military pilot. The Prince has many relatives. You might be one of his relatives.

On May 22, 2004, the Prince married, Letizia Ortiz who used to be a former newscaster. She is not of royal blood, but upon marrying the Prince became the Princess of Asturias.

I LIVE IN A DETACHED HOUSE

A detached house is a free-standing residential building. Most of them are built on lost with a garden surrounding the house. Newer homes in North America have attached garages, often facing the street.

Typically only members of a single family live in this type of house. One advantage of living in a house like this is that the entire space around the building is private to the owner and family. One disadvantage is that having a detached house costs a lot of money.

A single-detached house in Western culture usually has at least a living room, a kitchen, a bedroom and a bathroom (with a bathtub or a shower, a toilet...). They have also a hall, a dining room, a family room (a casual living room with everything we need to relax), a laundry room, astudy (with desks, computers, etc.)

Other types of houses are: cottage, bungalow, villa and mansion.

MY DAILY ROUTINES

My name is Sara. I live in Barcelona. A day in my life is very interesting. I do a lot of things.

At eight o´clock I wake up and I have breakfast. I always drink a cup of milk and eat some biscuits. At a quarter to nine I go to school because my lessons begin at nine o´clock. At half past two I have lunch; my mother cooks very well and I always eat really good food. After lunch I watch TV or play computer games with my brother.

At a quarter past four I study and do my homework. Later, I go to the pavilion to train, I play basketball and I´m very good at it. Then I have a shower and I go home with my father. At nine o´clock I have dinner and at half past nine I read a bit and I go to bed.

I love weekends because I don´t study. On Saturdays mornings I play basketball with my team and on Sundays I go to visit my grandparents. They live in a very big house and I have there a lot of toys and things to do. I enjoy it a lot.

Sometimes, my parents take me to the cinema. I love going to the cinema and eating popcorn.