They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace...

La Wiki recounts, 'Child actress, Ann Stephens, (1931 - 1966), was just nine years old when she recorded this song during World War II. The poem is taken from A.A. Milne's 1924 collection, "When We Were Very Young". Music by the Beeb's Harold Fraser-Simson'.

Listen to her diction, mes bloggy chums! Comme la Reine - Like the Queen, en effet, 'Plums firmly in the mouth', n'est-ce pas? And yet, still beautiful and poignant and touching...

My favourite aunty - Stella, who died from child-frightening cancers, when I was but thirteen, had this single when I was a nipper, for her much-loved son, David, my beloved cousin, 'My Coz' of Shakespeare and probably Dickens' fame, in fact...

And we played it, and sang it, and loved it, and I was drawn into this innocent-romantic world of Christopher Robin and his beloved Alice... And their trip to Buckingham Palace...

I found it spell-binding...

And I just remembered it, recently, when my mind had turned to our, David's and my, childhoods and our innocence...

And I found it on Youtube a few days ago, and was immediately transported back to my tender youth, when we all thought we were invincible, and that we would live forever, and that the world held untold pleasures and secrets for us, that we needed only to breathe in to experience...

Even my husband, GJ, remembered this tune from his childhood...

And far from today, with t'Internet and its many and multifarious wonders, we had no idea how far the love of this little ditty, based on a poem by AA Milne about his son, and his adventures, had spread...

AA Milne's son was called Christopher Robin, and featured in the Winnie the Pooh tales, now legends... (Father and son had a troubled relationship, it would be fair to say... Perhaps more another day, mes bloggy Piglits...)

So far from death, so distanced from diseasal and devastation, we were all then, non?...

I hope you like hearing it, my loves. It is so very touching...

B u c k i n g h a m P a l a c e

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
Alice is marrying one of the guard.
"A soldier's life is terribly hard,"
Says Alice.

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
We saw a guard in a sentry-box.
"One of the sergeants looks after their socks,"
Says Alice.

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
We looked for the King but he never came.
"Well, God take care of him, all the same,"
Says Alice.

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
They've great big parties inside the grounds.
"I wouldn't be King for a hundred pounds,"
Says Alice.

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
A face looked out, but it wasn't the King's.
"He's much too busy a-signing things,"
Says Alice.

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
"Do you think the King knows all about me?"
"Sure to, dear, but it's time for tea,"
Says Alice

Words by AA Milne

Christopher Robin was based upon the author A. A. Milne's own son, Christopher Robin Milne. Later Christopher was to say, "It seemed to me almost that my father had got where he was by climbing on my infant shoulders, that he had filched from me my good name and left me nothing but empty fame. One of the poems, Vespers, was said by Christopher Milne as, "the one work that has brought me over the years more toe-curling, fist-clenching, lip-biting embarrassment than any other".

An arrangement of one of the poems, Buckingham Palace, was first recorded by Ann Stephens, a United Kingdom actress, popular in the 1950s. She was born in London. In July 1941. She recorded several songs including, "Changing Guard at Buckingham Palace," which often featured on the BBC Light Programme Children's Favourites....

So, for beloved Christophers the world over...