Sandringham time

Sandringham time is the name given to the idiosyncratic alterations that King Edward VII made to the timekeeping at the royal estate of Sandringham. This time corresponds to UTC+0:30, and was used between the years 1901 to 1936.

Contrary to rumour, it was not begun to assist Queen Alexandra, who was constantly late,[1] but to "create" more evening daylight for hunting in the winter.

The King ordered that all the clocks on the estate be set half an hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. In later years the practice was also observed at Windsor and Balmoral Castle.[2] The custom of Sandringham time continued after the death of Edward, through the reign of his son George V. However, because of the confusions that the time difference caused, which were heightened during George's final hours, Edward VIII abolished the tradition during his brief reign. Neither George VI nor Elizabeth II chose to restore the tradition.

References

  1. ↑ Vickers, Hugo, Elizabeth: The Queen Mother (Arrow Books/Random House, 2006) p.129
  2. ↑ David Prerau (2005). Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press. ISBN 1-56025-655-9. The British version, focusing on the UK, is Saving the Daylight: Why We Put the Clocks Forward. Granta Books. ISBN 1-86207-796-7.


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, January 18, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.