Advice: Just close your eyes and think of England (the Empire)

[Victor Steinbok]

Well, searches reveal little other than some overlap with Garson, but 
the prevalent urban legend seems to be

"Queen Victoria telling her daughters, shortly before their wedding 
nights: Lie back, grit your teeth, and think of the Empire! And 
remember, it happened to the Queen!"

A more complete unsupported claim for 1912:

" journal entry by Lady Hillingdon (1857-1940), first published in 1912 
- 'When I hear his steps outside my door I lie down on my bed, close my 
eyes, open my legs, and think of England'."

May this will give you a few ideas.

     VS-)

On 10/1/2014 3:48 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole wrote:
> Here are a set of matches. Many of the dates are from GB and are
> unverified. The examples in the QI article are verified with paper,
> scans, or archive text (though two are from quotation references,
> i.e., indirect, at this time).
>
> A three part version similar to LH's suggestion appeared in 1977, apparently.
>
> 1943 just close your eyes and think of England
> 1955 just close your eyes and think of England
> 1963 I lie still and think of a new way to trim a hat
> 1968 I shut my eyes tight and thought of the Empire
> 1971 remain still and think of England
> 1971 Lie still and think of England
> 1972 I lie down on my bed, close my eyes, open my legs and think of England
> 1974 Lie still and think of the Empire
> 1977 Lie still and close your eyes, dear, and think of England
> 1978 lie still and think of your gods
> 1979 Lie back and think of the Empire
> 1986 Lie back, close your eyes, think of England...
> 1999 Lie back and think of Belgium
>
> The 1943 cite is about kissing. All the other cites appear to be about coitus.
>
> The 1972 cite includes the unsupported assertion that the quotation is
> from a private journal in 1912.
>
> Garson

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