Queens of christmas

Mariah Carey loses 'Queen of Christmas' trademark bid : NPR

November 18, 20221:51 PM ET

Mariah Carey performs at the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in 2014 in New York City. Patent authorities have decided she can't be the only "Queen of Christmas." Charles Sykes/Charles Sykes/Invision/AP hide caption

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Charles Sykes/Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

Mariah Carey performs at the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in 2014 in New York City. Patent authorities have decided she can't be the only "Queen of Christmas."

Charles Sykes/Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

Mariah Carey is virtually synonymous with Christmas — her holiday hit, "All I Want For Christmas," has been a seasonal staple since 1994 and a reliable chart-topper in recent years.

Carey sought to make her reign official last year by filing a petition to trademark the title "Queen of Christmas," meaning that no one else would be able to use it.

Her company, Lotion LLC, wanted to use that branding — as well as the terms "Princess Christmas" and "QOC" — for a range of products, from fragrances and makeup to clothing, jewelry and dog accessories, according to trademark applications.

That effort proved controversial, as at least two other artists known for their seasonal songs publicly took issue with Carey laying claim to the throne: Darlene Love, who said David Letterman christened her Queen of Christmas nearly three decades ago, and Elizabeth Chan, who describes herself as "music's only full-time Christmas singer-songwriter."

Chan officially filed a motion in opposition to Carey's request earlier this year, on the basis that she herself had repeatedly been dubbed the "Queen of Christmas" and already used the brand "Princess of Christmas" in connection with her young daughter.

Carey's team stayed largely silent — legal filings show they filed several motions to extend proceedings in recent months, but did not file a response to Chan's objection by the fall deadline. NPR has reached out to Carey's publicist for comment.

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Earlier this week, the Trial Trademark and Appeal Board finally made a "judgment by default," rejecting Carey's trademark request.

Carey hasn't commented publicly on her lost trademark bid, but does appear willing to share the title: Last week, after Dolly Parton said in an interview that she was happy to be second in line to her, Carey tagged Parton in a Tweet calling her "The Queen of the World, The Queen of Christmas, The Queen of Mine!!"

And the decision hasn't stopped Carey from getting in the holiday spirit. Just this month, she released a children's book called The Christmas Princess as well as a new collection of holiday-inspired bath and body products.

Meanwhile, the other Christmas queens have expressed their relief that the title can be safely shared with anyone who wants it.

"Thank you, Lord!! Congrats to all the other Queen of Christmases around the world, living and whom have passed!" Love wrote on Facebook.

WilmerHale, the law firm representing Chan, described her win as "a complete victory" in a statement issued Tuesday.

"Mariah Carey's company was engaged in classic trademark bullying: trying to monopolize the title 'Queen of Christmas' with a trademark registration," said Louis Tompros, who led Chan's legal team. "It's important to stand up to bullies. That's what we helped do here. Now, because of what Elizabeth did, nobody can claim exclusive and permanent rights to the 'Queen of Christmas' title."

What to know about Chan, the Christmas singer who challenged Carey's claim

"It has been a year-long legal struggle, but I'm glad that justice has prevailed and that I can continue doing what I do best: bringing Christmas music and entertainment to the world," Chan said in a statement.

Chan has exclusively released music and products related to Christmas for the last 10 years, according to her court filing.

It also says she has used the "Princess of Christmas" branding for her daughter — who is named Noelle, the French word for Christmas — in connection with the sale and licensing of things like music, books and entertainment for the past five years.

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Chan says she's embraced the "Queen of Christmas" moniker dating back to at least 2014. That's also the headline of a 2018 New Yorker profile of Chan, which describes her as "America's most successful, and perhaps only, full-time Christmas-song singer-slash-composer."

Chan quit her executive-level job at Condé Nast in 2012 to pursue her dream of creating "a great Christmas standard," and spent nearly two years writing a Christmas song a day before a single from her first, self-funded and self-released album landed on the 2013 Billboard chart, according to the magazine.

She's released an all-original, all-Christmas album every year since. Her 12th album, "12 Months of Christmas," came out in October, and features several songs directly inspired by her trademark fight.

Chan told Vulture that she wrote "Giver" for the friend who helped her find lawyers, based on a conversation about her not being able to afford them. She also wrote a song for Tompros, the head of her legal team, who asked her whether she'd ever thought about writing a Christmas song for or about lawyers. It's called "The Santa Clause."

Chan's journey into the legal battle was somewhat indirect, as she explained to the publication. She first found out about Carey's efforts to trademark the term while she was going through the normal legal process ahead of the release of her 2021 spoken-word album Queen of Christmas. She didn't want any one person — not even herself — to hold that title exclusively.

"Everyone's very focused on the win, and very focused on Mariah, but I feel it's really important for people to understand my motivation in this was to really protect and save Christmas for generations after us," she told Vulture. "I always thought about the future of Christmas music and wanting to protect the genre to allow other artists like me to shepherd in Christmas music without anything in their way."

Chan also wanted to honor the Christmas queens that came before her, citing musicians like Karen Carpenter and Brenda Lee as well as Love and Carey. The title applies to people outside the music world too, she adds, from the Virgin Mary to winners of local Christmas pageants worldwide to her own grandmother.

"I mean, I was not the one who was trying to stop anybody else," Chan says. "I was just the one that stood up and said, 'Hey, you can't stop anybody else.' "

A Royal Queens Christmas

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11 Windsor Christmas Traditions You'll Definitely Want to Embrace

Think Christmas is all about tiaras, goldware, gourmet menus, and a royal speech? Well, this is partly true, but you should not think that on the main family holiday of the year, the Windsors do not give themselves the right to have fun, like ordinary people. We talk about 11 of the most fun and "mundane" Christmas traditions of the British royal family, which, despite the difference in dates, every Russian family can easily follow (we just think of the New Year instead of Christmas).

Start preparations in advance

This item is rather a reserve for the future, as the Queen begins her first preparations for Christmas already in August (that's right: "prepare the sleigh in the summer"). The thing is that the duties of the monarch, among other things, include the widespread distribution of Christmas cards to their relatives, best friends, as well as political partners of Great Britain. There are about 750 cards in total, each of which Elizabeth II personally signs (!). So it is not surprising that the first batch of the monarch begins to cook in the summer - during her annual vacation in Balmoral Castle. Some of them the Queen officially signs - "Elizabeth R." ("Regina" - from the Latin "queen"), somewhere she simply puts "Elizabeth", but under the congratulations for her cousins, cousins and oldest friends, the monarchy signs quite informally - "Lilibet".

The Queen has been accustomed to doing this since she was young.

The first decisions about what gifts the monarch will give to her staff, and which schools and churches will be lucky enough to receive Christmas trees from the royal court, also begin to be made at this time. In a word, time management - in all its glory. A great skill to master for the New Year.

Celebrate outside the city

Sandringham Palace - the Christmas residence of the royal family

A wonderful option for the happy owners of their own dachas - and, most importantly, very much in the spirit of the Windsors. During the holidays, the British royal family tries to retire to their inner circle and go away from London. Previously, the role of the Christmas residence was mostly played by the pompous and luxurious Windsor Castle, where during the war the young queen and her sister Margaret staged their famous performances. But since 1988 this function finally passed to Sandringham Palace, where only the closest relatives of the Queen come (the monarch holds a reception for a wider circle in early December at Buckingham Palace). Sandringham, oddly enough, is considered one of the smallest residences of the royal family. It can accommodate only 25 people - and that's if some of them agree to spend the night in the staff rooms (although for the most part - they have no choice).

By the way, despite the presence of a personal train, Elizabeth goes to her Christmas residence two weeks before the holiday on a regular train - along with ordinary citizens. A first-class ticket on such transport costs only $ 85, however, in order to repeat her feat, you will have to rent a whole car following her example (but these are already formalities).

Celebrate only with the family

A family holiday is a family holiday, and the Windsors are well aware of this. Neither friends nor distant relatives are ever invited to Sandringham (Elizabeth has already met them in Buckingham), nor even lovers. At one time, even Kate Middleton did not receive an invitation to celebrate Christmas in the family of the monarch, although she was in the status of a bride (on the other hand, for Prince Harry's beloved Meghan Markle, if you remember, they still found a place).

In any case, traditionally the right to celebrate the main holiday of the year with the Queen extends exclusively to her direct descendants and their spouses. That is why Princess Diana's relatives were never invited to Sandringham, just as the Middleton family is not invited today. An exception was periodically made only for Sarah Ferguson, the former wife of Prince Andrew (to please the young Beatrice and Eugenie) - and then the Queen settled her ex-daughter-in-law not in Sandringham itself, but in one of the cottages located on its territory.

Bring your own food

Do your guests bring homemade salads to the table? If so, then continue this wonderful tradition, because as strange as it may sound, the Windsors do the same. True, they themselves, of course, do not cook, placing this responsibility on their chefs. And yet, if one of the family members wants to bring something for dinner (for example, Prince Charles brings plums from his garden in Gloucestershire every year), the Queen graciously allows this dish to be put on the table.

Play street games

Harry and William play football on Christmas Eve. This was the only time the brothers had a chance to play on the same team, December 24, 2015

An excellent tradition that can not only unite the whole family, but also pass the tedious daytime hours before the holiday, when dinner is still being prepared, and review from year to year I don't want the same movies anymore. For our latitudes, it’s perfect: go to the skating rink, play snowballs, build a snowman, or go skiing into the forest. As for the British royal family, the Windsors have a great tradition of playing football on the morning of December 24 (Christmas Eve). Teams of two captains collide in a fight: Prince Harry (who pulls on the T-shirt of his favorite club Arsenal) and Prince William (he enters the field in the T-shirt of Aston Villa). Everyone can play with the grandchildren of Elizabeth: both relatives and employees of the staff.

By noon, tired players and enthusiastic fans gather for a celebratory tea party with mini-sandwiches (their size is always clearly adjusted and should not exceed the diameter of a penny coin). While the adults are talking, the children are decorating the Christmas tree. True, only the most obedient are awarded this honor, since Christmas toys are made of crystal from the era of Queen Victoria.

Giving ridiculous gifts

Of course, we remember that in Russia it is customary to find gifts under the tree on the morning of January 1st. In the UK, there is also such a day - the so-called Boxing Day (December 26), when both children and adults receive their surprises from Santa. But the Windsors, paying tribute to their German roots, exchange gifts on Christmas Eve, in the afternoon. And this, I must say, is a real show.

The fact is that in the British royal family it is not customary to give expensive surprises - on the contrary, the funnier and more awkward the gift, the better. It is known, for example, that on one of the holidays, Prince Philip received a pepper mill (and why should he?), Princess Diana once presented her friend Sarah with a leopard print bath rug, Kate Middleton presented Prince Harry with the popular toy Grow Your Own Girlfriend (a doll in the form of a naked girl that grows in size in the water), and Harry himself once ventured to give his dearest grandmother a shower cap, on which was written: “Well, isn’t our life a bastard ?!” ("Ain't Life a B*tch!").

Babies traditionally have more luck in this business. Eugenia and Beatrice, 1995

Prince William, 1998

In a word, even if German blood does not flow in your veins or you are used to giving more solid gifts, the tradition is still interesting - and, most importantly, low-cost.

Dressing up

All the rest of the time until the evening, guests are preparing for a festive banquet, for which a black-tie dress code is set: tuxedos for men and evening dresses to the floor for women. Traditionally, on this evening, ladies put on their best family jewelry, and their heads are crowned with magnificent tiaras. This is the culmination of Christmas fun: The Queen indulges in a glass of her favorite cocktail called Zaza (Dubonnay and Gin), Prince Charles in cherry brandy, and Harry and William indulge in locally produced apple cider. To heighten the pathos, the entire menu of the Christmas banquet is in French. Of course, we do not urge you to practice foreign names of Olivier and herring under a fur coat, but to add a touch of solemnity to your holiday and surprise your household, you can try to make cards with menu items at least in your native language.

Play charades and watch movies

As you can see, the main event in Sandringham takes place on December 24th. This is done so that every guest of the Queen can spend Christmas with his own family. On the morning of December 25, the Windsors go to two more obligatory services at St. Mary Magdalene Church, and then each of them is free to either leave Sandringham or stay here for another day.

This time for Elizabeth's family is the same as January 1 for us, when fireworks and dancing have already died down and a calm time for family solitude comes. Traditionally, the Windsors spend the rest of the day in quiet and rather mundane activities. For example, they play charades (they say that it is almost impossible to defeat the Queen), put together a big puzzle together, or sit in the ballroom where they watch some kind of movie from the projector (read: “Christmas movies for the right mood”).

Do not remove the Christmas tree until February

Finally, the well-worn joke about the heroic disposal of the New Year tree closer to spring has a real basis. Yes, despite the fact that after December 26 guests gradually begin to leave Sandringham, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh stay here until mid-February. All festive decorations remain in the palace until the same time. This is a very sweet tradition that prolongs the Christmas mood for all the staff, and also has great personal significance for Elizabeth herself: this is how the monarch commemorates her father, King George VI, who died at Sandringham on February 6, 1952 years old.

Break the rules (sometimes)

Finally, New Year's traditions would not be so sweet if occasionally there weren't daredevils who would make their own adjustments to them. In 2017, for example, the Windsors unanimously broke with the tradition of no brides and grooms and cordially invited Prince Harry's fiancée Meghan Markle to join them at Sandringham. This year, as it is believed, the mother of the Duchess of Sussex can also receive an invitation to the royal holiday. Despite the fact that the Queen does not traditionally invite relatives from her daughters-in-law to the party (the Middletons, for example, never received this honor, but only once joined the Windsors at the Christmas service), a pleasant exception can be made for Doria.

But not only Elizabeth can break traditions, but also, for example, the Dukes of Cambridge, because the interests of their own family, and, most importantly, their young children, for whom the schedule of Sandringham events can be too tiring, are always a priority for them . That is why they periodically refuse to come to the Queen, either arranging a quiet celebration at their former estate Anmer Hall, or leaving for the Duchess's parents in Berkshire ( read also : "12 royal traditions that violated Kate Middleton and Prince William").

The Cambridge family does not always attend the obligatory service for all Windsors at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene (this was the case in 2016, which, among other things, provided the royal family with the saddest Christmas in its entire modern history). However, for three Christmas holidays (from December 24 to 26), Kate and William always find a moment to honor their grandmother with their presence at least at one event. It is not surprising: after all, the Queen traditionally spends a lot of time and energy to ensure that all her Christmas preparations are a success.

Here are the Dukes of Cambridge responsibly attending a service at St. Mary Magdalene in 2015

Here they are attending a service at a church in Berkshire with the Middleton family in 2016

So the conclusion is the same: celebrate New Year and Christmas with a big family , but sometimes feel free to celebrate in the circle of only your closest ones.

Photo: Getty Images, Giphy

Marie Claire Editorial

12 Christmas Traditions of the British Royal Family

Royals

This year, the Royal Family's Christmas is different from previous years. Elizabeth II considered it inappropriate to gather relatives and spent the day alone with Prince Philip. But this does not prevent us from remembering the good Christmas traditions of the Windsors.

Tatler

January 7, 2021

Games

If you're wondering what the Windsors do when they get together in Norfolk for the holidays, here's the answer: they play charades. The absolute champion here, as they say, is Kate Middleton. But this year she will have a serious competitor - Meghan Markle's acting skills are also on top.

Princes William and Harry football match

On Christmas Eve, Princes William and Harry, along with the staff of Sandringham Palace, split into two teams and have a football match. William's team wears Aston Villa team socks, and Harry wears Arsenal.

Gifts

The Royal Family of Great Britain does not open gifts on Christmas itself, but on Christmas Eve, December 24, right after afternoon tea.

Church service

Christmas for the Windsors begins with a service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham. The turnout is obligatory for everyone - no one dares to argue with the queen on this issue.

Royal Family Reception at Buckingham Palace

A week before Christmas, Queen Elizabeth II gathers her entire large and influential family at Buckingham Palace. Journalists and photographers are not invited to the holiday at the residence of the monarchs, so one can only guess how the Windsors have fun this evening.

The Queen's Speech

Every Christmas since 1952, Elizabeth II has recorded a message for her subjects. At first it was broadcast on the radio, and in 1957 Her Majesty made her first congratulations on television.

Christmas Eve Dinner

Not only the family, but also other prominent figures of Great Britain are invited to this dinner. The Queen wears her finest diamonds, as does Kate Middleton. Guests are served Her Majesty's favorite cocktail, the Zaza.

Christmas trees

The marble hall of Buckingham Palace is decorated with three mighty fir trees. A Christmas tree is also put up at Sandringham Palace - they say the Queen even allows her grandchildren to help decorate it.

Train to Norfolk

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip traditionally spend New Year holidays at Sandringham Palace. The queen gets to her residence in Norfolk exclusively by train - this is a tradition that Elizabeth II strictly follows.

Christmas cards

About 750 paper cards depicting the royal family are sent every year by Elizabeth II to her friends and subjects. They say that Her Majesty signs the cards herself - she starts during her summer holidays in Balmoral. That's who really knows how to stretch the festive mood for several months.

Party season

It's hard to find a window in the UK royal family calendar for December. Almost every day, the Windsors have meetings with charitable foundations and organizations of which they are patrons. In the first two weeks of December 2018 alone, for example, Prince William and Kate Middleton managed to attend three such events, one of which took place in Cyprus, where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge flew to support the military separated from their families on Christmas.