[Culture] Monarch to Alliance: "If you don't mind, I will have my country back."

Monarch to Alliance: "If you don't mind, I will have my country back."

Chris Woods, The Colonial

When Shanxi was reunited with the rest of the galaxy, refugee Dame Elizabeth Frances Grey was in for a shock. "The moment we had reestablished contact with Earth, I wanted to know how Great Britain was fairing. I was appalled at what I found."

"The destruction in the wake of the war was almost unbelievable...but what was worse, we [Great Britain] had lost our Sovereign and Sovereignty." Grey had suspected Queen Victoria IV was among the victims of the Reaper onslaught. However, she had also expected that the new King or Queen would have taken her place on the throne. Instead, the Systems Alliance was running the country - and the rest of the world.

"It irked me, as a citizen with a British passport, that the upstarts [i.e. Systems Alliance] would have dared to assume power of one of the oldest monarchies on Earth," stated Grey.

Dame Grey always had an interest in the Royal family tree, even as a child. Her interest was understandable; she was, after all, "46th in line of succession" to the British throne.

“I felt it was my duty, as a British citizen, to find out where our rightful Monarch was,” she said, relating her search through tales of final stands, indoctrination, and brutal slaughter until the realization came upon her. “…after I had discounted Ferdinand - who went missing in action during the push for London - it dawned on me that my branch of the tree was next.”

In a surprising twist of fate, Dame Elizabeth Grey had become the heir she was looking for.

“It was overwhelming. One of course knows of one’s position in the line of succession, but I never dared to think of it as anything more than a curiosity.” Still, the next step was "obvious;" Grey announced her divine duty, and went to the local Alliance representative to politely ask for her country back. “That was the whole point of the exercise, after all, was it not?”

A Systems Alliance official speaking on condition of anonymity noted that “we get claims to any number of thrones every other week, but Mrs. Grey's is the probably the first with any level of credibility to it. Her paperwork checks out, as do the DNA tests; they both confirm her identity and her claim to the throne. In short, there’s little doubt in my mind that she’s in fact eligible to become the next Queen of England…except there’s no England anymore, like, legally.”

Dame Grey dissents. “The Alliance is unlawfully occupying British sovereign soil. They should leave as soon as possible and allow us to reestablish the British Parliament.”

The Colonial sincerely doubts that this was part of the Systems Alliance's Five-Year Plan.

I wasn't aware the SATAE's goals included the homogenization of human cultures.

Can SATAE at least homogenize out the part that says "rightful monarch" and "upstarts" with a straight face?

It's just being the great-great-whatever of some warlord. This culture is obviously dumb.

Hmmph. All I know is I'd rather have Ferdinand, who had the stones to stay in England for the duration, than some minted numpty who was off on some solar jaunt when the whole bloody universe decided to go mad.

Where does she get off, calling the Alliance a bunch of upstarts? Its not like they're the only damn reason England and her people aren't just a bloody memory, what with Admiral Anderson, who was English I might add, giving his life in London along with keeping Earth united during the Reaper occupation. Upstarts indeed.

You know wot I say? I say the Alliance should find Ferdinand or get the 47th+ to take the spot. Anyone else than this shaan piece of shite.

They're not you hilariously obtuse relic. I'm talking about the civilians or the people who normally reestablish the fundamentals of devastated countries after a war.

Seeing as it's a somewhat natural inclination for people who have had their nation effectively leveled and vast portions of their history literally wiped off the face of the Earth to want to, oh I don't know, rebuild their national identity. Of which the British monarchy is a part.

And what better way to do that than to actually get a system in place to do so, instead of simply relying on an overextended, starved-for-resources PR pariah like SATAE?

Shrell, if nothing else the bleating you expect from her would drown out some of the Alliance's comedy of failure.

I'm not saying that the idea itself is inherently circumspect, far from it, merely that, if you're going to execute it at all, she's very clearly the wro-


...I could see that.

Sounds like a bad situational comedy you'd see on the holo.

"Honey, I've Been Cheated Out Of My Birthright!"

Kind of thing you'd see on DDS.

I'd bet you 5 credits it will be before the week is over.

nah

suitsack lineup's more tightly packed'n a varren wit' its ass stitched shut

Given how the British Monarchy, from my understanding from all these posts, functions in a cultural and social guiding sense, I can only see potential danger. Especially from someone who declares the Alliance in "occupying" their soil. Lady, they're occupying it because its been practically destroyed. They're still rebuilding the place and from last I heard they're barely even done with like 25 percent. You wanna rule a ruined hellhole? You'd have no say in the reconstruction matters barring cultural and social guidance and... you're kind of a prudish uptight little bosh'tet so I'm not sure if I like the idea of you being in charge of that.

I guess I should be thankful I apparently live in the UNAS currently. Unless she suddenly decides to retake the 13 colonies I should be okay for the time being.

Man, Vik, you must have been living on Earth for ages to know so much about human history and obscure politics. Please, tell us more!

Agreed, from everything I've heard some of the Brits were claiming that he was Arthur reborn or something like that. Of course, people were claiming all sorts of messianic insanity during the occupation to my understanding. The guy's basically made out like a saint from some of the conversations I've gotten: never abandoning the men, eating last, refusing care before others, etc. Of course, verification is needed but who doesn't like good stories?

What a pity. Could use a man like that now.



She's entitled and throwing a bit of a fit to get power points with anyone who would support her claim. Telling SATAE or the Alliance in general to shove it is quite popular if you haven't noticed.

Besides, even if the monarchy was restored in any fashion it still would be subservient to SATAE anyway, at least until the transition is over.


First of all, what? Second of all, I'd imagine your biggest concern would be getting whatever license you have to live there revoked, not some monarch suddenly deciding to reform the British Empire of Yore.

Unless someone is going to declare themselves the rightful Caesar of Rome. That's when you should be really worried.

guess what

So, wait, the paperwork on that finally went through? Thank god. Do you know how LONG I've been waiting to clear that check?

five minutes?

Yes, and that was FIVE MINUTES TOO LONG.

Honestly, it's getting so hard to buy a political office these days.

I was making a joke, I didn't think I needed to specify that. As for my liscence, I got it the first day I came here, because they needed tech heads for reconstruction and I'm one.

And really I only know so much because I've been reading and I did some data restore for the Smithsonian back during the initial reconstruction. I read because I find a lot of human programming on HV stupid... and my apartment's set is like from their stone age or something. And I don't really consider myself an expert, just curious. Humans are weird, no offence, I just don't get a lot of their culture.

Like, they had something call a "Funky Chicken", I'm not sure if it is a kind of animal they have or not, all I know is it seems incredibly ridiculous in the terms of how it moves. I don't know maybe I'm just interested because I feel I owe it to some one to learn about her culture. She was so interested in mine after all. And she can't tell me more about it now so, yeah...

Plus I've only really been reading about American history for the most part, I'm only commenting on the topic at hand in passing from what I understand from everyone else bringing this stuff up.

Wonderful.

I'm all for restoring the monarchy-it is after all a potent symbol of British culture-but this woman doesn't appear to be...queen material. It would be good for a laugh though.

Sorry, I was in the OR.

England has not legally existed since 1707, you cultureless cretins. The Act of Union dissolved the kingdoms of England and Scotland and created the Kingdom of Great Britain, which became the United Kingdom in 1801 with the addition of Ireland. So there is no such position as the "Queen of England"; there is only the Queen of Great Britain. And since the UK practices le mort saisit le vif, Lady Grey automatically inherited the throne the moment Victoria IV died.

So as it stands, with or without Alliance recognition, the British have been under the reign of Queen Elizabeth III. Congratulations on your accession, Your Majesty. Enjoy your unrecognised dominion over a sparsely-populated slag heap. And here's hoping you come to a better end than the last Lady Grey to ascend to the throne.

Are you familiar with the concept of a line of succession? It does not matter how far down the line you are. If everyone above you is dead, then you succeed. If the entire government of the former UNAS was wiped out, would you deny the legitimacy of whoever became president simply because they were distant in the order of succession?

Considering there nine people on the order of succession for what was the old UNAS government, I can't really say. Realistically, if she was say within the top twenty I doubt many would have that big of a problem, but when you are 46th in line it sounds a little ridiculous.