King Of England Research Articles

Revisiting Charles Perrault’s Iconic “Bluebeard” Serial Killer in Modern French Variants

“Bluebeard” (ATU 321: Maiden-Killer), a fairy tale about a wealthy noble man and serial killer, is the most gruesome of Charles Perrault’s fairy tales. Bluebeard epitomizes evil and horror. In Perrault’s tale, Bluebeard’s evilness is linked to patriarchy and power, as symbolized by the villain’s iconic blue beard. Historically linked to Henry VIII (1491–1547), King of England, Bluebeard has also been associated with Breton commander Gilles de Rais who was hanged for sorcery and satanic abuse. This article examines how contemporary francophone “Bluebeard” variants refashion and redefine evil and whether they contain any new morals linked to evilness. Do they depict Bluebeard as a satanic, intrinsic force of evil or do they portray him in a less Manichean manner, as contemporary tales tend to do with monsters? Starting with Perrault’s famous tale, this article reveals how Bluebeard, the evil mass murderer figure and polygamist, is recast in a variety of contemporary francophone texts from Morocco, Belgium and France, with retellings by Michel Tournier (1981), Marie Darrieussecq (2002), La Barbe Bleue (Bluebeard) (2009), Amélie Nothomb (2012), Tahar Ben Jelloun (2014), Jacqueline Kelen (2014), and Cécile Coulon (2015). These modern variants illustrate Elliott Oring’s ideas about comparison and cultural context (see Oring 1986). A discussion of various French contemporary versions with a special emphasis of Ben Jelloun’s Moroccan retelling of “Bluebeard” open avenues for cross-cultural dialogue, highlighting how this tale evolves to fit different cultural contexts and continues to resonate today.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists should become British, not Royal.

The royal charter of the Royal College of Psychiatrists is generally taken to enhance its status. However, the concept of a hereditary monarchy is intellectually indefensible and the realities of the British monarchy exacerbate inequalities in the UK. The connection is particularly problematic for psychiatrists because of their role in the compulsory detention and treatment of patients. The Royal affiliation can only serve to emphasise the power inequalities in society associated with these activities. College members should feel free to discuss whether this situation should continue or whether we should be British rather than Royal.

Responsibility, Sustainability, and Threat: The Framing of Climate Change by King Charles III

The issue of climate change is reflective of a cornucopia of interconnected variables, which involve political, societal, as well as ethical and moral considerations associated with empathy, responsibility, sustainability, and solidarity (Sadler-Smith & Akstinaite 2022). Due to these reasons, research in climate change discourse has gained currency in the present-day linguistic and mass media studies. One of the means of exploring how corporate and political actors view the issue of global climate change involves framing, which is copiously applied in linguistic, mass media, and discourse-related research directions (Gillings & Dayrell 2024; Schlichting 2013). To-date, however, little is known about how climate change discourse is framed by the current British monarch King Charles III. This contribution presents a qualitative study that explores the way climate change discourse is framed by King Charles III. The study involves a corpus of speeches on the topic of climate change delivered by King Charles III from 2005 to 2023. The corpus was analysed qualitatively in line with the framing methodology developed by Entman (1993, 2004, 2007). The analysis revealed that climate change was framed as A 2 Degree World, Deforestation, Responsibility, Risk, Sustainability, Threat, and Urgency. The findings and their discussion are further described in the article.

The Creation of State Anniversaries: James VI and I and the Politics of Thanksgiving

Abstract Religious anniversaries ordered by the state—by the monarch, royal council or parliament—were observed in England and Ireland from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. These have been studied chiefly as occasions for special sermons and popular festivities, the expression of English or Irish Protestant national identity, or the pursuit of party controversies. But examination of both the original establishment of state anniversaries by James VI and I, with three appointed during the short period from 1600 to 1605, and the principal documents published for these occasions, the orders and the forms of prayer, brings different perspectives. The anniversaries were British in scope. The first was originally ordered in Scotland, where James developed a politics of thanksgiving that he subsequently re-applied in England and Wales, with anniversaries which were later duplicated in Ireland. The king’s immediate purposes were to assist the management of political and ecclesiastical difficulties, and to advance a closer union of his Scottish and English kingdoms. His long-term aim was to increase the authority and the godly claims of the Stuart dynasty. This promotion of a divine-right British monarchy remained central to the special English and Irish church services which were conducted each year during the following centuries. In so far as the anniversaries came to be concerned with national identities or party causes, these were in tension with the texts and meanings of their religious services.

Sir William Capell and A Royal Chain: The Afterlives (and Death) of King Edward V

AbstractIt is generally assumed that the memory of Edward V, king of England, was an important part of the politics and culture of the century following his disappearance and probable murder in 1483. This article considers the material culture associated with Edward and contributes to an understanding of his fate and how it was viewed in the reigns of Richard III, Henry VII, and beyond. In stark contrast to the experience of other elite figures in the period, Edward's memory was not promoted and supported through any of the potential lieux de mémoire which might have been preserved, created, or adapted for the purpose. The decades to the middle of the sixteenth century saw little if anything by way of an emerging tradition of visual presentations of the king. There was no indication of the emergence of physical locations in which his memory might be cultivated, and textual references remain sparse. A previously overlooked reference to Edward's chain, in the possession of the Capell family early in the sixteenth century, illustrates the remarkably limited interest in Edward as a personality and in his fate in the years after his disappearance. And while there is a clear possibility that the chain came to the Capell family in some neutral way, as the king's property was distributed in the aftermath of Edward's disappearance, there is also the possibility that it came as a result of his murder – and through the Capells’ connection with the alleged murderer, Sir James Tyrell.

The Cruciality of Self-Determination on James Baldwin’s Bruce and the Spider

This paper exposes the crucial points of self-determination in the flash fiction of James Baldwin entitled Bruce and the Spider. The short story is a narrative that describes a brief moment in the life of the main character, Bruce, a Scottish king who was defeated many times by the King of England. When he saw a spider weaving its web in the corner of his retreat, this moment became symbolic of Bruce's emotional journey and self-determination within himself and the kingdom of Scotland. In this flash fiction, it is witnessed how Bruce struggles amid his repeated failures. Using qualitative research method, this article illustrates small changes in perception and courage and asks questions about how simple moments can have a profound impact on a person's life. This writing is supported by Self-Determination Theory as conceptualized by Richard M. Ryan and Edward L. Deci. Through explorative approach, the analysis includes how self-determination accompanies the reflections of the meanings behind simple actions and the importance of facing failure. In conclusion, it is self-determination through self-confidence, self-understanding, and self-reliance that directs King Bruce to defeat his despair, get back up, and beat back the English soldiers.

Using linkage to assess coverage of population estimates

ObjectivesThe Demographic Index (DI) comprises of five linked administrative datasets, used for population estimation. Current linkage methods are not ideal to utilise the power of this asset. Using the 2021 England and Wales Census, we developed an innovative composite linkage method to fully utilise the power of the DI. ApproachUsing non-greedy deterministic and probabilistic linkage methods, we linked the DI to the Census at a composite level where we believe links exist – i.e., linking a Census record with a DI cluster (consisting of linked records from the data sources used to make the DI). Next, pairwise linkage of records within these clusters was performed to ensure that every DI record within the cluster was a link. Clerical review of a sample of the full linkage was performed using clerical resolution and search to resolve uncertain and conflicting links and to inform the quality of our linkage. Due to data quality errors in the administrative data, clerical techniques were not always able to determine true match status, so clerical identified ‘uncertain’ links to estimate precision and recall ranges rather than a set estimate. Results A quality analysis to estimate linkage accuracy was conducted and suggests that the linkage has a precision of between 99.3% and 99.7%, and recall between 99.1% and 99.7%. ConclusionWe have linked the ONS’ composite population-level dataset to the 2021 England and Wales Census. The presentation will showcase the methods developed and how we ensured the highest quality possible. *** Please note that this was subbmited in 2022 but the presenters were unable to present due to the UK Queen's death.

Endogenous Political Legitimacy: The Tudor Roots of England’s Constitutional Governance

This paper highlights the importance of endogenous changes in the foundations of legitimacy for political regimes. It focuses on the central role of legitimacy changes in the rise of constitutional monarchy in England. It first defines legitimacy and briefly elaborates a theoretical framework enabling a historical study of this unobservable variable. It proceeds to substantiate that the low-legitimacy, post-Reformation Tudor monarchs promoted Parliament to enhance their legitimacy, thereby changing the legislative process from the “crown and Parliament” to the “crown in Parliament” that still prevails in England. The break with Rome permanently altered England’s political development.

Ecclesiastical refuge in medieval Wales: formation and role in political processes

The article is devoted to the penetration of the concept of ecclesiastical refuge into the British Isles, its spread and regional peculiarities. The focus is on the origin and realization of the right of ecclesiastical refuge in the territory of the Welsh kingdoms from the early Middle Ages, when sources record the first signs of the allocation of the temple territory as a place with a special legal status, until the XV century, when the charters of the English kings approved the traditional privilege of Welsh religious centers to provide security to those in need. Being one of the most important achievements of church diplomacy, the right of ecclesiastical refuge was directly related to the status of a religious center: documents confirming it were preserved and copied, if there were no documents, they were forged or episodes in which they hid someone from persecution within the walls of their cell or monastery were included in the lives of the patron saints. The almost simultaneous appearance of such plots in the Lives of the late XI–XII centuries. It suggests that this was one of the main arguments of the Welsh religious communities in the struggle to maintain their position in the face of the changes that began with the arrival of the Normans on the island. For representatives of the secular authorities, the right of ecclesiastical refuge was an inconspicuous but very effective political tool that allowed, on the one hand, to control local religious communities, allowing them to exercise the privilege they needed or violating it, on the other hand, creating an opportunity at the right moment to ensure the safety of both themselves and other participants in political processes.

Seen to be grieved: Queen Elizabeth II’s death and the unsettlement of the modern media event

Abstract With millions of viewers across the globe over more than 10 days’ time, media coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s death appears to constitute a “media event” in the sense of its popularization by Dayan and Katz in 1992. But it also ignited an immediate synchronized effort at counter narration that criticized the Queen’s tenure and the institution of the British monarchy. Employing critical discourse and conjunctural analysis, I argue that the Queen’s death was a moment in which the state-driven “media event” was challenged by a grassroots “viral event.” Media events, I argue, deploy nostalgia, which masks history, as their prevailing tool, while the viral event of the counter commentary deploys critical memory, which highlights and parses history, to make its case—the latter upsetting the perceived dominance of the former.

Book Review: For King and Country: The British Monarchy and the First World War by Heather Jones

Book Review: <i>For King and Country: The British Monarchy and the First World War</i> by Heather Jones

Representation strategies of the “internal” Other image in the early 21&lt;sup&gt;st&lt;/sup&gt; century British literature

The article examines historical novels by the early 21 st century British writers where the authors turn to images of “internal” Others: Welsh, Irish and Scots. For each of these regions, we can identify topics that are associated specifically with them. Thus, the Welsh component is connected, first of all, with Celtic culture and social issues. Ireland is associated with religious theme, and Scotland is associated with a historical component. Edward Rutherfurd’s dilogy on Ireland “Dublin: Foundation” (2004) and “Ireland Awakening” (2006), presents the history of the Christianity development in Ireland. The writer emphasizes the continuity of paganism and Christianity. The following series of works analyzed in this article is dedicated to one of the most significant historical figures in Scotland, Robert the Bruce. The novels “Insurrection” (2010), “Renegade” (2012) and “Kingdom” (2014) examine the period of Scottish identity formation exemplified by King Robert and his opposition to the English monarchy. In Ken Follett’s trilogy “Century”, which includes “Fall of Giants” (2010), “Winter of the World” (2012) and “Edge of Eternity” (2014), we can note the socio-political issues associated, first of all, with the Welsh characters. At the same time, the idea common to all these works is the Celtic peoples’ community and their opposition to the English.

Staying Updated in Terms of Educational Values: The Problems and Reform of Vocational Education in China

Education is a crucial component of a nation’s superstructure. In today’s global landscape, we observe varied social systems, such as the relatively traditional constitutional monarchy in Britain, which has successfully integrated a comprehensive system of international vocational education early on. In contrast, influenced by over 2500 years of traditional Confucianism, education in our country embodies a rich cultural essence. Aligning and reflecting the value of domestic education with global development trends is essential for its advancement and relevance in the contemporary era.

Crown, cloak and dagger: the British monarchy and secret intelligence from Victoria to Elizabeth II

Crown, cloak and dagger: the British monarchy and secret intelligence from Victoria to Elizabeth II

The Survival Of British Monarchy: Transition From Absolute Monarchy To Constitutional Monarchy

With the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the British monarchy has come under scrutiny, sparking debates about its role in the British government, the future of the Royal family, and the potential transition to a republican system. This article aims to contribute to these discussions by examining the position of the constitutional monarchy in the United Kingdom and making a case for its continued existence in the near future.&#x0D; &#x0D; To accomplish this, the paper will delve into the unique transition from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy in the UK, illustrating how today's British monarchy has evolved within the bounds of law and democracy. Subsequently, the article will explore the concept of the British Constitutional Monarchy during its early stages, providing a foundation for understanding its contemporary meaning and significance and how it differs from the past. Finally, the article will assess the current position and role of the British monarch, considering their functions, powers, impartiality, and accountability. By doing so, the article aims to demonstrate that the constitutional monarchy within the British constitution poses no significant threat to the country; instead, it offers several benefits, particularly its unifying role.

The imagined island: Colonialism and constructed remoteness on Diego Garcia

AbstractColonial powers have long used islands and island forms for imperial projects, including military bases, weapons testing, resource mining and migrant detention. In order to pursue these interests, colonial powers have often sought geographically remote sites, but they further rely on the construction of remoteness. This article reflects on the colonial construction of remoteness by analysing the case study of Diego Garcia. The militarised atoll of Diego Garcia is one in a chain of islands that make up the British Indian Ocean Territory, the last colony created by the British government. While Diego Garcia is now under British sovereign control, the island was brutally cleared of its Indigenous inhabitants to make way for a joint British‐American military base. By detailing the ways in which ‘remoteness’ has affected the Indigenous Chagossians, ‘war on terror’ detainees, asylum‐seekers and migrant workers, this article demonstrates how colonial powers deploy remoteness as a way of distancing groups deemed ‘other’ from rights. Additionally, colonial powers use ‘remoteness’ to paradoxically protect their own proximity to colonial interests, including geopolitically significant sites for military installations.

‘Intelligible government’: rethinking the meaning of monarchy in the age of King Charles III

ABSTRACT At the beginning of a new reign it seems appropriate to re-assess the meaning of monarchy in modern Britain. The new King heads a fractured royal family, a divided nation, and a disaffected Commonwealth. How can we as scholars make sense of where the monarchy has been, and where it might be going? This article suggests a new scholarly approach is required. Through a critical analysis of three classic studies of monarchy: Walter Bagehot’s The English constitution (1867), Kingsley Martin’s The magic of monarchy (1937) and Tom Nairn’s The enchanted glass (1988), the lecture traces the lineage of modern interpretations of the British monarchy and points up their limitations. Preoccupied with the symbolism of monarchy, conventional scholarship neglects its important political functions. As the lecture argues, in the era of Brexit at home and populist regimes around the world, modern democracies may actually need monarchy more than ever before.

Debunking Myths

Given the opportunity on a Saturday night, what would the average moviegoer prefer to see: an historically accurate accounting of World War I or a science‐fiction epic about a galactic war? At the front of the local bookstore, which book is more likely to be prominently displayed: a history of the British monarchy or a saga of medieval times featuring dragons, elves, and magic? Sure, some people will opt for the austerity of factual accounts. However, many more are likely to opt for the mythology and escapism inherent in stories of how things might be, rather than remain in the stark reality of the present.

Peculiarities of meliorative evaluative nominations of the british queen

Peculiarities of meliorative evaluative nominations of the british queen

STUDIES OF ENGLISH TOWNS DURING THE REIGN OF HENRY VI IN BRITISH HISTORIOGRAPHY

The relevance of the research is determined by the increased interest, as well as revision of approaches to the study of medieval towns. The purpose of the study is to identify the main features in the study of English towns during the reign of Henry VI in British historiography. Materials and methods. The research uses such historical methods as historical-genetic, historical-comparative, retrospective, historical-biographical ones, as well as the principle of historicism. Thanks to the use of these methods, the works of English-speaking historians related to the problem of the development of English towns in the specified time period were processed. For the first time, the author specifically refers to the research by British scientists of English towns during the reign of Henry VI – a time characterized by great social tension, many conflicts and fewer sources than the previous and subsequent periods. Study results. Henry VI was less popular than other kings of England in the XV century. He was considered to be a weak ruler, a “madman on the throne” and one of the most unhappy kings. At this, towns that play an important role in the socio-political and economic development of the state were developing in England during his reign. The article examines the research of British historians concerning the towns of the era of Henry VI. The author examines how approaches to assessing the reign of the king and the history of English towns of this time have changed using the example of the works of British scientists. In particular, the classical works of F. Maitland, J.M. Trevelyan, as well as the works of modern researchers, for example, R.A. Griffiths. Special attention is paid to the relationship between an English late medieval town and the royal power, and the evolution of British scientists views – from “antiquaries” to modern researchers – on the history of towns in general and on the peculiarities of urban development in the era of Henry VI in particular is considered. Conclusions. Towns played an important role in all areas of the English society. The royal government showed great interest in towns as participants in the internal political, economic and social processes in England in the middle of the XV century. According to the results of the study, it was found that, despite an increasing interest in the study of a medieval town in the English-language historiography, at the moment it can be stated that there is still insufficient knowledge on the development of a town during the reign of King Henry VI.