Out of curiosity, will Elizabeth II be crowned Empress of India ITTL?
I was thinking Queen of India, its a tough sell for India to keep the Governor-General title, and Empress sounds more imperialist. Although I like the sound of Empress Elizabeth.
Out of curiosity, will Elizabeth II be crowned Empress of India ITTL?
I was thinking Queen of India, its a tough sell for India to keep the Governor-General title, and Empress sounds more imperialist. Although I like the sound of Empress Elizabeth.
Yes said:[FONT="]Sir Humphrey[/FONT][FONT="]: Minister, Britain has had the same foreign policy objective for at least the last five hundred years: to create a disunited Europe. In that cause we have fought with the Dutch against the Spanish, with the Germans against the French, with the French and Italians against the Germans, and with the French against the Germans and Italians. Divide and rule, you see. Why should we change now, when it's worked so well?[/FONT]
[FONT="]Hacker[/FONT][FONT="]: That's all ancient history, surely?[/FONT]
[FONT="]Sir Humphrey[/FONT][FONT="]: Yes, and current policy. We had to break the whole thing [the EEC] up, so we had to get inside. We tried to break it up from the outside, but that wouldn't work. Now that we're inside we can make a complete pig's breakfast of the whole thing: set the Germans against the French, the French against the Italians, the Italians against the Dutch. The Foreign Office is terribly pleased; it's just like old times.[/FONT]
Yes said:[FONT="]Hacker[/FONT][FONT="]: Europe is a community of nations, dedicated towards one goal.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Sir Humphrey[/FONT][FONT="]: Oh, ha ha ha.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Hacker[/FONT][FONT="]: May we share the joke, Humphrey?[/FONT]
[FONT="]Sir Humphrey[/FONT][FONT="]: Oh Minister, let's look at this objectively. It is a game played for national interests, and always was. Why do you suppose we went into it?[/FONT]
[FONT="]Hacker[/FONT][FONT="]: To strengthen the brotherhood of free Western nations.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Sir Humphrey[/FONT][FONT="]: Oh really. We went in to screw the French by splitting them off from the Germans.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Hacker[/FONT][FONT="]: So why did the French go into it, then?[/FONT]
[FONT="]Sir Humphrey[/FONT][FONT="]: Well, to protect their inefficient farmers from commercial competition.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Hacker[/FONT][FONT="]: That certainly doesn't apply to the Germans.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Sir Humphrey[/FONT][FONT="]: No, no. They went in to cleanse themselves of genocide and apply for readmission to the human race.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Hacker[/FONT][FONT="]: I never heard such appalling cynicism! At least the small nations didn't go into it for selfish reasons.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Sir Humphrey[/FONT][FONT="]: Oh really? Luxembourg is in it for the perks; the capital of the EEC, all that foreign money pouring in.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Hacker[/FONT][FONT="]: Very sensible central location.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Sir Humphrey[/FONT][FONT="]: With the administration in Brussels and the Parliament in Strasbourg? Minister, it's like having the House of Commons in Swindon and the Civil Service in Kettering![/FONT]
Something to bear in mind: Norway's request to join the Commonwealth OTL was not so much rejected because of economic reasons or any such. It was rejected because Parliament wasn't happy about the idea of forcing European monarchies to subjugate themselves to the Queen. If it had been a Republic that had applied, the application might have gone much further, and perhaps even (though probably not) set a precedent.
Interesting, I have Ireland set up in this timeline as a de facto republic (even has a president... and the title King/Queen of Ireland falls by in the wind). I hadn't thought of it as not wanting to subordinate another monarch though.