Arthur Somerset
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His Majesty’s Government The Monarchy King: HRBM Charles III Prince of Wales: HRH William Rhys Prince Royal: HRH John Lancaster-Stuart HM Civil Executive Government Prime Minister: Madeline Norfolk Deputy Prime Minister: JayDee Bonaparte Home Secretary: Zel Norfolk Foreign Secretary: Edward Somerset Culture Secretary: Richard de Vitre Great Officers of State Lord Chamberlain: Alistair Brandon Lord Advocate: Alistair Brandon Lord Lyon: Arthur Somerset Captain General: Madeline Norfolk Director-General of MI5: Rikki Norfolk-Kensington The Supreme Court Lord Chief Justice: Owen Bonaparte Associate Justice: Edward Somerset | The Kingdom of Great Britain Regional Information Kiosk 
Founded: August 18th, 2013 Ruling Family: The Royal House of Lancaster-Stuart Regional Power: High HM Government: Jaylicious Coalition HM Loyal Opposition: British Royalist Party | 
The 46th Imperial Parliament The House of Lords Lord High Chancellor His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales His Grace, The Duke of Somerset His Grace, The Duke of Norfolk His Grace, The Duke of Sutherland His Lordship, The Marquess of Montreal Her Ladyship, the Marchioness of Sevenoaks His Lordship, the Earl of Grey The House of Commons The Rt. Hon. Speaker The Rt. Hon. John Laurens-Wessex Meritorious J. Tudor (IND) MP for Sydney (Australia) JayDee Bonaparte (IND) MP for Victoria (Grey) Peter Grey (SF) MP for St Helens South and Whiston (England) Frederick Acker (BRP) MP for Paris (France) Theodore Bedford (BRP) MP for Donegal (Ireland) John Laurens-Wessex (IND) MP for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth, and Kirkintilloch East (Scotland) Madeline Norfolk (SF) MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd (Wales) Gibraltarian House of Assembly Governor: HRH the Duke of Sutherland Speaker: Arthur Somerset |
HMG Foreign Update
Mid-November 2020
Britons Head to the Polls
Great Britain had a tough General Election to ring in the month of October. The following candidates were elected to the House of Commons:
Frederick Aster (BRP): 21 votes (12.88%)
JayDee Bonaparte (IND): 21 votes (12.88%)
John Laurens-Wessex (IND): 22 votes (13.5%)
Madeline Norfolk (SF): 20 votes (12.27%)
Meritorious J. Tudor (IND): 22 votes (13.5%)
Peter Grey (SF): 23 votes (14.11%)
Theodore Bedford (BRP): 17 votes (10.43%)
Madeline Norfolk of Sinn Fein and JayDee Bonaparte (Independent) joined forces to form the Jaylicious Coalition as the Governing Majority.
A promising newcomer, Frederick Aster won in his first election, and ran on forming a Joint Committee for constitutional revisions, a committee to reform the economy and for parliamentary reforms to require the Speaker of the Commons to be nonpartisan.
JayDee Bonaparte was a Supreme Court Justice at the time of his election, and has previously served as a Prime Minister, Member of Parliament, Lord of Parliament, and Foreign Secretary. He ran on a campaign to protect the “independence of the Prime Minister from the sticky fingers of Parliament”, to take part in the newly formed Joint Law Lords Committee, and to work against the HM Loyal Opposition Act. Bonaparte resigned from the Court on the 29th as per his campaign promise to step down at the two year anniversary of his confirmation as Justice.
John Laurens-Wessex has previously served as Foreign Secretary last term and has been Speaker of the Commons before. He campaigned this term to enact the Incorporated Municipalities Act to further develop the region’s roleplay government with the Citizens’ Assembly, and once again successfully ran for Speaker of the Commons.
Madeline Norfolk needs no introduction, as she has previously served as a Supreme Court Justice, Member of Parliament, Lord of Parliament, and the region’s longest serving Prime Minister over the disgraced former Prime Minister Vac Mercer. She formed a new party called Sinn Fein and decided to once again run for Prime Minister this term. She developed her campaign by describing how she would structure her Cabinet and how her leadership style (which has come under fire in the past) might differ this term, and what would remain the same. Legislatively, she pushed for a newly reformed Criminal and Civil Code, a Naturalization and Visa Act to codify citizenship applications and visas, a new Prime Ministers’ Questions Act, and development of Freedom of Information procedures for declassification of classified information.
Meritorious Tudor served as a Member of Parliament last term, but focused his campaign heavily on economic legislation to supplement the regional economy. He pushed ideas such as an Inheritance and Value Added Tax (VAT), enacting government intervention policy, and a new law to “kickstart” the economy.
Peter Grey is also a promising newcomer who has won his first election this term. He ran in opposition to the HM Loyal Opposition Act’s necessity and for amendments to the British Nationality Act to “enable more freedom for the government to create, control and improve the ability to moderate citizenship and forum access”.
Last but not least, Theodore Bedford, who served as Prime Minister last term, stood for re-election and ran to continue the progress his Government had made with developing ties with the Consortium and United Kingdom, further development of the regional roleplay, and boasted the 131 questions he had answered at Prime Ministers’ Questions, the most in the region’s history. Mr. Bedford suffered a humiliating setback in the General Election with the lowest share of the vote tied with former Speaker Peter John de Vitre. This tie would have triggered a runoff but de Vitre notified the Royal Electoral Commission of his intention to withdraw from the race, ensuring that Bedford would remain in Parliament for the next term.
Following the Election of Commons, the Election of the Prime Minister ensued with Madeline Norfolk and Theodore Bedford going head to head. Questions were asked and answered. Conflict arose as candidate Madeline Norfolk refused to reveal her cabinet picks to Commons, claiming that she wanted to be elected because of her abilities and the Commons trust in her, rather than judging her already known to be less than popular cabinet. Following further debate, the House of Commons elected Madeline Norfolk as their candidate. She then moved to face the House of Lords. The House of Lords brought forth questions regarding the candidate's ability to unify as well as minimize conflict within the region. Having been known in the region for causing conflict, Madeline issued a plea and promise to the House and Parliament as a whole that her intentions are to ensure the future of the region is bright with a fresh cabinet of citizens with potential and the support of the Jaylicious Coalition. She then relayed her cabinet and after further statements made, the Duke of Norfolk, John Lancaster-Stuart, indicated his support for the candidate and the vote then followed. Madeline Norfolk received the approval from the House of Lords and became the Prime Minister. Madeline's opening speech revolved around retention, while her Deputy Prime Minister, JayDee Bonaparte, issued his opening speech revolving around trust.
King Charles III Coronated
On the fourth of October, His Majesty King Charles III was officially coronated at Westminster Abbey by the Archbishop of Canterbury Peter John de Vitre.
The procession of the King and members of the Royal Family departed from Clarence House down The Mall, proceeded through the Household Cavalry Museum and by the Houses of Parliament, and arrived at the Abbey at 7:00am. The ceremonies began at 7:12 as the King entered through the West Door as the choir sang the hymn “I Was Glad” by Francis Pigott and Hubert Parry. After His Majesty took his oath and was enthroned, the church and nobles of the realm paid homage. Leading them, the Archbishop, Duke of Norfolk, Duke of Westmorland, Duke of Somerset, Duchess of York, Marquess of Sligo, Earl of Wellington, Viscountess Eythorne, Baron Vaudemont, and Baronet of Bevis Marks knelt and pronounced their words of Homage. Donning the Imperial Crown and robes, and bearing the Sceptre and Orb, His Majesty made his way to the West Door of the Abbey as the choir and socially distanced audience within the church sang “God Save the King”.
The Royal Procession made its way through the packed streets of London and its cheering crowds to the Palace, where the King and members of the Royal Family appeared on the Balcony to wave to the jovial crowds outside of the gates.
The Legislative Term So Far
The 46th Parliament started off quickly, as proposals from the previous term were sorted, mainly the Gender Protection Amendment, which would have changed the location of a clause prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity, and His Majesty’s Most Loyal Opposition Act, which would have formalized the status of an Opposition to the government within Commons. Both items were tabled at the start of the term. The first new proposal of the term was the Speaker Political Neutrality Act, proposed by Frederick Acker, the Member of Parliament for Paris and the Deputy Speaker, which would ban the Speaker from being a member of a party or participating in the events of a Party. The vote failed with 5 nays, 1 aye, and the Speaker abstaining from the vote.
The next bill introduced was the Opposition Standing Orders Repeal Act, which repealed the Standing Orders for His Majesty’s Opposition after it was found to be unconstitutional in the court case Leader of the Opposition v. The House of Commons. The repeal passed without much hassle. At the current debate, the Deputy Prime Minister, Jay Dee Bonaparte proposed an amendment to the standing orders which formalized procedures for referencing members on the House Floor. The Speaker, John Laurens-Wessex, proposed a resolution to create a Joint Ways and Means Committee with the House of Lords to make reforms to the Bank of England Omnibus Act. The Speaker also proposed an amendment to formalize the Opposition within the standing orders. Meritorious Tudor proposed an Income Tax Act which would generate revenue for the Bank of England, and last but not least, a resolution to create a committee to reform the constitution is still being debated. Other items have been proposed since, and with MidTerm Polls rearing its exciting head, it will be exciting to see what comes next!
Cultural Endeavors
Starting on the All Hallows Eve, Culture Secretary Richard de Vitre and the Culture Team organized Great Britain’s annual Halloween Festival for the British people! Citizens took part in an avatar contest, party games such as Scribbl.io and Among Us, Spooky Story time, and an estate Halloween Party!
A special congratulations to His Majesty the King and Mr. Theodore Bedford for winning the avatar contest!
Remembrance Day was quietly celebrated throughout the region with members of Government announcing the recognition of the day, the Church holding a special service, and the Gibraltar Assembly passing a resolution Honouring those who had fallen.
The Kingdom of Great Britain this past week celebrated being the Region of the Week over in Europeia! The week was spent by avoiding international incidents, assassinating the KoGB Prime Minister in Among Us, British Trivia, and Scribbl! Further, a fun radio show was held where Prime Minister Madeline Norfolk and Deputy Prime Minister JayDee Bonaparte met with Pichto and talked about KoGB and Euro. This was an exciting time, especially for KoGB and with that coming to an end, we hope to do more fun things with Euro as well as our other friends abroad!
The Kingdom of Great Britain is also taking part in the UCR Con this year. So far it has been an absolute blast and we look forward to meeting new people, new regions, and making all sorts of new connections!
Prince of Wales Engaged
Clarence House announced that His Royal Highness, Prince William Rhys of Wales is engaged to Ms. Rhea Amburg. Prince William introduced his Ms. Amburg to His Majesty the King before King Henry IX stepped down. Charles, the Prince of Wales at the time, was said to be enchanted by Ms. Amburg and granted the couple his blessing to wed.
The Prince of Wales and Ms. Amburg will be wed at the Church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris on Christmas Day.
Thank you for reading our Update! As always, we invite you to come to us in our discord or on our forum where the activities never stop!