The House of Windsor (colloquially known internationally as the British Royal Family, the Commonwealth Royal Family ever since they spread between Britain and South Africa, or simply as The Royals within Commonwealth Realms) is the reigning royal house in several British successor states such as the Dominion of South Africa, and certain other Commonwealth Realms. The House of Windsor is seen as an institution of, and rallying point for, much of the British diaspora in the post-Doomsday world, though there has been something of a schism between the family's British branch (which is now a cadet branch under the name Bamburgh and has its seat in the Kingdom of Northumbria) and the family's South African branch. These two branches were initially united, then became somewhat estranged during the early 2010's, and now remain cordial, though there were some tensions left by a dispute between former King Andrew and his sister who remained in the British Isles, Queen Anne. Their heirs are attempting to heal this rift.
The House of Windsor was led by Queen Elizabeth II at the time of Doomsday. In the years since her passing (and the subsequent collapse of the British central government), the Royal House has coalesced into two main branches: one in Great Britain led by Queen Zara I (the daughter of Queen Anne II, Elizabeth II's daughter) and one in southern Africa led by King William V (the son of King Andrew I, Elizabeth's then-surviving son). Currently, William V serves as Head of the Commonwealth of Nations. King William reigns from his residence, Windsor House in Port Elizabeth. His Majesty's heir apparent is his daughter Princess Faith.
The British Royal family had its roots, under various dynastic names, as far back as documented post-Roman British history. In the 1800's, when the Royal Family was called the House of Hanover, Queen Victoria married Prince Albert of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, at which point Albert's and Victoria's heirs were known as the House of Saxe-Coburg. In 1917, King George V opted to rename his family as the House of Windsor.
George V was succeeded in the 1930's by his eldest son, who became known as Edward VIII. Edward would prove a half-hearted king, and would abdicate the throne before reaching his coronation. Edward was succeeded by his younger brother Albert, who became King George VI. He would prove to be a popular monarch, leading his country through World War II and famously refusing to abandon London during the Blitz.
The Royal Family greets a crowd of well-wishers during the annual Trooping of the Colour in June 1983, three months prior to Doomsday. From left to right: Anne the Princess Royal (future Queen of Scotland and Cleveland); Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and royal consort; Queen Elizabeth II; Charles the Prince of Wales; Prince William, and Diana the Princess of Wales.
His daughter and heir, Elizabeth II, would prove to be enormously popular and well-respected as well. Elizabeth was in the 31st year of her reign when Doomsday struck.
Doomsday and Immediate Aftermath[]
The Night the Bombs Fell[]
It was in the wee hours of the morning that Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh were suddenly awoken by their bodyguards, who informed them of a Soviet missile launch and hurried them to a waiting military helicopter to evacuate the Royal couple to safety.
Meanwhile, the heir to the throne, Prince Charles the Prince of Wales was at home in Highgrove House in Gloucestershire. The Prince of Wales would shelter in place for two days after Doomsday, awaiting a military helicopter that was promised to arrive to retrieve him and reunite him with his parents.
Meanwhile, the HMS Invincible was passing through the Red Sea on its way to the Pacific Ocean for scheduled exercises. The crew was roused by alarms to assume battle stations as word reached that World War III had broken out. One of the crewmen was Prince Andrew, who was in the middle of his military service. The Invincible would soon detect that it was being tracked by Soviet submarines and began taking evasive measures.
Meanwhile, Anne, the Princess Royal was at her home, Gatcombe Park, with her children when the bombs began to fall. Like Charles, Anne would shelter in place with her children for the time being until a military escort could be assigned and sent out to retrieve them.
Meanwhile, the military aircrafts carrying Her Majesty the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, and their inner circle had managed to meet with the Royal Yacht Britannia as planned and transfer the Royal passengers to the waiting ship. However, everyone involved--both the Royals and their circle as well as the crew--had been exposed to more fallout than anticipated, despite the attempted shielding precautions taken on all the craft involved. Nevertheless, they continued on their journey to Scotland's Loch Torridon to await news of the Prime Minister and the rest of the Royal Family, and to hear any news that could be gleaned about the immediate state of Britain and the rest of the world. Although Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh had arrived safely at their evacuation rally point, Prince Charles and Princess Diana would tragically never make it to Loch Torridon.
The military helicopter assigned to the Waleses had picked up Princess Diana and the infant Prince William as planned before proceeding to Gloucestershire to retrieve Prince Charles. The Queen was pleased to hear the word passed up through the chain of command confirming that the pilot had landed safely at Charles's estate and was now en route to Scotland carrying the heir to the throne and his wife and son. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip briefly got to speak with the Waleses over the radio soon after their departure. Prince Charles expressed his sadness at what had happened but expressed deep resolve to do his duty in any way he could. Princess Diana lamented the sight of the devastation on the British countryside visible from the helicopter. Still, all took solace in the fact that they would soon be reunited.
However, what took place next would quickly turn the orderly evacuation into yet another tragedy. The aircraft's navigation equipment had apparently endured more electromagnetic damage than initially realized, despite attempts to EMP-shield almost every inch of the craft. The pilot and copilot soon could be heard on the official channels expressing confusion. Then, the pilots began to panic as more equipment began to malfunction. They needed to make an emergency landing, but no suitable landing ground could be found in the immediate area. The aircraft attempted to find a large enough open space to land. As the crew raced to do so, they apparently lost control and the aircraft went down and communications went dark.
Meanwhile, Princess Anne's escort had also been linked to the same encoded communications channel as the Waleses' aircraft. Upon realizing that the same equipment damage could be present in his craft, the pilot decided to preemptively make an emergency landing at a site near the Loughborough RGHQ. However, the outdated electronics soon failed. Fearing the loss of Anne, who was now likely the only heir to the throne, the UK military decided she needed to be moved to a more functional location with her children. They were soon evacuated to a PYTHON site at Bempton, where the Northeast RGHQ could afford them greater safety and better transport via the sea if necessary.
Her Majesty ordered a military attachment from the nearest surviving base be sent to investigate the fate of Charles and his wife and son. As the days went by with no news, Queen Elizabeth reluctantly faced the possibility that the Prince and Princess of Wales likely had not survived. Finally, the word officially arrived that the wreckage had been found, with all aboard having tragically passed. Surviving members of the Queen's inner circle have stated that this turn of events was one of the factors that took the greatest toll on Her Majesty after Doomsday.
William Whitelaw, Viscount Whitelaw: the final Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Still, she had to carry on, for Britain's sake. With Prime Minister Thatcher missing and eventually presumed dead (incorrectly), Queen Elizabeth for the first time in her reign invoked her Royal Prerogative to name a new Prime Minister on her own, granting the authority to William Whitelaw. Whitelaw would later comment that "The moment I heard Her Majesty tell me those fateful words 'I ask you to form a government in my name,' I felt the crushing weight of responsibility. I had obviously never expected to be PM. But now, here we were in a strange new world. I had to try."
Meanwhile, Prince Andrew was evacuated to a safe zone in South Africa, the nearest Commonwealth nation that was deemed to be relatively safe (the commander of Andrew's vessel the HMS Invincible had ruled out landing in the Falklands after he guessed correctly that Argentina would probably take advantage of the chaos to resume military operations there).
With Charles and William gone, it would fall to Andrew and Anne to continue the House of Windsor into the next generation with their lines of descendants. It was decided that Andrew should remain where he was, far from any likely fighting, until the Atlantic journey to the UK could be determined to be safe again. Anne would also remain apart from her parents for the time being. In case anything happened to her parents, she and her children would be far enough away to be safe.
Meanwhile the Queen would work hard to keep her kingdom together, advising Prime Minister Whitelaw, keeping involved with recovery efforts, and giving a speech to the nation, broadcast from her PYTHON site, the Royal Yacht known as the HMY Britannia. The speech read as follows:
When I spoke to you last, we were all enjoying the warmth and fellowship of a family Christmas. Our thoughts were concentrated on the strong links that bind each generation to the ones that came before and those that will follow. The horrors of war could not have seemed more remote as my family and I shared our Christmas joy with the growing family of the Commonwealth.
Now this madness of war is once more spreading through the world and our brave country must again prepare itself to survive against great odds.
My husband and I share with families up and down the land the fear we feel for sons and daughters, husbands and brothers who have left our side to serve their country. My beloved son Charles has been missing since that fateful day, along with my daugher-in-law Diana and grandson William. My beloved son Andrew was, at that moment when the first bombs struck, in action with his unit. We prayed continually for the safety of all four of our family members who were in harm's way, and continue to do so for the safety of all servicemen and women at home and overseas. My daughter Anne and granddaughter Zara are still alive, and we continue to pray for their continued safety and look forward to seeing each other again.
It is this close bond of family life that must be our greatest defence against the unknown. If families remain united and resolute, giving shelter to those living alone and unprotected, our country's will to survive cannot be broken.
A video still from the Queen's Doomsday Speech. Although the speech was recorded on both video and audio, the majority of listeners at the time only heard it as audio over the radio, until decades later when widespread television service was restored, and the video would be replayed in history classes and at Doomsday commemoration events.
My message to you, therefore, is simple. Help those who cannot help themselves, give comfort to the lonely and the homeless and let your family become the focus of hope and life to those who need it.
As we strive together to fight off the new evil let us pray for our country and men of goodwill wherever they may be.
I have never forgotten the sorrow and the pride I felt as my sister and I huddled around the nursery wireless set listening to my father's inspiring words on that fateful day in 1939. Not for a single moment did I imagine that this solemn and awful duty would one day fall to me.
We all know that the dangers facing us today are greater by far than at any time in our long history. The enemy is not the soldier with his rifle nor even the airman prowling the skies above our cities and towns but the deadly power of abused technology, and the short-sightedness that led to open warfare.
But, whatever terrors lie in wait for us, all the qualities that have helped to keep our freedom intact twice already during this sad century will once more be our strength.
God Bless you all
The speech was greatly received by British citizens in western Scotland, the Isle of Man, and along the British coast which picked up the message, and lifted spirits, having a positive effect on the morale of those who heard it. Today, the Queen's Doomsday Speech is often used as a primary source in history lessons about Doomsday in Britain.
"London Bridge has Fallen": The Passing of Queen Elizabeth II[]
Coronation portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, who had been reigning as the Sovereign at the time of Doomsday.
An already crumbling Britain would receive another dire blow in 1984. After suffering from some radiation exposure on and after Doomsday, despite the best efforts to shield her transports, Queen Elizabeth II's health began to decline. Dealing further damage was the news that her beloved son Charles had died en route to his designated rally point, along with his wife Princess Diana and their child Prince William, who had been only an infant. The agony of these losses, along with the heavy stress of trying to hold the UK together after the ravages of Doomsday, took a gradual but steady toll on Her Majesty's health. Finally, the Royal Yacht Britannia was the victim of a ship-wide outbreak of disease, as many of the crew were also suffering from weakened immune systems. Her Majesty and her husband Prince Philip both caught the disease. Philip managed to survive, but one morning during the outbreak, Queen Elizabeth was found to have passed away in her sleep overnight.
Prince Philip, still weakened from his illness and the loss of his wife, managed to make a brief statement over the radio, informing the nation of the Queen's passing. As the nation mourned the loss of Her Majesty, her death also sparked a massive loss in confidence. After all, if someone as well-protected as the Queen wasn't safe in the post-Doomsday world, what hope did an average person have? This oft-repeated thought led to even more mass despair in the weeks following Queen Elizabeth's passing, and the political situation grew even more unstable, as the surviving civil authorities were now having virtually no success in restoring confidence after these events.
Her Majesty's death very shortly preceded the collapse of the United Kingdom, as the British Isles had de facto been divided by atomic fire into small fiefdoms surrounding the various PYTHON command sites, held together only loosely. With the Prime Minister overseas at the time of Doomsday and Missing in Action, Her Majesty's figurative authority and the universal respect Elizabeth commanded had been the only thing holding the entirety of Britain together at that point. Once the Queen was no longer in the picture, the various regional PYTHON commanders (and dozens of petty local warlords) began openly squabbling among themselves, carving the British Isles into smaller (often warring) factions.
Soon after Her Majesty's death, the convoys to South Africa began, due to many Britons despairing the dire situation in the British Isles, while various survivor states in Britain began operating on their own. Prime Minister Whitelaw, for his part, refused to leave, taking his vow to the Queen (to remain steadfast in trying to hold Britain together) very seriously. Whitelaw would continue attempting to serve as PM until all of the surviving government officials had literally abandoned the effort of maintaining the government, leaving Whitelaw as the Prime Minister of a now virtually nonexistent government. Meanwhile in South Africa, Prince Andrew was crowned King at a somber ceremony. King Andrew I expected his stay in South Africa to be a temporary one, but fate would soon dictate otherwise. In Britain, Princess Anne would remain isolated with her daughter Zara and a small circle of protectors in North Yorkshire. Eventually, she would ascend to the throne of Cleveland.
Elizabeth II remains extremely popular, and is still a powerful symbol of British nationalism and cultural heritage. Queen Elizabeth's image continues to be used in British and Commonwealth iconography as a rallying symbol.
The newly-emerging status quo in South Africa after Doomsday.
Cleveland and South Africa[]
In Pretoria, King Andrew I presided over a solemn court as the new Dominion of South Africa went through the growing pains of organizing itself and trying to provide food and supplies to the populace. The fledgling coalition government had been formed by a group of civil rights activists who sought to repudiate the apartheid policy of the old RSA. During this process, the King provided a much-needed symbol of national unity. The return of the monarchy to South Africa was seen as a beacon of stability, and a way to for the desperate residents of the Cape to maintain a connection to the larger world. The King grew in popularity, and made moves for longer-term residence: the King had been holding court at a mansion generously offered as a safe haven by a wealthy South African businessman; soon His Majesty's government made an official offer to purchase the property (including the surrounding estate) from the businessman. The mansion was officially renamed Windsor House, and would serve as the new seat for the monarchy. However, there was now another pressing issue: continuity.
Flag of the newly-organised Dominion of South Africa.
The King had managed to survive Doomsday itself, but his councilors had no illusions about the fact that the entire world was now destabilized, and they feared that the King would unexpectedly die without leaving an heir. They were not expecting this, but they knew that it was a very real possibility in this new post-Doomsday world. These advisors very quickly began the process of searching for a suitable bride for the King.
Some felt it would be a good idea to have Andrew marry a South African woman, perhaps the daughter of one of the Anglo-South African businessmen living in the Dominion. However, Andrew himself assumed that he would eventually return to the British Isles, and the arrival of the British evacuation convoys meant that there were many Britons to potentially marry as well. The Second Convoy carried Charles, the Duke of Richmond and his daughter Louisa Gordon-Lennox. The Duke had been a member of the House of Lords, and as a surviving MP quickly became a regular guest at the Royal Court at Windsor House. The Duke learned that the wheels were turning to find a suitable royal consort, and he began advocating for his beloved daughter Louisa to be a candidate to be the new Queen. It wasn't long before Andrew was introduced to Louisa, and the two quietly began a relationship to see how they felt about the potential match. Louisa later said that she did feel a great deal of pressure from the South African government and from her father to commit to a marriage, which she eventually did.
A New Queen[]
Louisa married King Andrew at the Cathedral Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Port Elizabeth in 1989, the Cathedral having been just repaired after suffering serious damage in the first Dominion-Xhosa War the year before. Louisa was twenty-one, Andrew twenty-eight. Politically, the wedding was a triumph, providing a focus of unity for the exiles, the Anglo-South African community, and the pro-Commonwealth South Africans who had come to the Eastern Cape.
Queen Louisa, the Queen Consort of South Africa attending a garden party charity fundraiser in Port Elizabeth in 2011. After the death of her husband the King, she would be styled as Louisa, the Queen Mother.
Both King and Queen entered the marriage primarily out of a sense of duty to the country - and by all accounts, the marriage was neither warm nor happy. Both persevered in the same spirit of duty, rather than affection. Andrew was wise enough to keep his many infidelities discreet and private, assisted by a compliant local press. The couple continued to perform their ceremonial responsibilities, but they spent less and less time together as the years went on. Twenty years later, when the King began traveling to other surviving Commonwealth realms around the world, he largely did so without the Queen.
However, Queen Louisa would not be a silent partner. She continued to do extensive charity work, participated in physical labour to help build infrastructure (to the horror of some of her courtiers, who objected to the sight of a Queen taking a shovel and helping to dig irrigation ditches), and also traveled without the King throughout South Africa and even to Commonwealth Realms abroad. Some observers have made comparisons between Queen Louisa and the late Princess Diana in terms of their public image.
On 20 October 1991, Louisa gave birth to a healthy son, another joyous sign of the stability of the realm. She and Andrew named him William Charles Gordon Philip: William, a name with so much history in the royal family; Charles, for both the King's late brother and Louisa's father; Gordon, from Louisa's maiden name; and Philip, for Andrew's father. Two years later, William's sister was born, the couple's only other child. Elizabeth was the obvious choice for her name (her full name would be Elizabeth Eleanor Louisa, and she would eventually be officially styled as Elizabeth, the Princess Royal).
Death of King Andrew I[]
In 2015, Andrew set off on another round of trips, this time across the Atlantic. His plane was to visit each of the island territories - the first time that any of them had experienced a visit from the reigning monarch - and afterward meet with leaders of a few of the South American and Caribbean nations (the President of Guyana, the Prime Minister of the Caribbean Federation, and Queen Juliana II of the Netherlands Antilles were on the list of dignitaries to be met). But en route from Tristan Da Cunha to Saint Helena, the aircraft encountered an unexpected storm and was lost. Ships from South Africa and South America searched the area to no avail. On 28 March, Andrew was officially presumed dead and William acclaimed the new sovereign.
When the official word came that the search and rescue attempts had been called off, the Prime Minister of South Africa addressed the people of the DSA and Commonwealth on the airwaves, closing his announcement with the solemn phrase that marked the closing of King Andrew's reign and the start of King William's: "The King is dead. Long live the King,"
King William V, son of King Andrew I and Queen Louisa, and grandson of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
King William V: A New Era[]
The coronation of King William was a seismic historic event for many reasons. One was the suddenness of the transition. But another, perhaps more historic one, was the fact that William was the first member of the current monarchy to actually be born and raised in South Africa. He was also the first member of the Royal Family to have (as of 2015) not yet ever set foot in the British Isles (though this would change many years later when William would eventually make his first visit to the ancestral motherland).
William's reign would symbolize the changes being experienced and overseen by the new generation in the Dominion and Commonwealth. He had grown up in the unique culture of the British exile community in South Africa, maintaining many customs of the British motherland while embracing his African home. At the same time, William sought to ensure that the Crown would remain a unifying force for the entire British diaspora, both in Africa and throughout the world.
The redesigned Royal Standard of King William V and the House of Windsor. The King ordered its design to symbolize the blended British and African culture of his Dominion (and the diversity of the Commonwealth at large) by blending British and African symbolism. William personally ordered the redesign, which was unveiled at the King's First Jubilee in 2016. The original Royal Standard can still be seen in the Badge of the House, which remains unchanged.
Furthermore, while the original generation of the British diaspora were focused on the fact of their exile and longed for a return to the Isles, William was quite happy calling South Africa his home. While the old generation of British exiles often kept to themselves and mostly mingled with other British exiles, the new generation of South Africa-born Britons had grown up enmeshed in both British and South African culture, forming new cultural trends by the simple fact of their diasporic existence, and were much more comfortable embracing South Africa's diversity.
King William made a bold statement of this when he ordered the House of Windsor's Royal Standard to be redesigned for his one year Jubilee, The new Standard tells the story of the melding together of British, African, and South Atlantic cultures in the formation of the Dominion. The top left and bottom right segments of the flag honour the origins of the Windsor dynasty and the Commonwealth: the canton features the old Union Jack, symbolising the British origins of the House of Windsor and of many of the DSA's families who had emigrated from the ruins of the UK and the bottom right features three lions which had once symbolised the ancient Kingdom of England where the monarchy (led by Alfred the Great) had specifically originated. The top right features the seal of the new Dominion of South Africa. The bottom left symbolises the seal of South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands.
The new thinking of the new generation was quite aptly symbolised by the revised Royal Standard, but William would perhaps best symbolise this new wave of thinking in his choice of a bride.
A symbolic Royal Wedding[]
During the first few years of his reign, King William was seen dating various upper-class women and female celebrities in the capitol, but did not seem to be settling down to marry anytime soon. Eager to ensure continuity, his courtiers and the South African government urged him to think more seriously about finding a bride, suggesting various candidates. His mother Queen Louisa is said to have stepped in and insisted that, no matter what, her son must marry someone with whom he was truly compatible, likely remembering the struggles of her own marriage to Andrew. Queen Louisa is said to have been the one to suggest the government arrange a meeting between King William and Sibusisiwe Zulu, daughter of Misuzulu, the new king of KwaZulu and the eldest son of the late King Goodwill Zwelithini and his Great Wife Mantfombi, a Swazil princess. Queen Louisa recalled the two getting along well during a peace summit between the two nations several years earlier, and hoped that this was a sign of compatibility.
It was also a smart move politically, as it would forge stronger ties between the Anglo-South African and native African communities of South Africa, and would solidify William's eventual heirs as members of both communities and as living symbols of the emerging new unified South African society. Queen Louisa organised a summit between the Dominion of South Africa and KwaZulu, and planned for it to include many afternoon teas and society ballroom dances, providing plenty of time to socialise. The Queen Mother invited the entire Zulu Royal Family to attend. King William and Princess Sibusisiwe got along well throughout the summit, and the Queen Mother and the DSA Prime Minister began making inquiries with the Zulu leadership to get the ball rolling on a formal courtship. Ultimately, the two Royals eventually agreed to become engaged. The news was announced throughout South Africa, to rapturous media attention and public excitement.
The historic marriage of King William V to Princess Sibusisiwe Zulu, a member of the Zulu Royal Family, marked a historic moment in the history of Africa, the Commonwealth, and the British diaspora. The Royal Marriage, and the subsequent birth of Princess Faith, marked the union between two of the most prominent royal families in the world, a new dawn in South Africa's emerging multiethnic harmony, and a reinvigoration of monarchist support in many far-flung regions of the Commonwealth, including the Guyana Cooperative, whose status as a Commonwealth member and former British colony had given it ties to the old British Empire; now the King's interracial Royal Family sparked a notable surge in goodwill and popularity among Guyana's very diverse population towards the Monarchy, as well as in other regions of the Commonwealth. The South African leadership cannily used this as a way to promote stronger cohesion.
The King and Queen soon announced a pregnancy. Queen Sibusisiwe would eventually give birth to King William's heir apparent, Princess Faith Elizabeth Louisa Zulu Windsor, usually known as simply Princess Faith. The Royal birth marked a seismic moment in the history of South Africa, the British diaspora, and the Commonwealth at large. Princess Faith would be the first mixed race heir to the throne, and her very existence symbolised the new diversifying era in the history of the Realms.
King William and Queen Sibusisiwe would soon have another child, a son named Alexander Arthur Peter Windsor, officially styled as Prince Alexander.
The Royal Family would become a beloved institution for the South African and British refugee populations, and Queen Sibusisiwe herself would be affectionately nicknamed "Queen Sibusi" or "Queen Busi" by her people.
Queen Zara: A New Beginning for Britain[]
Meanwhile back in Britain, Queen Anne II's daughter Zara ascended to the throne of Cleveland in January 2011, being crowned at a joyful coronation ceremony at Ripon Cathedral. The Crown used by Anne had been the Imperial State Crown which had been brought with Queen Elizabeth II on Doomsday and eventually brought to Anne from the RMY Britannia after Elizabeth's passing. Now, the Crown passed physically from Queen Anne to the new Queen Zara, but this time with the former monarch still alive to share in the joy of the moment. Anne would describe Zara's coronation as "the proudest day of my life."
That day in the Cathedral marked the first time that Britain had seen a coronation since the long ago pre-war days of 1953, an era that seemed so far away as to be almost mythological, something out of Arthurian legend. The coronations of Andrew and William had taken place in South Africa, and in any case their side of the family was now estranged in the eyes of many Britons. Now, Cleveland was hosting and broadcasting a geographically British coronation, and the ceremony was attended by diplomatic guests (including representatives from the Celtic Alliance nations and Nordic Union) and middle class travelers from throughout Britain, drawn in by their curiosity to witness the event, and the broadcast of the ceremony on the new CBC network reached many far away from Cleveland. Many commented that the mystique and publicity of the event was almost single-handedly responsible for "turbocharging the monarchist cause and reviving hopes for a reunified Britain," in the words of one English newspaper columnist.
At the pivotal moment in the ceremony, the Bishop of Durham procured the Crown from Queen Anne to give to Zara, and the Bishop of York asked Zara "Madam, is Your Majesty willing to take the Oath?" To which Zara replied "I am."
After completing the Coronation Oath, the Bishop of Durham began the Anointing, saying "Be thy hands anointed with Holy Oil, be thy breast be anointed with Holy Oil, be thy head anointed with Holy Oil, as Kings, Priests, and Prophets were anointed."
After the ceremony, the city was effectively shut down for a large festival commemorating Her Majesty's Coronation. Long tables with benches were placed in public areas for neighbors to share celebratory meals together. At the castle itself, Queen Zara and her guests enjoyed a meal prepared by a team of Royal cooks led by the Essex-born head chef James Oliver. Queen Zara, however, spent much of the weekend mingling with her subjects and enjoying their well-wishes and company.
The coronation of Queen Zara represented a watershed moment for Britain, even outside of Cleveland, as it represented renewed hopes for the reinstitution of a Britain-wide monarchy and with it renewed hopes for a reunion of the United Kingdom in some form.
Zara would, of course, not do this completely alone. Her mother was tired from dealing with one crisis after another as well as by her own health problems, but continued to serve as her daughter's most important advisor.
Queen Zara became famous for joining her military and police forces in tactical raids on horseback.
Zara's reign would prove to be popular, as she continued her mother's tradition of actively lending Royal properties to charitable foundations and also continued her mother's tradition of being directly involved in the training of equestrian police and military forces, as well as Anne's tradition of occasionally joining those forces in police actions and military skirmishes against elements of the TBA, thus showing a commitment to peace and diversity as well as providing the more hands-on leadership that many Britons expected of their monarchs in the more volatile post-Doomsday world.
United Kingdoms[]
In the 2010's, as support for Zara and British patriotism grew, the Reunionist cause was greatly buoyed by the reignited hopes kicked off by Zara's coronation and continued popularity. Zara had continued her mother's patronage and active support of local charities and (like her mother) personally supervised the training of the mounted police and military units. Zara would also (like her mother) participate directly in military actions against the racist TBA, reasoning that in this post-Doomsday world the monarch should be as active as the monarchs of the medieval era in leading her troops, at least some of the time. These actions helped Zara's popularity soar, and provided a model and vision for what a reunited Kingdom could look like.
However, the various factions governing the patchwork map of post-Doomsday Britain were still having far too much difficulty in agreeing on specifics, and some factions seemed (for the time being) to have drifted too far. So representatives from many of the British survivor states hammered together a proposal for an entity called the United Kingdoms of Great Britain.
The classic Union Jack that had served as the flag of the pre-Doomsday UK has been reintroduced as the official flag of the United Kingdoms organisation, in recognition as its status as a potent symbol of British culture and nationhood.
Functioning as a sort of Unionist counterpart to the Celtic Alliance, the United Kingdoms would an organisation of technically separate governments that were unified in personal union to the same monarch, in commitment to a shared single market for trade, in agreeing to never declare war on one another, and in agreeing to attempt a harmonised foreign policy towards nations outside of Britain itself, officially creating a shared delegation to be seated together at the League of Nations. The organisation's main meeting place is Bamburgh Castle.
One of the organisation's mid-term goals for the 2020's is a proposal to create a new currency to be shared by all member states of the United Kingdoms to provide deeper integration and further restabilisation of Britain. The proposed single currency, though still only in the proposal phase of negotiations, is already being nicknamed the New British Pound by the press.
Lingering Questions[]
The royal rift between the branches of the family led by King Andrew I and Queen Anne II, though downplayed by Queen Zara and King William in an attempt at rapprochement, have left some thorny unresolved questions to be answered. As one commenter wondered "Does King William V and his line still claim sovereignty over Old Britain or not? Most Britons by the 2020's seem to be gravitating decisively towards Queen Zara and her heirs, yet neither branch of the family has spoken decisively on this matter. Does William claim to still be King of Britain? Does Zara claim to be independent?" The Isle of Man is perhaps unique among the British Isles in explicitly affirming its loyalty to the South African branch of the monarchy. The other monarchist elements in Britain seem to be coalescing firmly behind Zara in recent years.
These questions have also raised further awkward questions about titles and peerages. As one barrister wondered "The pre-Doomsday monarchy granted many titles and peerages named in honour of places both in Britain and throughout the Commonwealth. Those honours surely still belong to the monarch, but the question is WHICH monarch? Can King William of South Africa declare Princess Faith to be the Princess of Wales, or Prince Alexander to be the new Duke of Edinburgh?" One example of this dilemma came in the 2020's. Catherine Morrison-Smith, daughter of the late former Governor John Morrison the Viscount Dunrossil, remains a wildly popular figure among the Bermudian community in the Caribbean Federation, who affectionately call her "the Viscountess." As a gesture of diplomatic goodwill, King William opted to refer to her as "the Viscountess Dunrossil" in a planned official message to congratulate her on her birthday, prompting a diplomatic dispute over whether William or Zara had the right to affirm such a title, or if the title was automatically inherited, etc. once word of the plan leaked to Zara's government. To defuse the situation, the offices of Queen Zara and King William opted to release a joint statement of goodwill, with both monarchs congratulating Catherine and referring to her as Viscountess Dunrossil, for now sidestepping the awkward question over which monarchy holds the right to which peerages.
Currently living members[]
South African branch (Windsor-Mountbatten)[]
His Majesty King William V (Head of the Royal House, Head of the Commonwealth, Supreme Governor of the Anglican Church)
His Royal Highness Michael, Prince of Cleveland (heir apparent)
His Royal Highness Prince Edward
Her Royal Highness Victoria, Princess Royal
Family Genealogy[]
Flag of the old United Kingdom. Many Reunionists still proudly wave the Union Jack in the hopes of a reunified Kingdom.
Iconography[]
The redesigned Royal Standard, created by request of King William V to reflect the more diverse British diaspora of the present. It was unveiled at William's First Jubilee as King.
The Royal House of Windsor's primary bit of iconography is, of course, the revised Royal Standard unveiled at William V's First Jubilee. Many supporters of the Royal Family also wave the old Union Jack on an unofficial basis to represent the idea of unity among the British diaspora.
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