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duhragonball · 4 months ago

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Phantom Blood Liveblog JJBA ch.26-30

Yeah, back in those days, "ORA" hadn't been invented yet. If you wanted to beat a guy up with rapid punches, you had to yell something like "Sunlight Yellow Overdrive!" and hope he was unconscious before he could ask you what the hell that means.

Last time, Dio lured Jonathan and Zeppeli into a trap. They beat his zombie henchmen easily enough, but Dio's a lot stronger now than he was the last time Jonathan fought him. Hamon attacks will definitely kill Dio, but they depend on proper breathing and circulation of blood through the extremities. So when Dio freezes his own arms to block their strikes, it chills the good guys' own arms, disrupting the Hamon ripples.

Satisfied that his enemies are no match for him, Dio summons up two more zombies to finish the fight. These are Tarkus and Bruford, a pair of "legendary knights" who played an important role in British history. Well, not really. These guys are completely fictional, but Jonathan, Dio, and Zeppeli speak of them like they read about them in school.

Dio recounts their tragic backstory. The two knights were loyal to Mary Queen of Scots (1542-1587). In 1567, Mary was accused of killing her husband, Lord Darnley, and was forced to abdicate the Scottish throne and seek refuge in England with her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. Queen Elizabeth spent the next twenty years moving her from one castle to another as she tried to figure out what to do with Mary. On the one hand, Mary had a claim to the throne of England, which made her a potential threat of Elizabeth's rule. On the other hand, killing Mary would draw the ire of Mary's supporters. In the end, Mary was implicated in an plot to assassinate Elizabeth, and she was tried and executed in 1587.

In the world of Phantom Blood, the armies of Tarkus and Bruford tried to free Mary in 1587, only for Elizabeth to use Mary as a hostage. She agreed to release Mary in exchange for Tarkus and Bruford's surrender. They agreed, even knowing they would be executed, but it was a trick. On the day of their execution, they were informed that Mary had already been beheaded the day before.

With their last words, Tarkus and Bruford cursed the world and their enemies, and Dio found that admirable. So when he set up shop in Windknights Lot, he decided to dig up their graves and reanimate their corpses. Unlike the other zombies we've seen, they're a lot stronger. Tarkus is a mountain of a man, while Bruford seems to use his long hair like tentacles. He tangles up Jonathan's right hand in his hair and uses it to suck Jonathan's blood. Jonathan can't even send Hamon through that hand because of the blood loss there.

So he just uses his left hand to destroy the hairs with Scarlet Overdrive. Everyone's all amazed that Jonathan would hit himself to keep fighting, but I kind of doubt that you can hurt yourself with your own Hamon energy. If Zeppeli could break a rock without hurting a frog, then I think this is a similar situation.

Another zombie tries to attack Jonathan during the battle, but Bruford destroys him, then asks Dio to allow him to fight Jonathan one on one. Dio agrees, but he's rather annoyed to find that Bruford still retains the warrior's pride he once had in life.

So Bruford commences his attack, using his hair to swing his sword at Jonathan.

So back in the day, when Windknights Lot was used as a training ground, there was a challenge known as "The 77 Rings". It's a 10-kilometer journey, but you have to defeat 77 opponents along the way, and with each one you beat you have to wear an iron ring. By the time you get to the end of the gauntlet, you have to fight their hardest guys while being weighed down with all those rings. Only five warriors ever completed the gauntlet. Four of them, including Tarkus, were big huge guys who were simply strong enough to muscle through it, but Bruford pulled it off by using his hair to swing weapons as a surprise attack.

Also, Bruford is so good at swimming that he can do it even while wearing his armor. When he and Jonathan end up in the water, Dio leaves the battlefield, thinking that Jonathan is as good as dead. Bruford puts away his sword, wanting to keep things fair at this stage. Down here, Jonathan can't use Hamon without air to breathe, so Bruford thinks this makes them even.

But Jonathan does the unexpected and swims down instead of heading toward the surface. He finds coal at the bottom, and reasons that there's pockets of air trapped there. And this works because.... it's like when your dog won't let go of something, so you have to pretend your giving it to him to make him let go? Yeah, I don't get it. I mean, just because there's gas trapped under those rocks doesn't mean it's breathable air.

But it works out for Jonathan, and he uses his breath to release a devastating Hamon attack, Underwater Turquoise Blue Overdrive. Hamon conducts well through water, so the range and power of the attack are devastating...

Or they would be, except Bruford managed to stay ahead of the attack until he reached the surface, so he only took a wound to his forehead. He's exhilirated by Jonathan's performance so far, and is grateful to face such a worthy adversary.

Meanwhile, Jonathan is astonished that a zombie would retain this sort of fighting spirit centuries after his death. "Flesh remembers?" Jonathan wonders. There's some foreshadowing for Part 3...

Bruford ties up Jonathan with his hair again, but this time it seems to grow and constrict around him, which is definitely not natural. Turns out, Bruford gained this ability when he became a zombie. It works by the way he can control the moisture in his hair, similar to the way Dio could rapidly evaporate the water in his arms to make them cold.

Now, somewhere around here, you might be wondering why Zeppeli isn't helping. Well, that's because he's still hurt from fighting Dio, and he needs to thaw out his arm so he can use Hamon to heal his injuries. Speedwagon has an idea, which basically amounts to pressing Zeppeli's arm against his torso to help warm it up. But it takes most of this arc to finish the process, so Jonathan's on his own.

Zeppeli was worried for Jonathan, since you need to use your hands to deploy Hamon attacks, but Jonathan gets one foot loose and blocks a strike from Bruford's sword. But this isn't a defense, it's an attack. Hamon conducts through metal, too, so Jonathan uses Metal Silver Overdrive to send the Ripple through the sword and into Bruford's arm.

Then he breaks loose and follows through with Sunlight Yellow Overdrive, and that's it for Bruford.

Bruford is in immense pain from the attack, but he vows to keep fighting... until he suddenly stops fighting and accepts defeat. Jonathan anticipated this, and Zeppeli realizes what Jonathan already figured out: When Bruford got hit with the Ripple, it restrored some of his humanity. Zombies don't feel pain, so the fact that Bruford felt anything meant he was becoming human again. And so, he stopped fighting, because he no longer saw Jonathan as his enemy. Flowers grow under Bruford, I guess because the Ripple energy? I don't know.

As he disintegrates, Bruford gives Jonathan his sword, which is inscribed with the word "Luck". Bruford writes a "P" on there with blood, making it say "Pluck" instead. He wishes Jonathan both on his quest, then turns into ash.

So you might be wondering what happened to Tarkus during all of this. Well, he just stayed on the sidelines this whole time, and now that Bruford is dead, he tramples Bruford's armor like he hates the guy. This kicks up a lot of debris, and Zeppeli has to use a Hamon shield to protect himself from it. So now it's Tarkus' turn to fight, and he doesn't seem to be as honorable as Bruford was...

#jojo's bizarre adventure #phantom blood #jonathan joestar #dio brando #will a zeppeli #robert e o speedwagon #tarkus #bruford #queen elizabeth i

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master-john-uk · 2 years ago

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youtube

30th January 1965 - The funeral of Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, PC, DL, FRS (30 November 1874 -- 24 January 1965).

Churchill's beloved country residence, Chartwell in Westerham, Kent is very close to where I live, and my grandparents were good friends with Winston and Clementine. (My own claim to fame is that I once took afternoon tea with the great man and his lady wife at Chartwell, although I was only 2 or three years old at the time.)

Churchill first met Princess Elizabeth when she was nine years old, and during his first term as Prime Minister in WWII became a close friend of her father, King George VI. Their weekly meetings often involved lunch and sometimes lasted for several hours.

When Princess Elizabeth became Queen during Churchill's second term as Prime Minister in 1952, he was able to offer the new Monarch support and advice, both "professionally", and at a personal level.

On the day of Churchill's funeral, The Queen broke with royal etiquette by being one of the first to arrive at St Paul's Cathedral. This day was to honour to Sir Winston Churchill.

Following the service at at Paul's Cathedral, Churchill's coffin was carried by a bearer party from the Grenadier Guards to the Tower of London. This procession took 18 minutes, and is the longest distance a coffin had been carried by pallbearers at any state funeral.

From Tower Pier, Churchill's coffin was transported along the Thames to Festival Pier on the South Bank by MV Havengore. As the boat set-sail, 16 RAF English Electric Lightning jets flew over in formation. As the vessel proceeded along the river, 36 dock workers at Hay's Wharf lowered the jibs of their cranes in an unplanned, and unrehearsed mark of respect. Churchill's grandson, Nicholas Soames later said that this unexpected tribute, "undid us all!"

From Festival Pier, Churchill's coffin was transported to Waterloo Station and loaded onto a train to take him to his final resting place in Oxfordshire.

Why Waterloo? There is no direct railway link to Oxford! Waterloo Station was chosen by Sir Winston as the departure point for his funeral train. He knew that General de Gaulle, his French wartime ally would be present. Although Winston and Charles de Gaulle were friends, there was always a rivalry between the pair harking back to the historic conflicts between England and France. Churchill chose Waterloo as a final V-sign to his French friend!

Churchill's original funeral wish was to be cremated, and for his ashes to be buried under the croquet lawn at Chartwell. A couple of years before he died, Winston visited his father's grave at Bladon, in sight of his ancestral home of Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire. He reportedly tapped the ground with his walking cane and said, "This is my place... Right here!" And that is where the great English gentleman rests today.

Music: "Thaxted" (Jupiter from The planets Suite) composed by Gustav Holst.

#Youtube

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raisab332012 · 2 years ago

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Answer to Did Henry VIII name any of his daughters after his wives? by Jade Welch

Answer to Did Henry VIII name any of his daughters after his wives? by Jade Welch https://www.quora.com/Did-Henry-VIII-name-any-of-his-daughters-after-his-wives/answer/Jade-Welch-1?ch=15&oid=1477743663238594&share=2ab2a238&srid=7KVRc&target_type=answer

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eviesaurusrex · 2 years ago

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ᴘʀᴏʟᴏɢᴜᴇ

Harry Styles x British Royal!Reader

Her Royal Highness Princess YN, daughter to Prince Charles and late Princess Diana, Prince and Princess of Wales, younger sister to Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and granddaughter to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh would’ve never thought to meet Harry Styles by accident—by literally running into him. And Harry Styles would’ve never thought to meet the Princess of England again after that seemingly fateful afternoon.

faceclaim: Saoirse Ronan

author’s note: I’m really super excited for this one, but please bear with me if I don’t get the titles right. I’m still putting more knowledge into my head about it! This work is pure fiction and entirely self-indulgent on my behalf.

series masterlist » ch. 1 is here!

;

theroyalfamily Happy 27th Birthday Princess YN! 🎂

📸 Chris Jackson (chrisjacksongetty) and the Duke of Sussex, earlier this month.

Liked by ynismyqueen, yourfan1, hsfan1, royalistsbitch, mrsamclaflin, gemmastyles, and 986,351 others | 334,009 comments

hsfan1 It’s Her Highness’s birthday AND Fine Line got released today - this is the best day of my life. Happy Birthday!

ynismyqueen HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY QUEEN

yourfan1 Happy Birthday, Your Highness!

yourfan2 She looks SO stunning! Happy Birthday, YN!

yourfan3 How is it possible that she looks so much like her mother 🥺 Happy Birthday, princess ❤️

↳ dianaforever right? I thought the same, especially while I looked through the older pictures and the more recent ones. Diana’s genes really said “Excuse me, that’s my spot” while creating this angel of a woman 🥺

liked by yourfan3, yourfan1, hsfan1, and royalistsbitch

↳ yourfan3 Totally 🥹

hsfan2 Fine Line release, Gemma liked this post, what a day. Now I’m waiting for Harry to like this one too, so my shipper-brain can go into a frenzy 💀

liked by hsfan1 and hsfan3

mrsamclaflin I wish you a very Happy Birthday, Your Royal Highness 🎂

↳ everyonesfan And there he is! Like always: on time ❤️

liked by mrsamclaflin, yourfan1, and yourfan2

↳ mrsamclaflin Of course!

liked by everyonesfan and yourfan3

royalistsbitch Can you marry me, my princess? 🥺😮‍💨 HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

;

The morning of her birthday was always a hectic matter. One could easily mistake this particular day for the birthday of the Queen herself, but in reality, it was only the result of a family who deeply adores the youngest child of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. But the royal protocol was still in place—not even the Princess of England could change that on her special day. That’s why her entire day was strictly and thoroughly planned, except for a few hours in the morning after her Lady of the Bedchamber had woken the princess to begin the day. Her Mistress of the Robes had already hung the several cautiously put-together outfits at the beautifully crafted screen separating the space in front of the closet from the rest of the dressing room. One look at them, and the princess sighed deeply after crawling out under the thick blankets dominating the comfortable bed. The outfits were nice, of course, but the meaning behind two out of the three meant official duties because, after twenty-six years inside this family, she knew how to figure out her day at the sight of clothing pieces. At least one piece each was in her favorite color, even though the entire attire reminded her of her Granny.

Another sigh left the princess, but the one present thought—I want to go back to bed—vanished at the prospect of a beautiful winter day with blue sky, fluffy, sheep-like clouds, and the sun shining down on busy London. Leaning against the wall next to the grand windows stretching from almost the floor up to two-thirds of the high ceiling, YN looked out of it, straight onto the usually beautiful garden, but now all she saw was bare trees and brown grass. Her face immediately showed the displeasure at the sight. She loved Kensington, she really did, but the winter-y gloom made everything dull and unpleasant. Even though she was born in December, YN most definitely wasn’t a winter child—she preferred spring and summer over anything else.

The soft knock at the French door leading into her apartment let YN turn around with a grin. “Come in!” Her voice traveled towards the waiting party of three men in front of her humble home, and after one of the doors got opened, a head with tousled red hair peeked inside. As soon as his eyes fell onto the youngest Mountbatten-Windsor of the trio, his lips stretched into a wide grin. “There she is! Our birthday girl,” he exclaimed and pushed the door wide open to reveal a smiling William and an as bright as his sons smiling Charles.

Harry looked at the other two expectantly after his father had closed the door, and moving his arms in a counting manner, the younger prince started to count. “And one, two, three…” Suddenly the three men began to sing.

“Happy Birthday to You

Happy Birthday to You

Happy Birthday Dear YN

Happy Birthday to You!”

Grinning and chuckling, YN clapped excitedly, face beaming with utmost joy. She jumped into her eldest brother’s arms and hugged him close as he kissed her head softly. “Happy Birthday, sunshine,” he wished her, and the woman kissed his cheek. “Thank you, old man,” she returned with a grin while William only rolled his eyes.

Harry grinned as brightly and wide as she did, passing the cupcake with the already lit candle and an envelope with a massive bow to William before hugging her close and lifting her off the ground, her feet dangling under her dark blue robe in the air. “Happy Birthday, jellybean.” YN pressed her lips to his bearded cheek and grinned even wider. “Did you plan this little get-together?” The middle child of them nodded proudly. “You can bet on it. Dear Willy over there tried to talk me out of it because he thought you’d be sleeping in. I told him it would be bollocks because you, dear sister, never stop working.” William scoffed, and they both turned to him. “Excuse me and my assumptions that someone would let her sleep in on her special day.” Charles laughed softly behind his hand before opening his arms and wrapping his youngest child into a loving hug. “You know how it goes, boys,” he told the two princes and gently kissed YN's forehead. “Happy Birthday, sweetheart,” he wished her and kissed her forehead another time. “Thank you, papa,” YN spoke silently and nuzzled into the warm embrace.

Ever since returning from Oxford, the father-daughter duo had spent less time than usual together because they had been both busier than normal. With her degrees in Politics and International Relations and Literature—the latter had been her choice of study—she suddenly had sort of acquired a new status within the Royal Family. She had tended to her charitable work but had also spent more time with the reception of political figures and had pushed herself into a new field of charities: political education among the students in their country. And Charles had attended his appointments and public functions as Prince of Wales.

It was good to feel his hug again. It had always been one the safest places on earth for the princess.

William cleared his throat to continue with the program in the form of cake and presents. Well, a cupcake and one present. The rest would have to wait until YN’s duties were fulfilled and the entire family would come together. The planned dinner would be the grandest in a long time.

“So, we put our heads together for this present, and it was the only thing we could come up with because everything else was already stolen by the rest of the lot—and Harry over there can call himself lucky for coming up with at least one idea,” William explained while holding the envelope up, but Harry swatted his hand and took the plate with the cupcake in his own hands. “Will you let her at least blow the candle and wish for something before you jump directly to the next point on the list? Thank you very much. And thanks for the hit. Welcome to the Sleep Deprivation Society, my ass.” Shaking his head in exaggeration—William only laughed under his breath while Charles threw his two sons' scolding looks— the redhead held the cupcake right in front of her face, the purple and white swirled candle still with a flame on top of it. “Go on, jellybean,” he smiled down at the blonde woman, and YN closed her eyes before blowing the candle out, and the men started to clap.

Smiling, she opened them again and clapped both hands. “You were saying something about this envelope, Will?” Excitement was clearly visible in her bright eyes and the eldest chuckled before passing it to her. “It’s from all three of us.” Nodding, she grinned at every man in their small round. “Thank you,” she already said, and Harry rolled his eyes. “Open it first before thanking us,” he teased her, and with a breathless bit to her lower lip, YN opened the envelope with much more force than needed and let the paper slowly fall to the carpet under her bare feet.

Her eyes widened as soon as they realized what she held in her hands, and with a squeal, the princess started to jump up and down. “It is… it is…” She couldn’t bring the sentence to an end, too overwhelmed and excited to utter a coherent one. The brothers and the father exchanged proud looks before turning back to the still-squealing princess. “You really got me a ticket for Harry Styles?!” YN still couldn’t believe it even though she held the paper in her very own hands.

Charles softly stroked her blonde hair. “Your grandfather told me something fundamental, and that was to let you live your life. I know you miss your studies dearly, the life you had in Oxford, the freedom. That is why I will try to give this back to you, even if it’s only for a couple of hours or days at a time.” With nothing but wonder, YN stared up at her father, not knowing where all of this was coming from so suddenly. But she hadn’t to ask at the same time because she knew her grandpapa and how he wanted for every single one of them to gain a small amount of freedom back, but especially for her—the baby of the family.

It was freedom in moderation, of course, but YN had learned over the years that this was the best she could get. So she embraced the little independence she could acquire between the Royal Protocol and her family, the public eye, and her duties because she never wanted to end like her beloved mother.

Her arms wrapped around the older man and held him close. “Thank you, papa,” she whispered into the soft cotton of his vest and felt his hand stroking her back. “Not for this, sweetheart. Not for wanting a piece of normality in your life.”

;

vogue_uk We had the utmost honor to interview Her Royal Highness, Princess YN. We talked about the life of a “modern” princess, how life in Buckingham Palace has shaped her and her interests, and we even tickled out the answer to our question about which of her Christmas presents she loved the most—and which member of the Royal Family had gifted it.

Click the link in our bio to see|read the full interview with Princess YN!

PS: The Princess of England is funnier than most people.

Liked by hsfan1, yourfan1, ynismyqueen, royalistsbitch, gemmastyles, and 879,774 others | 258,691 comments

vogue_uk “I will probably shock the world in its very foundations with this answer, but my most loved present this year was by far the Fine Line vinyl Will [His Royal Highness, Prince William] gifted me—the gorgeous limited edition, you know which one, don’t you? The stunning black and white? Yes, exactly this one. Now everyone probably will ask themselves, ‘Why didn’t she buy it herself on the release day?’ Well, for that, you have to understand our family traditions: We swore an oath never to buy the things we like to have about which we already have talked in the past, so no one will feel the embarrassment of a mediocre excited face on Christmas Morning because one already got it themself. It’s the most horrendous feeling in existence—well, during Christmas and birthdays, at least.”

ynandharryshipper The princess probably woke up the morning of the interview and thought to herself, “I wanna see this internet burn,” and then casually proceeded with her plan😮‍💨

↳ yourfan1 Totally 😂

hsfan1 Did YN, the Princess of England, seriously tell the world that she loves Harry Styles??????? I never expected to admire and love one of the Royals, but here we go.

ynismyqueen “The album has run on repeat ever since Christmas Morning. Granny [Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II] told Grandpapa [His Royal Highness, Prince Philip] to find her some earplugs. Not because she dislikes Mr. Styles’ voice, but because she rather prefers not to have to throw the turntable out of Balmoral—she doesn’t like to hear things in a loop. She is very happy now that I’ve returned to Kensington [Palace], and I am happy that I can hear Fine Line now on full volume.” - She is such a mood :D

↳ hsfan2 Damn, this woman really said I am a Harrie and proud of it! 😩

royalistsbitch Can we quickly talk about how bloody authentic she is??? She is definitely the most down-to-earth royal of the lot 😍

↳ yourfan2 +1! Directly followed by Kate!

liked by royalistsbitch

dailymail Harry Styles is back in the UK!

Singer-songwriter Harry Styles is back in London after recording—and releasing—his new album Fine Line in his Californian home. Styles interacted with his fans on his way to the BBC Radio 1 studio for an interview about his new album and plans for upcoming events and tours.

Liked by hsfan1, hsfan2, hsfan3, ynismyqueen, sunflowerbutterfly, and 5,613 others | 1,994 comments

hsfan1 There will be a listening WITH HIM IN THE SAME ROOM?! Where do I get that ticket????? 😭

↳ hsfan2 it’s a strictly limited amount because it’s supposed to be something more private and home-y feeling. That’s why I don’t believe I will be a lucky one, but hey, I will keep my eyes open 👀

↳ hsfan1 Oooooh, okay. Maybe it’s only for selected people, then? We’ll see!

ynismyqueen I am SO sure that YN is sucking those new pictures up like oxygen 😮‍💨

liked by hsfan1, royalistsbitch, sunflowerbutterfly, and 8 others

↳ hsfan3 I’m sure of it! He looks damn handsome (as always) and so cuddle-able ❤️

yn_and_harryshipper He looks exceptionally good today 😩 And the plaid coat??? The princess will love this 🥺

;

The ringing of her phone securely tucked onto the docking station to charge ripped YN out of her hard-working mind, and her fingers’ movements faltered atop the keyboard. With an “Alexa, please stop the music”—she was polite even to a plastic thing that could talk to her—she paused at Sunflower, Vol. 6 and picked up her phone to accept the call of her best friend.

“To what do I owe the honor of your call, Mylady?” YN greeted Meredith Brisbane, her former dorm companion in Oxford and study mate in her Literature major, with a more nasally voice than ever. The princess knew that she sounded like a character straight out of a Jane Austen novel naturally, but well, she couldn’t do much about her upbringing now.

Better to embrace and sometimes overact it a bit.

But Meredith only laughed at the other end of the call because she was definitely used to it by now. “Well, I wanted to hear if my best friend is still alive and not already drowned in work—.” At that, YN scoffed softly, eyes settling on her calendar, which was full of post-its and scribbles, and she knew with certainty that her assistant had even more events and appointments where her presence was required. Meredith hummed in understanding. “I know that sound; you don’t have to say more. And then I wanted to ask if you checked the Gram already.” The princess was now intrigued at the second question and rummaged through the stuff on her desk to find the case with her AirPods. After finding them, she popped them in and held the phone between both hands to log into her secret Instagram account faster.

It sucked that the members of the Royal Family weren’t allowed to have public and known social media accounts because she really wanted to share certain aspects with the public to finally lift the myth and stop the assumptions made by others. But after one argument over dinner with her Granny, followed by a rebuke from her and one from Camilla, she never spoke of it again in their presence. Even the staff of the official Royal Family social media accounts had a word with her over tea. Ever since YN kept her mouth shut about this particular topic and enjoyed the freedom of her little secret Instagram account with the incredible follower number of 11 people.

“What am looking fo-… nevermind!”

With wide eyes, YN stared at her feed full of a smiling Harry Styles in a blue and yellow plaid coat, sunglasses in fluffy brown locks, and the signature pearl necklace around his neck. Reading the several headlines, she knew that he was back in the UK, in London. They shared a time zone and city again, and the princess grinned like an imbecile at her screen.

Meredith’s chuckle echoed through the AirPods. “I saw them plop up one after the next and had to tell you. My friend Daniel—I told you about him, right?” YN hummed softly before she perked up. “The one working for BBC Radio?” Her best friend agreed. “Yep! He wrote me a few minutes ago that there will be a small listening event for Fine Line? Limited number of tickets, super small, one can have a conversation with him if one is lucky enough, the whole thing.” Now, YN shot up from her chair in front of the desk and stared straight out of the window, eyes even wider. “Do you know how they will get sold?” Crossing her fingers, YN hoped Mer would’ve all the answers to her biggest dream. But the sigh was answer enough. “Nope, sorry, sweets. But I will keep my eyes open and send you the link as soon as I stumble over it, ‘promise.”

And YN knew that Meredith would always keep her promises, so she sat down again and sighed deeply. “He looks so good. How is that even possible?” Propping her chin on one of her hands, the other hand still held onto the smartphone, and her thumb scrolled through every single newly released picture of Harry bloody Styles.

Plaid suits him, the princess thought with a small smile before focusing on the call again.

“I’m asking that same question every time I see a picture of you, sweets. Is it genetics? God-given? Magic? Witchcraft? Tell me all your secrets.” YN could hear the grin of her best friend through the phone. Shrugging, she leaned back in her chair. “It’s a talent,” the blonde spoke dramatically, and the two women started to laugh until their stomachs hurt.

“But seriously,” YN started again after wiping the tears from under her eyes. “He looks better every year. Though I miss the long hair One Direction era.” Those lush brown locks were a sight to behold, and she still had a poster with long-haired Harry somewhere hidden in her closet. She heard Meredith type on her laptop before she Aaaaah-d in realization. “Now I know what you mean. And yes, I have to agree. Those long hair really suited him. Maybe he would let it grow back if the Princess of England asked him personally? In a letter, maybe? With one of those fancy wax seals?” YN would like to tell her best friend that her family did not use wax seals since the last century, but she knew better. One look in the upper drawer to her left would prove her words wrong. “I don’t think he answers to desperate pleas of desperate princesses who had an unhealthy obsession with his former boy group as a teenager.” No, she didn’t suspect Harry Styles for someone who bends easily to other wills. He would never have gotten this far and been as successful as he was at such a young age if it had been different.

“Well, it’s worth a try. But hey, YNN?” The princess hummed in question while liking every single picture on her run through her feed. “Don’t work too much, yeah? I have the feeling I’m the one responsible for keeping your habits in check, and I can practically see the smoke emitting from your overworked brain till the other end of London.” YN could hear the worry in her friend’s voice, so she smiled softly. Meredith really let her feel loved and cherished without demanding the impossible. “Will do, pumpkin. I love you, you know that, don’t you?”

While waiting for an answer, the princess started to save every document she worked on today to call it a day and maybe hide in the library to reread Pride and Prejudice. She could use some romantic fairytale and a brooding Mr. Darcy—because her life most definitely wasn’t a romantic fairytale. “I know, sweets. And I love you too. We should grab dinner sometime. How about Thursday?” Grinning, YN closed her laptop and logged out of Instagram on her phone. “Sounds great. I’m open for anything as long as it’s nothing resembling seafood or some artistic bollocks I am supposed to only stare at but not eat it.” She knew that Mer grinned widely at this moment. “Please, I never take you to those fancy restaurants where you should preferably make a reservation in the last century. Nah-ah, we’re going to widen your culinary horizon of peasant food further. How about Burger King?”

;

dailymail Princess YN was spotted today with friend Meredith Brisbane in the City of London, London!

Liked by gemmastyles, yourfan1, yourfan2, royalistsbitch and 11,980 others | 5,452 comments

yourfan1 YN rocks that jacket

royalistsbitch Damn, not sure if I want to be that jacket or her best friend.

↳ ynismyqueen Having the same trouble over here.

yourfan2 I WASNT SURE IF I REALLY SAW HER BUT IT WAS REALLY HER THEN

↳ ynismyqueen YOU SAW HER????!!!

↳ yourfan2 I did! I was in the same bookshop as she and Meredith! And she had a huge stack of novels in her arms (with a lot of good titles, if I may say so) 😍

yourfan3 She gets more beautiful every day 🥹

↳ yourfan4 truuuuuuue 😮‍💨

↳ yourfan5 She is like the epitome of princess-ness ❤️

gemmastyles I am unsure if I want to be that jacket or if I want to have that jacket.

↳ hsfan1 GEMMA IS HERE!

;

“I am not sure if I want to be that jacket or if I want to have that jacket.” Gemma Styles spoke up, her phone in hands, while she sat on the couch at her mother’s house. She could hear commotion in the adjacent kitchen before her mother came into the living room, a dish towel thrown over her right shoulder. “What did you say, darling?” Anne asked and stopped behind the couch to see what her daughter had seen on her phone. Gemma pointed to the screen where Instagram was opened, and the Princess of England, wearing an oversized jeans jacket with colorful shoulders, was seen. Anne hummed and eyed the picture intently. “It suits her very well,” she decided, and Gemma nodded. “It really does! She is so effortlessly beautiful, just as Harry is. This is unfair.” Gemma sighed, and her mother chuckled. “Don’t be so harsh to yourself, love. You are just as beautiful as she is.”

The reassuring sound was interrupted by an entering Harry.

“Gemma is as beautiful as who? Me?” He grinned, and his sister rolled her eyes at his antics. “Very funny, Harold,” Gemma returned and threw a pillow in his vague direction, which he caught mid-air. “But for your information, I meant her.” And with that, his sister almost shoved the phone in his face after he had plopped down onto the couch next to the brunette. Harry got a hold of it before it fell him on the nose and stared at the familiar feed of Instagram with an even more familiar face.

His teenage crush was suddenly right in front of him again.

It was a strange feeling to see that face again after his time oversea, where news about the Royal Family was as scarce as rain in Death Valley. Well, he never was a huge fan of gossip, but her face always stood out—not because of negative headlines, quite the opposite, except that one time he could remember vividly because the entire country had been in shock.

Shaking his head, Harry tried to push those thoughts away because he was painfully aware of the stares his sister and mother gave him. Everyone in his family knew about that silly little crush of his.

“Yeah, she is gorgeous, you are gorgeous, everyone is gorgeous,” he mumbled, thoughts still not back on track. Gemma grinned at that. “Does someone still has a crush?” She almost sang the last word, and Harry nudged his laughing sister in the side until she fell to the side and landed on the decorative couch pillows. “Stop it, G. ‘S not funny.” He was almost embarrassed.

He was a worldwide known and successful 25-years old singer; he was a grown man. He shouldn’t have crushes on princesses or actresses or actors or princes. It was stupid.

His mom softly caressed his fluffy hair before bending down and pressing a kiss on his head. “It’s totally fine to have crushes, love, even if one is a grown adult.” It was as if she could read his mind, but she was his mother, after all; the one human he told everything that happened in his life. Scoffing, he slouched in the soft furniture and shrugged. “Still, I don’t know what you mean,” he tried to escape this topic by turning the tv on—but there her face was plastered over the news because, unlike the other years before, the New Year’s charity gala where she would be the main speaker was supposed to get broadcasted.

He really couldn’t escape his heavily—but foolishly—beating heart.

;

I am so excited for this small series and hope you liked the prologue! As usual: comments, reblogs, and likes are much appreciated :3

Taglist: @onecrazydirectioner

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cecilyneville · 4 years ago

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the spanish princess: episode 8

“why are people watching this show if they don’t like it???”

me:

(i mean hating on this show, not actually watching it - nothing about tsp is fun, the whole thing has been mean-spirited from beginning to end)

ruairi was good as prince henry, but as king henry? awful

“i would not come to help you” so how much more of coa being a cunt are we going to get? bc if this episode is called “peace” i assume she has to...idk...start being a bit nicer

god, fucking finally

if they want us to like catherine bc she’s finally paying attention to mary that isn’t “HMM SHE IS NOT A BOY”, they got another thing coming

catherine was horrible to everyone including her ladies and her daughter, but she’s slightly nicer now so it’s ok!!!!

“men of arran and men of hamilton” the writers have finally realised there are more families in scotland than stewart and douglas

WHY has albany kidnapped james? at first i thought it was a ruse b/w him and meg but apparently not. wouldn’t it make more sense for her to return to scotland to find that angus has kidnapped james?

it makes so much sense for ef to just ignore the fact that margaret douglas exists and keep prince alexander alive

ursula where you been all this time???

finally some semi-accurate headwear on maggie. but ONLY on maggie, not on ursula, bc if it’s anything the costuming on all three series have taught us, only old ladies cover their heads

also finally - laura carmichael is getting some decent material to work with! (relatively speaking)

bessie instructing henry fitzroy is very similar to her tudors counterpart doing the same, bc of course

comb ur fuckin hair dude

i’m not gonna lie, this latin standoff between mary & henry fitzroy is hilarious, like a 16th-century spelling bee

“there’s nothing i can give a girl” except, you know, sending her to ludlow as heirs to the throne were before her, but even that level of nuance is too confusing for fraham

“my brother is more sympathetic to her cause than he has been” this week: henry discovers the concept of divorce

“go to the king anne, smile and win his favour” yet another barely-concealed tudors ripoff

thomas more just like “maggie you’re fucked up bc your life has been so shit”

if henry is speaking about this script then he is 100% correct

oh rosa’s here! so not one but BOTH of catherine’s besties will ditch her, delicious

FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, THIS IS THE MOST OBVIOUS, CLUNKY WAY TO DO IT LMAO

oh they’re going for a becket/henry ii vibe here with wolsey & henry, don’t mind this

it bothers me SO much that they keep calling maggie henry’s aunt when they never bothered to include elizabeth’s actual sisters after they put cecily on a bus (which, to be fair, was probably for the best)

i kind of recoil when people say “[insert historical figure] would be so offended by this depiction” because if someone like catherine of aragon were shown any modern depiction of herself, her head would probably explode out of confusion and horror. BUT this is so offensive to the real catherine of aragon

i would like to see laura carmichael as elizabeth of york - it’s the big brown eyes

is she doing this out of hatred for her inability to give the king a son??? what does it all MEAN emma

i mean i guess he’s hotter than angus

i know this hunting scene is supposed to reflect something from part one which i didn’t watch, but it just reminds me of the tudors s1 finale when henry and anne fucked in the woods

also reminds me very much of the great when peter tries to drown catherine

catherine quoting deuteronomy and unwittingly confessing to consummating her marriage with arthur...CONGRATULATIONS YOU PLAYED YOURSELF

soz to sound like a broken record but the fact that people - even some actual critics - watch CH’s performance and think this is actually good acting will never not be funny to me, she’s atrocious. it’s so jarring looking at behind the scenes footage and seeing her smiling, like couldn’t you actually do this on screen? she plays catherine like the woman’s never felt happiness in her life, or any other emotion for that matter

lina’s not gonna sell catherine out and i’m so mad about it, she has treated you like SHIT for YEARS

god, she can’t even cry believingly

HELL YES MEG, DISCO INFERNO

we won’t have time to see meg’s marriage to henry stewart fail spectacularly, which is probably a good thing bc my heart would break

catherine has been absolutely VILE to lina but it’s ok bc she’s said sorry now

“i would speak with you” / “it seems you already are” LOLLLL

so funny that it’s only NOW that they’re getting french hoods of some kind, but not with actual veils because, like i said, only old dowdy matrons don’t get to show their sexy hair

WHAAAAT THE ACTUAL FUCK

i mean, i’m not surprised, given how much fraham hate anne

“so, you’re playing anne boleyn. congrats! but you’ll only get, like, one line, and you WILL have to get your tits out”

guys she’s so upset can’t you tell

CH got a taste for holding bows on game of thrones it’s the only thing she’s good at

STELLLAAAAAA

of course meg has to actually fire the cannons rather than just train them on angus and his men, but this is very fun

surprised they didn’t point out that one of scotland’s greatest cannons was called “mons meg”

fuck this nice scene between catherine and lina! she doesn’t deserve your forgiveness lina!!!

i guess catherine’s woke levels need to be maintained by keeping her one black friend who was a slave irl

hahahaha i fucking love her

“i will always be your wife, there is nothing you can do to change that” knock knock it’s the reformation

catherine choosing to leave makes no sense for this show or for the history they’re ~supposed~ to be depicting

“you will never take my place as queen of england” KNOCK KNOCK IT’S THE REFORMATION

catherine is an old lady now so we shall signify this by giving her a gable hood

catherine she just asked if the bird was dead jesus

which it should be by now...it’s been around since like 1510??

ah yes, let’s bring back that other metaphor, the imperialism compass

if all the disgruntled tories had their way this would be on the end credits of every episode of the crown too

and that’s all folks! let’s all be thankful that this show didn’t submit us to an absolute butchery of catherine’s blackfriars speech

#the spanish princess #tbd #there are only two people speaking sense in this finale #and both of them are named margaret

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petersasteria · 4 years ago

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The Forces of Nature || Ch.4

Pairing: Peter Parker x Superhero!Reader

Summary: “There’s this kid out there that can control the wind or something. I think she’s a great addition to the team. Let’s recruit her.”

SERIES MASTERLIST || PP MASTERLIST

Click the pictures for better quality and I still can’t believe I actually did this chapter with maximum effort lmao bc I actually studied so yeah have fun learning

Today was the day of Y/N and Peter's presentation about Queen Elizabeth I and Y/N wasn't nervous at all. She was confident about their presentation. Plus, their slide designs looked really cute and refreshing to look at. Y/N's outfit that day was a modernized version of a dress from the Elizabethan era. She designed it herself and she was proud of the outcome and that she got it done in time. Eunice helped, of course.

The sleeves were short and slightly puffed. The skirt went until her knees and it had layers underneath to make it puffy as well. The body of her dress was tight fitted because of the corset. The dress had a boat neckline and her only accessory was a pastel choker. In fact, her whole dress was pastel colored and her hair was styled in loose curls.

When Peter entered the room, Y/N was reading her book in her seat. Peter sat next to her and sensing his presence, Y/N turned to him and smiled, "Good morning, Peter."

"G'morning, Y/N." Peter gave her a tight-smile as he set his bag down. Y/N continued reading and without looking up from her book, she said, "C'mon say something about my outfit. I feel like you have something to say about it. You always do."

"How did you know that?" Peter asked. Y/N looked at him and smiled, "I can tell. Just say it. No hard feelings."

Peter cleared his throat and took a good look at her. He didn't have anything insulting to say. However, he said, "You look like you came out of a Melanie Martinez music video."

"She was part of the inspiration for this design." Y/N chuckled. "She's amazing."

Peter didn't get to say anything because Mrs. Johnson walked in the room causing Y/N to place a bookmark on the page she was reading and putting it in her bag.

"Who will present today?" Mrs. Johnson asked. Peter and Y/N raised their hands and Mrs. Johnson smiled, "Ahh, the geniuses. I expect a great presentation. The floor is yours."

Y/N took the flash drive from her pocket and handed it to Peter which was a subtle way of telling him to set it up. Mrs. Johnson walked to the back of the classroom and sat on the chair where observers usually sit. Y/N patiently waited as Peter sets up the whole thing. When it was ready, Y/N mouthed a small 'thank you' to Peter who just smiled and nodded.

"Hi everyone! Peter and I will be talking about Queen Elizabeth I's early life until she became queen. We were told not to tackle her reign as queen because someone else will be presenting that." Y/N introduced and explained.

"Yes, please proceed." Mrs. Johnson smiled.

Peter clicked the next slide.

Peter cleared his throat and racked his brains for what he remembered. He and Y/N agreed that he'd explain the basic ones and would pipe in if he could remember some parts of her life.

"Queen Elizabeth I was born on September 7, 1533. She was the only child of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. If you don't know who Anne Boleyn is, she's Henry's second wife and she got executed for treason." Peter said. "Anyway, since Anne Boleyn got executed before Elizabeth's third birthday, Elizabeth was left discarded and removed from succession of the throne."

"It was kind of complicated because Elizabeth and her sister, Mary, were due a certain level of care and they'd be in and out of favor depending on King Henry VIII's mood and marital status. I mean, what kind of father would do that?" Peter said with so many emotions. Y/N was in shock that he actually read everything, but she was also proud that he did so.

"Eventually, they realized that Elizabeth was a 'highly prized potential wife'." Peter said in air quotes. "I air quoted 'highly prized potential wife' because spoiler alert to those who don't know: SHE DIDN'T GET MARRIED. She's not called The Virgin Queen for nothing, guys."

"And because she was a 'highly prized potential wife', she was well educated and her education was first rate. She excelled in languages! She was intelligent, articulate, and open-minded. In short, she was ahead of her time. I mean, that's my opinion, of course." Peter said.

"Why do you think she was ahead of her time, Mr. Parker?" Mrs. Johnson asked.

"Because she was open-minded before anyone else. All of us have already evolved and we all keep evolving and growing as a society and yet there are people who are still so close-minded about things. If Elizabeth was open-minded since the 1530's, why aren't we all open-minded now?" Peter answered which made Y/N smile. It made Mrs. Johnson smile too and nodded for Peter to continue.

"And because she was well educated and stuff, she grew up quickly. It was great that she matured so fast but it suddenly didn't feel great when her brother, Edward VI, became King of England in 1547." Peter started. "Henry's widow, Catherine Parr, married soon after Henry's death. She married Thomas Seymour."

"It was reinstated under the terms of Henry's will that Elizabeth would be Edward VI's successor. She was under the care of Catherine Parr and living in her household. At the age of 14, Elizabeth first attracted male attention." Peter said.

"Not much is to be known about Thomas Seymour except for the fact that he was power hungry and in my opinion, a pedophile. I based that opinion from the fact that Thomas Seymour, in his late 30's might I add, engaged in appropriate behavior with Elizabeth. When Catherine discovered that, Thomas assured her that it was all innocent. One day, Catherine found Thomas and Elizabeth alone together in an embrace and because of that, Elizabeth was sent away in May 1548."

A classmate named Cindy raised her hand. Peter looked at her and said, "Yes?"

"Was Elizabeth okay after that?" Cindy asked. Peter grinned, "Good question."

"Yes, she was okay. Being sent away made it easy for her to move on from all of it, but only for a short time." Peter answered. "It was only a short time because when Catherine Parr died in... October, was it?" He looked at Y/N for help.

Y/N continued where Peter left off, "When Catherine Parr died in September 1548, Thomas Seymour tried to renew his relationship with Elizabeth. Of course, he failed. So, he manipulated Edward VI."

"Why did he do all those things?" Flash asked.

"Well, he was power hungry and he wanted to secure his authority that's why he did what he did. Thomas was arrested in 1549 for his inappropriate behavior towards Elizabeth and plots to overthrow his brother who was the Lord Protector of England. That same year, he was executed." Y/N shrugged as Flash nodded. Peter clicked the next slide.

"Being Edward VI's sister, she caused little trouble compared to her sister, Mary, who went against the King's orders. When Edward VI fell ill in 1553, he went against Henry VIII's wishes and disinherited his sisters. Although his main issue was with Mary because of her very Catholic beliefs, disinheriting her would mean that he'd have to disinherit Elizabeth as well." Y/N reported.

"Well, that sucks." Flash commented.

"Indeed." Y/N said in agreement. "Anyway, when Edward died, Lady Jane Grey became queen... only for 9 days, though."

"A queen for 9 days? Why only 9 days? Did she die too?" Austin asked.

Y/N shook her head, "Nope."

"Who is she, anyway? She came out of nowhere!" Nadine exclaimed. "It's like she came there unannounced or something."

Y/N went to the board and grabbed a chalk and drew a chart of the Tudors for their classmates to understand. Peter stared at her in awe. "This girl knows her shit." Peter muttered under his breath as he crossed his arms out of habit.

Y/N turned to face everyone and started explaining, "Okay so let's start at the beginning. Henry VII and Elizabeth York are married and they had four children, namely: Arthur, Henry, Margaret, and Mary Tudor. Henry VIII and Jane Seymour had a son; Edward VI. Unfortunately, Jane Seymour died during childbirth."

"Anyway, Henry VIII's sister, Mary Tudor, married Charles Brandon the First Duke of Suffolk. They had a daughter, Frances Grey which makes her and Edward VI cousins. She married Henry Grey and they had a daughter who we all know as Jane Grey, the nine-day queen. In short, Jane Grey is Edward VI's niece." Y/N explained. "I hope that answers your question, Nadine."

"It did, thanks." Nadine said.

"I think it's weird that she's his niece." Allison mumbled.

"Now to answer Austin's question," Y/N said as she put down the chalk and rubbed her hands together to remove the chalk dust. Peter offered her a hand sanitizer which she gladly took and put some on her hands before giving it back to Peter and rubbing it on both of her hands.

"When Edward VI was dying, he disinherited both of his sisters and made Jane Grey his successor. So when he actually died in 1553, Jane Grey became queen. She was only queen for 9 days because the public basically didn't want her, they wanted Mary, Henry VIII's eldest and Edward VI's sister, to be queen instead. When Mary became queen, she wanted Jane Grey to be executed but she was spared upon the wish of the ones in the Holy Roman Empire. She was still a prisoner in the Tower, of course. Then she actually got executed when she refused to convert." Y/N explained. Austin nodded and took notes, "Thanks, Y/N."

"Okay so, now we all know that Mary became queen because the public wanted it. Elizabeth's life changed once again when her sister became queen and she now lived with her sister at court. Mary decided to reinstate the Catholic faith and of course it caused an uproar and such. Then this man named Thomas Wyatt started a revolt against Mary and it all just went downhill from there. In stark comparison to her irrational sister, Mary, Elizabeth became a figure of reason and enlightenment."

"Elizabeth was removed from the throne once more and after the rebellion was quashed, Elizabeth was interrogated because Mary suspected that Elizabeth took part in the said rebellion. There was no proof that Elizabeth had taken part in the rebellion, but she was taken to the Tower of London where she stayed for two months. In there, she was repeatedly interrogated and questioned. She never wavered from the protestations of her innocence and her love for her sister. Then Elizabeth left her prison for Woodstock and she was in house arrest there for nearly a year and the public was beginning to side with Elizabeth because Mary was getting crazy and out of hand. Elizabeth remained under house arrest until Mary came up with something to remove the threat."

"What was the threat?" Angelica asked.

"Elizabeth's ever-growing popularity was the threat." Y/N answered. "That's why she was sent to Woodstock."

"As Mary was thinking of a way to get rid of Elizabeth, she fell pregnant or she was already pregnant. If Mary had a healthy child, Elizabeth wouldn't become queen. But being pregnant is not easy so, this meant that Mary had to find Elizabeth a place for succession if she were to die in childbirth."

"She ended up not giving birth because her pregnancy was just a figment of her damaged imagination. In short, it was just a phantom pregnancy. Mary's health declined and she died on November 17, 1558."

"If Mary didn't bring her back in line for succession, how did Elizabeth become queen, then?" Brad questioned.

Y/N smiled, "Elizabeth became queen under the terms of Henry VIII's will. Now that she's queen, she already knew what to do and what not to do based from her family members. She learned from them and used it as stepping stones to be a great queen."

"Thank you for listening!" Peter and Y/N in sync. Mrs. Johnson and the rest of the class clapped for them. Peter took the flash drive and gave it to Y/N as they went back to their seats. Mrs. Johnson got up from her seat and went to the front of the class, "Thank you, Mr. Parker and Ms. Y/L/N. That was an astounding presentation! Both of you really did you research and I'm proud of both of you. You guys didn't disappoint."

Peter and Y/N smiled at each other and gave each other a high five. The bell rang signalling that class was over. The students put their things away as they prepared to leave the room.

"To the ones presenting tomorrow, my expectations are high!" Mrs. Johnson called out. "Bye class!"

Everyone left the classroom and Y/N left ahead with Peter running after her. "Hey, Y/N!" Peter shouted as he caught up with her. Y/N stopped walking and looked at him. Peter reached her and said, "Thanks for backing me up in there. I have to admit, we were amazing."

"Yeah, we were." Y/N smiled. "We make a great team, huh? I'll see you in the next class. I have to go to the library."

Peter nodded as he watched her walk away. What they did in class was great; they were great as a team. Perhaps it wasn't so bad to include her in the team after all.

After the last class, he went to the compound to report to the rest of the Avengers. When he arrived in the meeting room, everyone was already there and he was late.

"There you are, Peter! Sit." Tony said. Peter didn't hesitate to sit down at the only empty seat. Everyone looked at Peter expectantly.

"So, how's recruiting going?" Steve asked as he looked at Peter intently.

"It's alright. We did a report together and we were great. I have a feeling we'll get a high grade on it." Peter smiled.

"Does this mean that you finally agree to adding her to the team?" Scott asked with a giddy voice.

Peter shrugged, "It doesn't hurt to add one more person with powers, right?"

* * * *

:)))) I hope y'all are proud of my fucking research

𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓: @myblueleatherbag @harryismysunflower @buckys-little-hoe @justanothermarvelmaniac @itstaskeen @sandystoriess

𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓: @marvelousell @justasmisunderstoodasloki @rubberducky-jrr @petersholland @osterfieldnholland @miraclesoflove @god-knows-what-am-i-doing @perspectiveparker @hollands-weasley @itstaskeen @call-me-baby-gir1 @the-panwitch @iamaunicorn4704 @chloecreatesfictions @holland-styles @halfblood-princess-505 @spidey-reids-2003

#peter parker #peter parker fanfiction #peter parker fanfic #peter parker fic #peter parker x reader #peter parker x y/n #in-a-lot-of-fandoms-tbh

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snackerdoodle-does-better · 5 years ago

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Books read

Starting after grad school, 2018

April

4/30 In Other Lands, Sarah Rees Brennan

May

5/16 Trickster’s Choice, Tamora Pierce

5/22 Manhattan Beach, Jennifer Egan

5/29 Trickster’s Queen, Tamora Pierce

June

6/2 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon

6/5 13 Little Blue Envelopes, Maureen Johnson

6/8 The Princess Diarist, Carrie Fisher

6/11 The Name of the Star, Maureen Johnson

6/13 The Madness Underneath, Maureen Johnson

6/16 The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, E. Lockhart

6/19 Every Heart a Doorway, Seanan McGuire

6/29 She Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England before Elizabeth, Helen Castor

July

7/17 The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson

7/17 The Prince and the Dressmaker, Jen Wang

August

8/1 Florida, Lauren Groff

8/3 The Shadow Cabinet, Maureen Johnson

8/10 Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement, and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America, James Green

8/14 Down Among the Sticks and Bones, Seanan McGuire

8/18 I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, Michelle McNamara

8/24 Beneath the Sugar Sky, Seanan McGuire

September

9/1 To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis

9/9 Words of Radiance, Brandon Sanderson

9/13 Edgedancer, Brandon Sanderson

9/27 The Stranger Beside Me, Ann Rule

9/30 The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath

October

10/2 The Ghost Bride, Yangsze Choo

10/4 We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson

10/9 The Secret of Dreadwillow Carse, Brian Farrey

10/13 The Young Professional’s Survival Guide, CK Gunsalus

10/19 To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Jenny Han

10/26 Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury

November

11/1 Miss Manners Minds Your Business, Judith and Nicholas Ivor Martin

11/9 Dealing with Dragons, Patricia C. Wrede

11/14 Searching for Dragons, Patricia C. Wrede

11/19 Calling on Dragons, Patricia C. Wrede

11/24 Talking to Dragons, Patricia C. Wrede

December

12/16 Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, (translated up to ch 83 by “K”) Xiang Tong Zu

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mariantoina · 6 years ago

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thoughts on t*sp

look. at first i told myself that i wasn’t gonna watch this show, and then the very next day it got leaked so i was like “you know what? im gonna watch it anyway!” and thats the worst decision that ive ever made in my life because this show was... bad. could it have been worse? definitely, given the fact that it was an emma frost show based on a philippa gregory book. but this was still terrible enough for me to type this post up, so here we go!

i can guarantee you that you’ll have a more fun time reading this post than you will watching TSP. this is under a read more because.. whew.. theres a lot.

THE CASTING

first and foremost: the actress playing KOA cannot act. she’s really pretty, granted, but her acting was genuinely terrible. like.. i cringed almost every time there was a scene terrible. not only was her spanish accent bad but she felt so.. stiff, i guess would be a good word, whenever she said something. and that didn’t do anything to help the fact that she has a bad case of ScarJo Fever™ (if you don’t know what that is: it’s when an actor/actress only makes the same three facial expressions) people need to stop hiring actresses and actors just because they’re attractive and actually make sure that they can act. at this point, i am Begging!

the actor playing harry was actually good though, at least in my opinion. he did his best with what he was given and i really admire that! you can tell that he was putting a lot of effort into it, even though the way that they wrote him was really out of character for that period of his life (see: this post)

h7′s actor was good in the scenes that he was in, but the way that they treated h7 was so.. weird? they didn’t make him as creepy as i thought that they were going to when i first found out they were making an adaptation of TCP, but there was still this lowkey creepy vibe that he had going on.. i honestly dont know how to explain it, but it was there. also he slapped the shit out of harry in a scene??? that was messy as HELL

the actress for margaret beaufort was good, but there were some scenes that just had me like.. oh? on god? (most notably the death scene, but i’ll get into that hot mess later) you could tell that she was trying hard, even if they made MB’s character arc terrible.

the actors that played lina and her love interest were amazing, though. they worked with what they had and i really liked what they did with them even though the writing was shit. the scene with their wedding was adorable and really well acted!

angus imrie (arthur) was good, too! but the wig that they gave him? atrocious. i’m going to see it in my nightmares. georgie henley was really good in the scenes that we saw her in as meg tudor, but most of the scenes she was in weren’t that good and that’s wack :’)

i don’t know the name of the actress that played juana of castile in the episode she was in, but i liked her acting, too.. even though the writing for her was kind of cringy.

before i end this section i should let it be known that i was more attached to juana, meg and arthur in the few episodes they were in than i was to KOA during the entire show. it’s so tragic like. how are you going to cast a lead actress that cant act?? Hello???

before i get into the issues with the writing and creative direction i have with the show, i just wanna say: the pacing of the show was terrible and really, really difficult to follow. the entirety of the second episode, which followed from their KOA/arthur marriage to arthur’s death, probably had the worst pacing. it felt like only a few weeks had passed in the show’s time, when it was supposed to be what? six months? and there was so indication of a timeskip between episode 6 and episode 7, even though juana was still in england at the end of episode 6 and h7 died about 10 minutes into episode 7? it’s so tragic.

okay, moving on!

THE CREATIVE DIRECTION

look. i get that it’s a show and of course there’s going to be historical license but... GOD this show went above and beyond.

there’s so much i want to say here, but the most important one that i have an issue with is the shit that they did with lina’s character. erasing the fact that she was a slave owned by ferdinand and isabella and then later given to KOA was absolutely terrible. and then not only did they do that AND make her KOA’s most loyal lady-in-waiting, but they erased the fact that she was forced to convert to christianity, forced to stop using her birth name and instead having to use the name of her new owner in the name of #StrongFemaleFriendships. disgusting!

EF: lina is KOA’s most faithful servant and they have a strong female friendship!! hashtag woke!! hashtag feminism!! my black ass:

honestly it gets even worse because KOA and lina’s “central female friendship” was barely even there. lina had more scenes with rosa, one of KOA’s other ladies-in-waiting, than she did with KOA. not to mention that KOA was manipulative to lina and kept saying stuff like “you owe me service” or stuff along those lines? it was so shitty. lina sweetie im so sorry that this ugly ass bitch would even try you

the next big thing that i had a problem with was the fact that they aged up harry, when in reality he was about 11 years old when KOA first came to england. like, i can’t really go that much into it because even thinking about the fact that they aged him up to make him Arthur’s Hotter, All-Around-Better Brother™ when he was fucking 11 makes me kinda sick but. ughh it was terrible.

not to mention the fact that they villainized margaret beaufort because of course they did. apparently you cant be a middle aged woman without being villainized?? especially not in an emma frost show. but the way that they villainized her was so ugly. and the fact that they attributed shit like edmund dudley’s execution to her when it happened an entire year after she died? Hello????

the way that she just took over and declared herself regent when h7 was in mourning for elizabeth of york and kicked KOA out of the palace + the way she tried to threaten margaret pole & lina into revealing that KOA wasn’t a virgin.. shgkhhgsfhgkshjbjsjb that shit was so fucking messy its like they tried to make her a fusion of mother gothel from tangled and ursula from the little mermaid

the way that they made EoY dislike KOA was so weird? and the way that both her and margaret beaufort assaulted her by kissing and groping her respectively was weird and definitely uncalled for.

this is a minor one in the gist of some of the other things but why did they make EoY’s last daughter a stillborn child? someone correct me if i’m wrong, but didn’t she live for about a week before she died? but then again, i remember that she named their daughter after KOA, so they probably did that to avoid the fact because they made EoY hate her. messy

arthur’s wig counts as a creative decision right? well whoever gave him that wig needs to be fired. PERIOD

arthur’s wig:

me:

whoever did meg tudor’s costumes also needs to be fired tbfh they were so bad. what did she ever do to yall

THE WRITING

i guess that writing can go into the creative direction category as well, but there were so many problems with the writing that it deserves its own category

KOA was so terrible in this. between her manipulating harry and lina, and the fact that she kept defending the fact that isabella abused juana because “our mother was a queen, a warrior” was ugly! “tO bE qUeEn oF eNgLaNd iS mY dEsTiNy” girl if you don’t shut ya mouth catching these hands is gonna be your destiny

they also made KOA put all of her faith in the fact that she was related to queens? like, every time juana said she couldn’t do something because her husband + ferdinand are assholes, or every time isabella was brought up she kept being like “but you’re/she’s a queen!” it was irritating

all of the predictions about the great matter/KOA not being able to give harry a son were weird. i would have been fine if it had only been like.. one time, because sometimes foreshadowing can be good, but it was brought up every 5 seconds and at the most random times. like when EoY was literally dying in childbirth?? Hello????? god are you there??

AND THE FACT THAT EOY STRAIGHT UP WENT TO HELL AND SAW HER BROTHER GETTING EXECUTED THEN CAME BACK. HELLO??

then when margaret beaufort was about to die and she saw ghosts? and jasper tudor showed up to take her to hell i guess? honestly i didnt know what the fuck was going on but that shit was so fucking messy and wild. i have to laugh

also: i mentioned this earlier but all of those scenes where harry was ranting and raging.. EF really saw the name “henry viii” and floored it with that huh

they also dumbed harry down imho.. Wack!

juana seducing harry was a hot ass mess in its own right, but honestly? juana and harry had more chemistry in that one minute scene than KOA and harry had in the entire show

we were not even 10 minutes into the pilot and they were already trying to portray isabella as a #WokeFeministQueen. how, you might ask? why, by showing her leading a group of men to kill black muslims for their faith, of course! didn’t you know that being racist and islamophobic is hip and feminist when you’re a queen?

like i get that its from KOA’s point of view but in the opening monologue of the pilot they mentioned that isabella overthrew the moors like it was a #Feminist thing to do and not a part of her orchestrating massacres and contributing to genocide? @ EF: on GOD??

tbh? shocked that KKKristopher KKKolonizer wasn’t mentioned in a positive light based on how much they tried to glorify isabella. like what catholic monarchs stan was allowed to work on this show with EF and P. Gregory?? hello????

i’m totally fine with the whole plot point about katherine lying about her virginity, since we’ll probably never know the truth about whether or not she and arthur consummated their marriage, but it was poorly executed in both the writing and in CH’s acting. i could tell that she was lying and so did.. almost everyone, really.

the scene where they were about to.. i guess lynch lina’s love interest for “stealing” made me really uncomfortable. i dont even know how to explain it

h7′s death scene.... this is all i have to say about it

margaret beaufort ordering the execution of edmund dudley was shitty for a lot of reasons but honestly him screaming “fuck you all to hell” was hilarious

the ending scene of episode 7 where they were in the chapel and henry asked KOA if she was still a virgin was bad writing and CH’s acting made it even worse. cant even lie convincingly smh

margaret pole’s plotline was so confusing.. i barely knew wtf was going on with her the entire show? it all felt so rushed and forced. it was weird

EoY and h7 had some cute scenes together though. and that was like.. one of the shows only real redeeming qualities

that’s about it for this post about TSP! my overall rating for it is a 0.5/10. it was super shitty, but i liked arthur, juana and meg tudor so it gets a 0.5 instead of a plain 0. and apparently theres one episode left too.. DREADING it. anyways: emma frost absolutely failed in her goal to be like “its not all about anne boleyn!” because if anything this show made me think about how claire foy and natalie dormer were both robbed of awards so.. if reading this post gave you hives? go watch wolf hall or the tudors for their great performances!

thanks for reading! :)

#tcm tudor alliance show spoilers #ch does the scarjo face for 7 hours straight spoilers #tv: the spanish princess #is it worth the hatewatch? honestly yeah but at what cost

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fuckyeahhistory · 5 years ago

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OK I know what you’re thinking. Why is the 1533 Buggery Act such a big deal! After all, it’s a piece of Tudor law:

A) that sounds dry AF

B) has nothing to do with me!

Well, if you care about LGBTQ+ rights (or let’s be blunt, basic human rights) than this is a piece of Tudor law that you have to know about!

The 1533 Buggery Act wove a tangled web that stretches throughout history. Beyond those who were caught up in its immediate wake, It’s threads lead us to Oscar Wilde’s imprisonment, Alan Turing’s conviction and the abysmal pit where fundamental rights should be, that the LGBTQ+ community and their allies are still fighting against.

So if that still sounds dry AF, then strap in Donald, because you’re about to get your mind blown.

Seriously we’re getting into world view changing stuff!

The Buggery Act was the brainchild of Henry VIII who had a fun habit of lumbering the UK with laws that came out of him wanting to make a point during a hissy fit…yet inexplicably stuck around for hundreds of years at a major human cost (e.g that time he made it legal to execute someone with severe mental health issues) The 1533 Buggery Act was no exception!

But lets take it back to pre-Henry for a second. Prior to 1533 there were no set laws to persecute homosexuality in England. That’s not to say it wasn’t. In the 13th century two legal codes called for men caught having same sex relationships to be buried alive or burnt, which is horrific!

However, these were suggestions, not actual laws and there is no evidence that these punishments were ever carried out. For the most part, the then frowned upon act was dealt with in the ecclesiastic courts (so basically it was left with god and his earthly servants to deal with either after death or in the realm of the church)

As such, the sudden decision to make homosexuality criminal was a big deal. In fact it was such a big deal that this sharp turn to criminalisation actually had to be addressed in the original statues outlining the 1533 act. Which says that the law was in part created to make homosexuality clearly punishable, saying:

“For as moche as there is not yet sufficient & condigne punishment appointed & limitted by the due course of the lawes of this realme for the detestable & abominable vice of buggeri committed with mankind or beest.”

It goes on to explain the possible punishments for those caught committing ‘buggery’:

“And that the offenders being herof convict by verdicte, confession, or outlaurie, shall suffer suche peynes of dethe, and losses, and penalties of their goodes, cattals, dettes, londes, tenements, and heredytamentes, as felons benne accustomed to do accordynge to the order of the common lawes of this realme. And that no person offendynge in any suche offence, shalbe admitted to his clergye”

Obviously the clear biggy here is ‘pain of death’, but right at the bottom of this portion of transcript there’s the sentence:

‘And that no person offending in such offence shall be admitted to his clergy’ – that right there is the crux of this whole piece of legislation.

Because why create The Buggery Act and criminalise same sex relationships at this particular moment in time?

To persecute the Catholic Church of course!

If you’re thinking , ‘that makes little to no sense’, gold star! It doesn’t… well at least until you break down what was going down in 1533.

You see, until the 1530’s England had been part of the Catholic Church. But, Henry VIII was desperate to break away from the church as it wouldn’t grant him a divorce so he could marry his side chick, Anne Boleyn. So Henry decided to create a new church for England, one that he’d be the head of (and wouldn’t you know it, the head of this new church just happened to be A-ok with divorce).

Sadly creating your own church doesn’t magically erase your countries already existing, centuries old religion overnight. So Henry worked with his right hand man, Thomas Cromwell, to loosen the tight hold Catholicism had on England and for a double win, also siphon it’s money to Henry.

The 1533 Buggery Act was just part of this plan. It was solely designed to take away a little bit of the power away from The Catholic Church, not to actually persecute homosexuality.

And yet this law was about to take its first victim.

By 1540 the Buggery Act had done its job. The Catholic Churches hold on England had been loosened, Henry had married Anne Boleyn (and then had her executed), married again (this time she’d died in childbirth) and was onto marriage number four. Thomas Cromwell had played Cupid for these nuptials, hooking Henry up with his new wife, Anne of Cleves. Sadly Henry wasn’t a fan of his new bride and this was such a big no no that it led to Thomas Cromwell’s death.

But as is probably clear by now, Henry was a petty bitch, and so he made sure that when Thomas went down, he wasn’t going alone.

On the 29 June 1540 Thomas Cromwell was beheaded for treason and his mate, Walter Hungerford, became the first person to be executed under The Buggery Act (among other allegations).

A bloody punishment, with the Buggery Act added as an extra dollop of humiliation for Hungerford and as an additional middle finger to Cromwell who’d helped create the act.*

*side note: before we start feeling really sorry for Walter Hungerford, he was an abusive man who imprisoned his wife to the extent she had to drink her own urine to survive. So you know. Maybe hold the sympathy cards.

Henry VIII

Thomas Cromwell

Ok, that was A LOT to take in. So let’s pause and take a quick moment to look at where we are:

We have a law that was created to criminalise homosexuality BUT was actually used to screw over the Catholic Church

We have a first victim of the law…BUT he was most likely executed not because of the law itself but as an F U to his mate who created the law.

So, we can all agree that thus far, The Buggery Act is a very bloody farce. But that does that mean it’s done?

OF COURSE NOT!

Though the law was repealed by Henry VIII’s daughter, Queen Mary I in 1553 (who wanted power over this to go back to the Catholic Church and it’s ecclesiastic courts), once she died, her successor and sister, Queen Elizabeth I made the Buggery Act law once more.

And from there it started to truly transform into a law for persecution.

Using a Latrice Royale gif to cut the tension, but just a warning: It’s about to get really dark for a bit.

For much of the 15th and 16th centuries arrests and executions under the Buggery Act were few and far between. However, that didn’t happen stop this horrifying law from spreading.

One of the huge issues of The Buggery Act being a law, was that Britons leaving the country took it with them. Take for example those plucky puritans who set sail for the brave new world of America – alongside terrible hats and a smattering of racism, they made sure to also pack legal persecution!

And so the legal execution of people for homosexuality began in a new country. In 1624, Virginia hung Richard Cornish, a ships captain, for ‘forcible sodomy’ of his ships 29 year old cabin boy.

Two years later, Massachusetts hung William Plain on allegations of sodomy that took place in England (so before he even moved to America!).

That same year, the countries New Netherlands colony successfully managed to achieve the discrimination trifecta when they used the Buggery Act to strangle and ‘burn to ashes’, Jan Creoli, a poor black gay man.

If you thought things were bad, they are about to get even worse.

Back in Britain, a more vocal queer community was starting to appear, thanks to the underground popularity of Molly Houses (places where queer men could be free to openly show their sexuality, kind of the great great great grandfather of the small town gay bar). But this emerging light in the dark attracted the worst kind of people and they dedicated themselves to eradicating what they saw as the gay scourge.

One such group was the catchily named, The Society For The Reformation of Manners. Determined to rid London of its LGBT subculture, they worked undercover to infiltrate Molly Houses, gather evidence against its users and then together with the police, raid them.

One such raid was that of Mother Claps house in 1726. Dozens of men were rounded up and arrested, with several fined and pilloried. But that’s not the worst of it.

The Society For The Reformation of Manners successfully helped to leverage the Buggery Act to hang three of the arrested men for the crime of having sex, or as one witness spat out during the trial:

‘Making love to one another as they call’d it’

Example of an execution, like that of the Mother Clap House victims. from the era

During the 1800’s the executions continued. Trials for men accused under The Buggery Act sprung up across England. Some of those found guilty had the relative luck (though the chance of survival still wasn’t great) at instead being transported to Australia, but others weren’t so lucky.

The last men executed under The Buggery Act were James Pratt and John Smith, in 1835.

A husband and father, James Pratt, met with John Smith in August 1935, at an ale house in London for a drink. The pair then got chatting with an older man, William Bonill and went back to his rooms.

William Bonill soon left to get another drink at the pub, leaving James and John alone. It was after this that Bonill’s landlord reported finding the pair having sex.

Neither James Pratt or John Smith stood a chance in court. If you are in any doubt on that front, just read the opening transcript from John Smith’s prosecutor.

‘feloniously, wickedly, diabolically, and against the order of nature, had a venereal affair with one James Pratt, and did then and there, feloniously, wickedly, diabolically, and agains the order of nature, carnally know the said James Pratt, and with him the said James Pratt did then and there feloniously, wickedly, diabolically, and against the order of nature, commit and perpetrate the detestale, horrid, and abominable crime (among Christians not to be named) called buggery, to the great displeasure of Almighty God, to the great scandal of all human kind’

Charles Dickens actually attended Newgate jail, when the men were awaiting sentencing and recalled:

‘Their doom was sealed; no plea could be urged in extenuation of their crime, and they well knew that for them there was no hope in this world.’

He was, of course, right. Of seventeen others sentenced to death at the same time as John and James (for crimes including attempted murder) all had their sentences commuted to transportation to Australia. All expect John Smith and James Pratt.

A huge crowd gathered outside Newgate Jail to watch their deaths.

Watching his (possible) partner, John Smith, being blindfolded and his noose put on, caused James Pratt an understandable level of anguish. He reportedly went physically weak, needing help just to stand and calling out:

‘Oh God, this is horrible. This is indeed horrible.’

Though we don’t have clean cut evidence that the two were in a relationship, it’s hard to read this as anything other than love and the devastation of James knowing what his partner was about to go through.

Which I think summarises the pointlessness and brutality the Buggery Act had on all those who feel under its wake. Of it’s last two victims; two men who just wanted a private moment to be together and died because of that.

Newspaper from the hanging of James Pratt and John Smith

The Buggery Act remained in place in one form or another until 1861 when the Offences Against The Person Act replaced it.

The new law abolished the death sentence for ‘buggery’, instead punishing those convicted with a prison sentence of up to life. In 1967 the laws around homosexuality as an illegal act were dropped.

All of this, because in 1533 a pissed of King set up a law that he hoped would bring down a religion – the persecution of thousands if not millions, was just secondary.

If you want to read up more on this and other areas of LGBT+ history (and please do!) some great sources are below:

Rictor Norton, for a treasure trove of articles and essays on the history of LGBTQ+ history in England dating back to the medieval era.

The Peter Tatchall Foundation, a human rights charity with an amazing section of history of laws that sought to persecute

The British Library, where you can look at so many of the original documents I mention in this, digitally wherever you are in the world!

Why you have to know about the 1533 Buggery Act OK I know what you’re thinking. Why is the 1533 Buggery Act such a big deal! After all, it’s a piece of Tudor law:

#featured #LGBT #LGBTQ #tudor

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inaheartbeat-phff · 6 years ago

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Chapter 22

Thursday, 25th February 2015, 10:00am

Nottingham Cottage, Kensington Palace, London

Arabella has been sitting in her office since half past eight that morning, going through her schedule. Ever since her accident, she's been stuck indoors, so she's using that time to get caught up with her charities, parliament papers and a few wedding things.

She has officialized the wedding guest list, spoke with her graphic designer about the invitations as well as seating plans. The guest list she finalized contained mostly family, friends and staff members. Aunt Lilibet is taking care of those who are to be invited from the British military side, parliament members and politicians. Her father is taking care of the Dutch side of guests.

Arabella also got started on her wedding dress designer search. A lot of designers all around the world have sent in their portfolios in hopes for Arabella to pick them. Arabella remembered the day she went through the pile of portfolios.

It was a week after Arabella got discharged by her doctors and was told to take it easy. That day, Harry had an engagement for most of the day and will probably be back in the afternoon. Without him around, she will be able to resume some work, paperwork, forms and letters that needed her attention sat in a pile at the table. Today however, Eva and Jane came into Arabella and Harry's shared office carrying large piles of black folders.

"And what, may I ask, are those?" Arabella asked from her seat, looking up from the letter addressing her for the next parliament meeting.

"These, are your wedding dress designer portfolios. We need to confirm at least one by the end of the week to get the process started." Jane explained, putting her pile into the coffee table across where Arabella was sitting.

"At least one?" Arabella raised her eyebrows.

"You need to choose one for the main dress, the one in which you will wear during the ceremony. One for the reception hosted by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. One for the more intimate reception hosted by The Prince of Wales that night. One for the civil ceremony in Amsterdam, one for the reception at the Royal Palace hosted by His Majesty, King Willem-Alexander and finally one for the bridesmaids and maid of honor for the main ceremony." Eva told Arabella how many dresses she would need in total.

Arabella's eyes widened and her mouth dropped at the amount of dresses she needed made and how many designers she needed to find. She knew that as the crown princess of the Netherlands, she needs a designer that's Dutch, she also needs a designer that's British. Other than that, she can pay tribute to the commonwealth and so on for other things, such as her bouquet, shoes and jewellery.

With two piles of designers to go through, she called Pieter in and ask him for a glass of wine. She was then reminded by Pieter, that due to her medications, she's not allowed to have any alcohol. Arabella took a deep sigh before turning towards the pile of designers in defeat.

She stared at the pile for fifteen minutes straight trying to find a way to go through it. She doesn’t know where to start, she doesn’t even know what kind of design she wants. All she knows, is that her dresses must have sleeves, due to the wedding being held in October.

With a sigh, Arabella took the first portfolio from the pile and opened it. She was in the middle of flipping through the designs when Pieter knocked on the door. When Arabella called out a 'come in,' Pieter entered the room followed by the Queen of England herself, Queen Elizabeth II.

Surprised, Arabella closed her portfolio and stood up from her seat on the sofa. Following the Queen inside the room was none other than Arabella's step-mother, Queen Maxima of the Netherlands. However, the surprise doesn’t stop there. Behind her Mama, was Queen Silvia of Sweden, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and finally Princess Caroline of Hanover.

Arabella gave a deep curtsy in front of her godmothers and aunts so that she doesn’t have to curtsy to them individually and a lot of time. Not that she needs to, since she knows that they all hate her curtsying to them, especially in private. One by one, she kissed their cheeks and greet them.

They all sat around the sofa, having settled down when Arabella finally got her voice back and ask them the question.

"Not that I don’t enjoy having you here, what on earth are you doing here, in my office, in London? I understand Aunt Lilibet, she lives like fifteen minutes away, but what about the rest of you? Don’t you have countries to run?" Arabella asked as Pieter came back inside the room carrying six glasses of red wine.

"Well, we heard that you're going to go through some wedding planning today, and thought maybe we can help you?" Silvia ended her sentence with a question, unsure of herself, so she took a sip of her wine.

"Seriously, why are you here?" Arabella asked again, not accepting Silvia's answer.

"Well dear, we had a talk amongst ourselves, and decided we would pick a day we were all free and fly over to spend it with you. We realize that we don’t spend time with you enough, and with that scare last week, we thought we would lose you." Maxima started off.

"It's just a coincidence that the day we chose to come by, you're doing some wedding planning." Elizabeth finished off.

"Honestly we were planning on doing some girl time, get our nails done, do our hair, maybe go shopping." Maria Teresa said. "Although I'm not sure how we're going to pull of the shopping bit." She thought after some time.

So together, the girls went through the portfolios. With each one, they had comments to say. Some they agreed, others they argued. The girls did make a good point, to not use any of their designers.

What Arabella would do, is that she would divide the portfolios into three piles. YES pile, NO pile and the MAYBE pile. With each portfolio, she would open it one by one, go through the designs, each has a profile of the designer, their background, where they're from and so on. Arabella read through the profile with the Queens cutting her off at certain points.

"Georgio Armani," Arabella started off before being cut off by her godmother, the princess of Hanover.

"No no. Not Armani." Caroline shook her head. "He's Italian."

"Yes, I think we all know that Caroline." Maria Teresa rolled her eyes.

"No, I meant that, it's not a good idea to have a designer that’s either not Dutch or British."

"That's a good point actually." Elizabeth pitched in. "Let's keep our choices more English and Dutch, or at least one from the commonwealth. How many designers do you need again?"

"Er, six I think." Arabella said after counting down the amount of ceremonies and receptions plus the one designing her maid of honour and bridesmaids dresses.

"Six?" Margrethe asked surprised. "Why on earth do you need six designers?"

"Well, I need one for the official ceremony, another one for the lunch reception, one for the night reception at Kensington, one for the civil ceremony at Amsterdam, one for the reception at the royal palace, and last one for the maid of honor and bridesmaids." Arabella said. "I figured if I ask one designer or two designers to do all six, they'll have a meltdown."

With that, the five Queens and two princesses go through the many piles of portfolios. Some went to the 'No' pile, some go to the 'Maybe' piles and some go to the 'Yes' pile. They went through most if not all the portfolios and came to a conclusion. The six wedding dress designers will be Olivia van der Berg, Addy Van Den Krommenacker, Christopher Bailey, Jan Taminiau, Vera Wang, and Alice Temperley. They're all balanced with three Dutch dressmakers and three British dressmakers.

Once they were done deciding the designers, they talked about which tiara she would be wearing and talked about everything they possibly can.

"Bella darling, How are you feeling? How's the dreams?" Maxima asked her step-daughter in concern. She can see that Arabella hasn’t gotten enough sleep, with the accident only a week ago, she's concerned about her step-daughter's wellbeing.

"It's been okay mama, it comes and goes," Arabella shrugged.

"Well, trauma like that leaves a lasting impression dear." Elizabeth piped up. "I couldn’t sleep for ages after the war. Royals or not, we were never safe during that time."

"I don’t particularly remember the war itself, but I remember the aftermath. It was a very difficult time for the world." Margrethe said.

"What I'm saying dear, you have to let people in and let your feelings out. It's okay to talk about it. Just know that we're all here for you. Just give us a call and we'll answer." Elizabeth said and the rest nodded their heads.

"Thank you." Arabella smiled before giving each one of her godmothers a hug. "I don’t think I can go through this without you and your support."

They talked for hours before moving to the dining room to have afternoon tea. That's where they were when Harry found them that evening.

When Harry went through the doors that evening, he was greeted by voices of women's laughter and the first thing that he thought was that 'Arabella has some girl friends over. She sounds like she's having fun.' Harry loosened up his tie and ran his fingers through his hair. He then took off his suit jacket as well as rolled up his sleeves.

He followed the laughter and found Arabella in the dining room. Harry got the shock of his life when he entered the room. He was looking down and rolling up his sleeves as he enter the dining room and heard his grandmother's voice. That was when his head snapped up and look around the room where his fiancé was currently sitting at and around her were 5 Queens and 1 Princess.

Harry clumsily bowed his head before moving deeper into the room and kissed his fiancé's cheeks first. He then moved around to kiss both his grandmother's cheeks as well as Maxima's cheeks. From then on, he went around the table and kissed everyone else's cheeks.

Harry had never once in his life had so many monarchs sitting in his dining room table, each of them dressed down and comfortable. It shocked Harry. He doesn’t think that his brother has ever had this many monarchs in his house all at once. He needed to call his brother. He didn’t know what to do. So Harry excused himself and went upstairs to his room and called his brother.

"Harry?" William picked up the phone.

"There's five Queens and one princess in my dining room." Harry blurted out without even greeting his brother.

"I'm sorry, what?" William asked confused.

"Who is it darling? Who's calling?" Kate asked from behind William.

"It's Harry." He answered.

"Well, put it on loud speaker." Kate remarked before taking a seat next to her husband. "How's it going Harry?"

"There's five Queens and one Princess in my dining room." Harry breathed out.

"Yes, I'm sure you've got them in your dining room, they usually have painting of Queens in different rooms." Kate replied.

"No, I mean that there are five breathing Queens and one Princess in my dining room, laughing about something." Harry pressed on.

"What?" William asked, still confused.

"Granny, is in my dining room wearing trousers and a shirt. Queen Maxima of the Netherlands is downstairs as well as Queen Silvia, Queen Margrethe II, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa and Princess Caroline, are all downstairs having tea with Bella." Harry said it all in one breath.

"Breathe Harry." Kate said soothingly over the phone. "I'm sure they're all there to help Bella with the wedding preparations. This is going to be the first inter royal wedding since the 1980s between to reigning houses and being so close to the line of succession."

"Remember, she doesn’t have to just appease to the Brits, she has to also make sure that she includes Dutch traditions as well." William piped up. "Damn Harry, why couldn’t you just marry a normal person, you could have that more intimate ceremony you wanted."

"Honestly, even if right now I am absolutely terrified that there is so many women styled as Her Majesty in my dining room, I wouldn’t change it for anything. She completes me without me having to change anything about myself. If I could have the chance to pick a different choice and marry someone else, I wouldn’t." Harry replied to William.

"Then you have your answer right there. I know you're terrified brother, but look, in the end, you'll have the love of your life beside you." William said. "Go downstairs Harry and be with your fiancé."

With that, the three of the them said their goodbyes to each other and hang up the phone. Harry took a deep breath before slipping his phone to his back pocket and make his way back downstairs.

When he reached the dining room, there was no one there except for Arabella and for a moment he let out a huge breath of relief.

"Where did everyone go?" Harry asked Arabella from the doorway.

"They left, something about leaving us to ourselves," Arabella replied as she stood up from her seat and walk towards him. "Are you okay? You seem a bit off when you arrived."

"I'm fine. Just a bit startled at who was in our dining room." Harry told Arabella.

"Startled?" Arabella asked questioningly before realising what he meant. "Oh, you mean having my godmothers here?"

"Right. Well you see, when I came into the room, I was expecting you to be with your girl friends, non royal, non majesty, girl friends. So imagine my shock when I entered the room seeing you surrounded by five monarchs and a princess." Harry scratched his neck.

"Well, I'm sorry. They flew into town to help me with some of the wedding preparations. They helped me decide my designers as well as which tiara to wear so that’s great." Arabella told Harry. "Why don’t I show you how sorry I am for startling you just now?"

Arabella smiled coyly at him before taking his hand and pulling him up the stairs to their bedroom.

Arabella smiled when she remembered what happened afterwards. Safe to say that Harry accepted her apology.

Arabella sighed and opened the huge folder in front of her. She started her pile and quickly got into working mode. Today, because she has a lot of work to you, her lunch was brought to her and while doing some paperwork for her charities, she ate a chicken and cheddar wrap.

It was two in the afternoon when she had an interruption to her paperwork.

"Mr. Adam, Your Royal Highness." Pieter announced before bowing and leaving the room. Adam entered shortly after and with his was a folder marked with 'Staatsbezoek'.

"Is that the final schedule for the UK visit?" Arabella looked up.

"Yes, ma'am." Adam nodded. "The visit is has been shortened. The final dates are from the 11th of March until the 20th. The official UK dates are from the 11th until the 13th. On the 18th until the 20th you will undergo the visit to Ireland ma'am."

"Three days of official duties and four days of break in between?" Arabella asked rhetorically. "That's better actually. I wont actually lose my mind. I'm guessing I'm staying at Buckingham for the official days and Kensington during the days off?"

"Yes ma'am." Adam said.

"Wonderful. Now about the schedules?"

"On the 11th of March, you will arrive from Huis ten Bosch at one in the afternoon and will go to the Netherland's Embassy where you will be greeted by Prince Henry of Wales there. From there, the both of you will head to the Horse Guards Parade for the ceremonial welcome. Her Majesty The Queen will receive you there as well as the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince of Wales, and Duchess of Cornwall. They will play the Netherland's national anthem before the British' National anthem once you've greeted the Queen. After that the Queen will invite you to inspect the Guards of Honour. Once that's done, you will be escorted to Buckingham Palace, by a large number of mounted soldiers from the Household Cavalry as well as a gun salute fired from Green Park and The Tower of London." Adam then paused before continuing. "You'll have a private tea session with the Queen and family before getting ready for the State Banquet that night at Buckingham Palace Ballroom. Members of Parliament, Government bodies as well as the Netherlands representatives and charities will be attending. The order of procession will be:

Her Majesty The Queen with HRH The Princess of Orange

HRH The Duke of Edinburgh with HRH Prince Henry of Wales

HRH The Prince of Wales with the Netherland's Ambassador

HRH Duchess of Cornwall with the Netherland's Ambassador's wife

HRH The Duke of Cambridge with the British Prime Minister

HRH The Duchess of Cambridge with the British Prime Minister's wife

Representatives of the Netherland's Charities based in London"

Arabella listened to Adam as he listed out what she was doing the first day. As she listen to Adam, she read through the papers that listed down the people attending the state banquet. The dinner will have around 150 people that range from politicians to charities pertaining to the Netherlands.

"On the 12th of March, at ten in the morning, Your Royal Highness will attend breakfast given by the Lord Mayor and the City of London Corporation at Mansion House alongside the Earl and Countess of Wessex. After that, Your Royal Highness will visit Westminster Abbey to lay a wreath at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior and prayers will be said by the Dean. Straight after, you'll go to the Palace of Westminster to give a short address in the Royal Gallery to Parliamentarians and other guests. Later that night, you'll attend the Victoria and Albert Museum Alexander McQueen Gala." Adam told Arabella the second day of the tour.

"Have Aleta and Gerrit prepare the short address for that day. Have them email to me the speech by next week." Arabella remarked before turning the page. Aleta is Arabella's communication's secretary, she handles all of Arabella's speeches and remarks.

"The last day of the tour, March 13th, The Queen will give you a tour of a special exhibition in the picture gallery that's made up of items from the royal collection related to the Netherlands. After that, you'll have a private lunch with the Queen and Family. In the afternoon, you'll visit the Dutch Centre in London."

"And that's it for the first part of the visit?" Arabella asked Adam.

"Yes. Ma'am." Adam confirmed.

"Right, let's move on to the second part of the Visit." Arabella said. "This will be the first time a non-British royal will visit Ireland."

"Yes ma'am. The first day will be on Wednesday, 18th of March after St. Patrick's day. You'll be leaving London after lunch. Once you're there, you'll head off to Aras an Uachtarain and welcomed by President Michael D. Higgins and his wife. You'll have afternoon tea with the President and his wife before going back to the hotel to get ready for the dinner hosted by the President, where you'll be introduced to a lot of the Irish cultures and people."

"The president have dogs right?" Arabella asked Adam and when he nod his head, she continued, "Tell Anna to get a gift for them, dog related."

"Will do Ma'am. On the 19th of March, your royal highness will go to the Gaelic Sports Festival at Croke Park which is home of the Gaelic Athletic Association. After that, you'll head over to the Famine memorial. The last visit of the day will be to EPIC, which is an Irish Emigration Museum."

"I'm guessing lunch will be at Croke Park."

"Yes Ma'am. The third and final day, 20th of March, your royal highness only have two places to go before heading back to Huis ten Bosch. First place you're visiting is Trinity College and see the Book of Kells and learn about Ireland's culture and heritage. After that, you'll visit DogPatch labs. It's a co-working space for technological start-ups, so you'll meet children and young people taking free coding workshops and so forth." Adam finished up.

"Is that everything?" Arabella asked.

"Yes ma'am." Adam concluded before handing the paper where Arabella needs to sign to officialize everything. Once Arabella signed off, he left the office and Arabella went back to her paperwork in front of her.

She finished off her work at six that evening and stretched her body. She handed off the final designer list to Eva for her to contact them, she also gave Sara the name of the tiara she's using for the UK state banquet, which is the Blue Crystal Cluster Tiara that she got from her father and godmother, Queen Elizabath. This will be the first time Arabella is wearing this tiara in public. This tiara is custom made for Arabella using stones from the Queen's personal collection.

Arabella thought to herself as she packed her papers and folders. She's heading back to the Netherlands the next day. Harry has an engagement at Haydon Bridge in Northumberland the next day. It's his first official engagement of the year, technically speaking so he has to go. After that though, he's going to the Netherlands to join Arabella for a few weeks before heading back to London to prepare for his trip to Australia. It's a month long military attachment in Australia and towards the end of his attachment, he'll be back in the public spotlight. Arabella doesn’t mind that he's going away for a month. It's in Australia and she knows that it's been planned for ages.

It's also the last time he's going to be in the army. This is the last thing he's doing before resigning active service, which Arabella is glad about. He's resigning to take a more senior role in the British Royal family as well as be the crown prince of the Netherlands.

Arabella honestly couldn’t wait until her wedding with Harry, she cant help but wish that time would move faster and she'll be with the love of her life.

Next Chapter

#chapter 22 #prince harry #phff #in a hearbeat #in a heartbeat phff #prince harry fanfic #princess arabella #british royal family #Dutch royal family

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olivieblake · 6 years ago

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Finally reading ch 17 and I was so confused for a second when you said prince harry I'm sitting here thinking "hold up.... Elizabeth is queen????" And then I realized you meant Harry Potter lol SO MORE IMPORTANTLY WHO DOES HARRY MARRY OMFG OMFG OMFG Omg compression underwear I FUCKING CANT commence giggling at the gym "87% chaotic" allllllllll the giggles I look ridiculous I love all of Oliver's chaotic energy Vampirism 😂 Blaise is entirely too much at ALL TIMES Theo whispering 😂

(18) I love pansy so fucking much BABIESomg god what a horrific thought HORTENSE and THIBAUT (my phone automatically capsed that) BASILE AHHHH Abraxas being amused by chaos Twins is my aesthetic I want them to fight so fucking bad. They need to just TALK Oh Neville you adorable darling at being allowed into the game EVERY THIRD BLOOD MOON. OLIVIE. I JUST LMAOed Oh shit

(19) Blaise makes me sad Also you’re the devil for placing a Blaise chapter right as Hermione gets caught Omfg Blaise is such a good friend Ugh harry is a gem I like Blaise recognizing that harry saying something vulgar and then quickly making it nice is a result of pansy. I hope my guy friends do that too If I were royalty in England I would threaten the tower at least once a day Oh my God Blaise makes me SO SAD. I want to hug him forever. Also SO HERE FOR BLEVILLE

someone recently left a review requesting less hortense and thibaut so next time I’m just going to send them your way okay? okay great thank you love you byeeeeeeeee

#the commoner's guide to bedding a royal #tcg spoilers

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smithgreys · 2 years ago

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(Tollerton, North Yorkshire)ĭr Paul Lasseter Phillips CBE. Chief Executive Officer, Outwood Grange Academies Trust. Chairman and Managing Director, Balmoral Group. (Kincardine, Fife)ĭr James Smith Milne CBE DL. Chief Constable, Police Service of Scotland. For services to Financial Services, to Technology and to Public Service. For services to Diversity and Inclusion in Art. Chief Executive, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. (London, Greater London)ĭr Andrew Francis Goddard. (Worcester, Worcestershire)īradley Fried. For services to Museums, to Publishing and to the Creative Industries. Wolfson Chair, Professor of Materials, University of Oxford. Lately Provost and President, University College London. For services to the Arts, particularly during Covid-19. Lady Susan Carroll Sainsbury Of Turville CBE. Director, Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology. Principal and Vice-Chancellor, University of St Andrews. For services to Young People and to Philanthropy. (London, Greater London)ĭr Ann Geraldine Limb CBE. For services to Business and to the Hospitality Industry. For services to the community in Northern Ireland. Lord-Lieutenant, County Borough of Belfast. (Llanelli, Carmarthenshire)įionnuala Mary Jay-O’Boyle CBE. Geoffrey Moorhouse-Gibson and Royal Society Professor of Chemistry, University of Cambridge. For services to Young People and to Charity. Visiting Professor, UCL Institute of Education, Chair, Future First and Camden Learning. Lately First Minister of Northern Ireland. For services to Nursing, Midwifery, and the NHS. Chief Nursing Officer for England, NHS England and NHS Improvement. (Midhurst, West Sussex)ĭames Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE)ĭr Ruth Rosemarie Beverley (Ruth May). Permanent Secretary, Department for Transport. (London, Greater London)ĭames Commander of the Order of the Bath (DCB)īernadette Mary Kelly CB. Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB)Ĭharles Fergusson Roxburgh. Lately Chair, Nuclear Innovation Research Advisory Board, and Honorary President, National Skills Academy for Nuclear. (London, Greater London)ĭames Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE)ĭame Susan Elizabeth Ion DBE. Professor of English and Creative Writing, Birkbeck College, University of London and Distinguished Fellow, All Souls College, University of Oxford. (London, Greater London)ĭame Marina Sarah Warner CBE. Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) The percentage of LGBT recipients is down slightly from last year, from 5.0% to 4.6%. The proportion going to people from ethnic minority backgrounds, 13.3%, is down from a record 15.0% last year, while slightly more are going to people who are disabled. Read more: The stories of the North East community heroes honoured in the Queens' Birthday listĪ record proportion of Queen’s Birthday Honours are going to women, the percentage this year – 51.5% – slightly higher than the previous record of 51.2% set in 2015. Those behind the selection process said there was more consideration for people who have represented themes such as youth engagement, the environment and sustained public service to mark the monarch’s milestone. People from the world of showbiz, sport and politics have been recognised on a list that claims to represent the monarch's 'invaluable' qualities, long with scientists, educators, volunteers and more. Famous names sit next to those of everyday heroes from across the UK in the Queen's birthday honours list. horoscopes * Choose among Placidus, Koch, and Equal House systems * Choose your own Orb sizes to. StarScopes is designed to help you view the horoscopes for any. astrology charts and horoscope interpretations.

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raisab332012 · 2 years ago

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Answer to Did King Edward IV or Henry VIII have any daughters? by Jade Welch

Answer to Did King Edward IV or Henry VIII have any daughters? by Jade Welch https://www.quora.com/Did-King-Edward-IV-or-Henry-VIII-have-any-daughters/answer/Jade-Welch-1?ch=15&oid=408792069&share=83c2b463&srid=7KVRc&target_type=answer

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tipsycad147 · 3 years ago

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SAMLESBURY WITCHES

In his introduction to the trial, Potts writes; “Thus have we for a time left the Graund Witches of the Forrest of Pendle, to the good consideration of a very sufficient jury.”[23] Bromley had by then heard the cases against the three Pendle witches who had confessed to their guilt, but he had yet to deal with the others, who maintained their innocence. He knew that the only testimony against them would come from a nine-year-old girl, and that King James had cautioned judges to examine carefully the evidence presented against accused witches, warning against credulity

The Samlesbury witches were three women from the Lancashire village of Samlesbury – Jane Southworth, Jennet Bierley, and Ellen Bierley – accused by a 14-year-old girl, Grace Sowerbutts, of practising witchcraft. Their trial at Lancaster Assizes in England on 19 August 1612 was one in a series of witch trials held there over two days, among the most famous in English history. The trials were unusual for England at that time in two respects: Thomas Potts, the clerk to the court, published the proceedings in his The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster; and the number of the accused found guilty and hanged was unusually high, ten at Lancaster and another at York All three of the Samlesbury women were acquitted however.

The charges against the women included child murder and cannibalism. In contrast, the others tried at the same assizes, who included the Pendle witches, were accused of maleficium – causing harm by witchcraft.[3] The case against the three women collapsed “spectacularly” when the chief prosecution witness, Grace Sowerbutts, was exposed by the trial judge to be “the perjuring tool of a Catholic priest”.

Many historians, notably Hugh Trevor-Roper, have suggested that the witch trials of the 16th and 17th centuries were a consequence of the religious struggles of the period, with both the Catholic and Protestant Churches determined to stamp out what they regarded as heresy. The trial of the Samlesbury witches is perhaps one clear example of that trend; it has been described as “largely a piece of anti-Catholic propaganda”, and even as a show-trial, to demonstrate that Lancashire, considered at that time to be a wild and lawless region, was being purged not only of witches but also of “popish plotters” (i.e. recusant Catholics)

Lancaster Castle, where the Samlesbury witches were tried in the summer of 1612 Source: Wikimedia Commons

Background

King James I, who came to the English throne from Scotland in 1603, had a keen interest in witchcraft. By the early 1590s, he was convinced that Scottish witches were plotting against him His 1597 book, Daemonologie, instructed his followers that they must denounce and prosecute any supporters or practitioners of witchcraft. In 1604, the year following James’s accession to the English throne, a new witchcraft law was enacted, “An Act against Conjuration, Witchcraft and dealing with evil and wicked spirits”, imposing the death penalty for causing harm by the use of magic or the exhumation of corpses for magical purposes James was, however, sceptical of the evidence presented in witch trials, even to the extent of personally exposing discrepancies in the testimonies presented against some accused witches.

The accused witches lived in Lancashire, an English county which, at the end of the 16th century, was regarded by the authorities as a wild and lawless region, “fabled for its theft, violence and sexual laxity, where the church was honoured without much understanding of its doctrines by the common people”. Since the death of Queen Mary and the accession to the throne of her half-sister Elizabeth in 1558, Catholic priests had been forced into hiding, but in remote areas like Lancashire they continued to celebrate mass in secret In early 1612, the year of the trials, each justice of the peace (JP) in Lancashire was ordered to compile a list of the recusants in their area – those who refused to attend the services of the Church of England, a criminal offence at that time

Southworth family

Samlesbury Hall, family home of the Southworths. Source: Wikimedia Commons

The 16th-century English Reformation, during which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church, split the Southworth family of Samlesbury Hall. Sir John Southworth, head of the family, was a leading recusant who had been arrested several times for refusing to abandon his Catholic faith. His eldest son, also called John, did convert to the Church of England, for which he was disinherited, but the rest of the family remained staunchly Catholic.

One of the accused witches, Jane Southworth, was the widow of the disinherited son, John. Relations between John and his father do not seem to have been amicable; according to a statement made by John Singleton, in which he referred to Sir John as his “old Master”, Sir John refused even to pass his son’s house if he could avoid it, and believed that Jane would probably kill her husband. Jane Southworth (née Sherburne) and John were married in about 1598, and the couple lived in Samlesbury Lower Hall. Jane had been widowed only a few months before her trial for witchcraft in 1612, and had seven children.

Investigations

On 21 March 1612, Alizon Device, who lived just outside the Lancashire village of Fence, near Pendle Hill, encountered John Law, a pedlar from Halifax. She asked him for some pins, which he refused to give to her, and a few minutes later Law suffered a stroke, for which he blamed Alizon Along with her mother Elizabeth and her brother James, Alizon was summoned to appear before local magistrate Roger Nowell on 30 March 1612. Based on the evidence and confessions he obtained, Nowell committed Alizon and ten others to Lancaster Gaol to be tried at the next assizes for maleficium, causing harm by witchcraft.

Other Lancashire magistrates learned of Nowell’s discovery of witchcraft in the county, and on 15 April 1612 JP Robert Holden began investigations in his own area of Samlesbury. As a result, eight individuals were committed to Lancaster Assizes, three of whom – Jane Southworth, Jennet Bierley, and Ellen Bierley – were accused of practising witchcraft on Grace Sowerbutts, Jennet’s granddaughter and Ellen’s niece.

Trial

The trial was held on 19 August 1612 before Sir Edward Bromley, a judge seeking promotion to a circuit nearer London, and who may therefore have been keen to impress King James, the head of the judiciary. Before the trial began, Bromley ordered the release of five of the eight defendants from Samlesbury, with a warning about their future conduct. The remainder – Jane Southworth, Jennet Bierley, and Ellen Bierley – were accused of using “diverse devillish and wicked Arts, called Witchcrafts, Inchauntments, Charmes, and Sorceries, in and upon one Grace Sowerbutts”, to which they pleaded not guilty. Fourteen-year-old Grace was the chief prosecution witness

Grace was the first to give evidence. In her statement she claimed that both her grandmother and aunt, Jennet and Ellen Bierley, were able to transform themselves into dogs and that they had “haunted and vexed her” for years. She further alleged that they had transported her to the top of a hayrick by her hair, and on another occasion had tried to persuade her to drown herself. According to Grace, her relatives had taken her to the house of Thomas Walshman and his wife, from whom they had stolen a baby to suck its blood. Grace claimed that the child died the following night, and that after its burial at Samlesbury Church Ellen and Jennet dug up the body and took it home, where they cooked and ate some of it and used the rest to make an ointment that enabled them to change themselves into other shapes.

Grace also alleged that her grandmother and aunt, with Jane Southworth, attended sabbats held every Thursday and Sunday night at Red Bank, on the north shore of the River Ribble. At those secret meetings they met with “foure black things, going upright, and yet not like men in the face”, with whom they ate, danced, and had sex.

Thomas Walshman, the father of the baby allegedly killed and eaten by the accused, was the next to give evidence. He confirmed that his child had died of unknown causes at about one year old. He added that Grace Sowerbutts was discovered lying as if dead in his father’s barn on about 15 April, and did not recover until the following day. Two other witnesses, John Singleton and William Alker, confirmed that Sir John Southworth, Jane Southworth’s father-in-law, had been reluctant to pass the house where his son lived, as he believed Jane to be an “evil woman, and a Witch”

Examinations

Thomas Potts, the clerk to the Lancaster Assizes, records that after hearing the evidence many of those in court were persuaded of the accused’s guilt. On being asked by the judge what answer they could make to the charges laid against them, Potts reports that they “humbly fell upon their knees with weeping teares”, and “desired him [Bromley] for Gods cause to examine Grace Sowerbutts”. Immediately “the countenance of this Grace Sowerbutts changed”; the witnesses “began to quarrel and accuse one another”, and eventually admitted that Grace had been coached in her story by a Catholic priest they called Thompson. Bromley then committed the girl to be examined by two JPs, William Leigh and Edward Chisnal. Under questioning Grace readily admitted that her story was untrue, and said she had been told what to say by Jane Southworth’s uncle, Christopher Southworth aka Thompson, a Jesuit priest who was in hiding in the Samlesbury area; Southworth was the chaplain at Samlesbury Hall, and Jane Southworth’s uncle by marriage.[17] Leigh and Chisnal questioned the three accused women in an attempt to discover why Southworth might have fabricated evidence against them, but none could offer any reason other than that each of them “goeth to the [Anglican] Church”

After the statements had been read out in court Bromley ordered the jury to find the defendants not guilty, stating that:

God hath delivered you beyond expectation, I pray God you may use this mercie and favour well; and take heed you fall not hereafter: And so the court doth order that you shall be delivered Potts concludes his account of the trial with the words: “Thus were these poore Innocent creatures, by the great care and paines of this honourable Judge, delivered from the danger of this Conspiracie; this bloudie practise of the Priest laid open”

he Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster

Title page of the original edition, published in 1613 Source: Wikimedia Commons

Almost everything that is known about the trials comes from a report of the proceedings written by Thomas Potts, the clerk to the Lancaster Assizes. Potts was instructed to write his account by the trial judges, and had completed the work by 16 November 1612. Bromley revised and corrected the manuscript before its publication in 1613, declaring it to be “truly reported” and “fit and worthie to be published”. Although written as an apparently verbatim account, the book is not a report of what was actually said at the trial, but instead a reflection on what happened. Nevertheless, Potts “seems to give a generally trustworthy, although not comprehensive, account of an Assize witchcraft trial, provided that the reader is constantly aware of his use of written material instead of verbatim reports”.

In his introduction to the trial, Potts writes; “Thus have we for a time left the Graund Witches of the Forrest of Pendle, to the good consideration of a very sufficient jury.” Bromley had by then heard the cases against the three Pendle witches who had confessed to their guilt, but he had yet to deal with the others, who maintained their innocence. He knew that the only testimony against them would come from a nine-year-old girl, and that King James had cautioned judges to examine carefully the evidence presented against accused witches, warning against credulity

n his conclusion to the account of the trial, Potts says that it was interposed in the expected sequence “by special order and commandment”, presumably of the trial judges. After having convicted and sentenced to death three witches, Bromley may have been keen to avoid any suspicion of credulity by presenting his “masterful exposure” of the evidence presented by Grace Sowerbutts, before turning his attention back to the remainder of the Pendle witches.

Modern interpretations

Illustration from William Harrison Ainsworth’s novel The Lancashire Witches, published in 1848. Flying was considered to be against the laws of nature, and so impossible according to the demonology of King James. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Potts declares that “this Countie of Lancashire … now may lawfully bee said to abound asmuch in Witches of divers kinds as Seminaries, Jesuites, and Papists”, and describes the three accused women as having once been “obstinate Papists, and now came to Church”. The judges would certainly have been keen to be regarded by King James, the head of the judiciary, as having dealt resolutely with Catholic recusants as well as with witchcraft, the “two big threats to Jacobean order in Lancashire”. Samlesbury Hall, the family home of the Southworths, was suspected by the authorities of being a refuge for Catholic priests, and it was under secret government surveillance for some considerable time before the trial of 1612 It may be that JP Robert Holden was at least partially motivated in his investigations by a desire to “smoke out its Jesuit chaplain”, Christopher Southworth

The English experience of witchcraft was somewhat different from the European one, with only one really mass witchhunt, that of Matthew Hopkins in East Anglia during 1645. That one incident accounted for more than 20 per cent of the number of witches it is estimated were executed in England between the early 15th and mid-18th century, fewer than 500. The English legal system also differed significantly from the inquisitorial model used in Europe, requiring members of the public to accuse their neighbours of some crime, and for the case to be decided by a jury of their peers. English witch trials of the period “revolved around popular beliefs, according to which the crime of witchcraft was one of … evil-doing”, for which tangible evidence had to be provided.

Potts devotes several pages to a fairly detailed criticism of the evidence presented in Grace Sowerbutts’ statement, giving an insight into the discrepancies that existed during the early 17th century between the Protestant establishment’s view of witchcraft and the beliefs of the common people, who may have been influenced by the more continental views of Catholic priests such as Christopher Southworth. Unlike their European counterparts, the English Protestant elite believed that witches kept familiars, or companion animals, and so it was not considered credible that the Samlesbury witches had none. Grace’s story of the sabbat, too, was unfamiliar to the English at that time, although belief in such secret gatherings of witches was widespread in Europe. Most demonologists of the period, including King James, held that only God could perform miracles, and that he had not given the power to go against the laws of nature to those in league with the Devil. Hence Potts dismisses Sowerbutts’ claim that Jennet Bierley transformed herself into a black dog with the comment “I would know by what means any Priest can maintaine this point of Evidence”. He equally lightly dismisses Grace’s account of the sabbat she claimed to have attended, where she met with “foure black things … not like men in the face”, with the comment that “The Seminarie [priest] mistakes the face for the feete: For Chattox [one of the Pendle witches] and all her fellow witches agree, the Devill is cloven-footed: but Fancie [Chattox’s familiar] had a very good face, and was a proper man.

It is perhaps unlikely that the accused women would have failed to draw the examining magistrate’s attention to their suspicions concerning Grace Sowerbutts’ motivations when first examined, only to do so at the very end of their trial when asked by the judge if they had anything to say in their defence. The trial of the Samlesbury witches in 1612 may have been “largely a piece of anti-Catholic propaganda”, or even a “show-trial”,the purpose of which was to demonstrate that Lancashire was being purged not only of witches, but also of “popish plotters”

Aftermath

Bromley achieved his desired promotion to the Midlands Circuit in 1616. Potts was given the keepership of Skalme Park by King James in 1615, to breed and train the king’s hounds. In 1618 he was given responsibility for “collecting the forfeitures on the laws concerning sewers, for twenty-one years”. Jane Southworth’s eldest son, Thomas, eventually inherited his grandfather’s estate of Samlesbury Hall.

Bibliography

Abram, William Alexander.

A History of Blackburn, Town and Parish

. 1877.Bennett, Walter.

The Pendle Witches

. Lancashire County Books, 1993.Davies, Peter.

The Trial of the Lancaster Witches

. Frederick Muller, 1971.Fields, Kenneth.

Lancashire Magic and Mystery: Secrets of the Red Rose County

. Sigma, 1998.Gibson, Marion. “Thomas Potts’s Dusty Memory: Reconstructing Justice in The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches.”

The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories

, Manchester University Press, 2002, pp. 42–57.Goodier, Christine.

The Samlesbury Witches

. Lancashire County Council,

http://www.lancastercastle.com/html/people/tour.php?id=43

.Hasted, Rachel A. C.

The Pendle Witch Trial 1612

. Lancashire County Books, 1993.Martin, Lois.

The History of Witchcraft

. Pocket Essentials, 2007.Pumfrey, Stephen. “Potts, Plots and Politics: James I’s Daemonologie and The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches.”

The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories

, Manchester University Press, 2002, pp. 22–41.Sharpe, James. “Introduction: The Lancaster Witches in Historical Context.”

The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories

, Manchester University Press, 2002, pp. 1–18.Swain, John. “Witchcraft, Economy and Society in the Forest of Pendle.”

The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories

, Manchester University Press, 2002, pp. 73–87.Wilson, Richard. “The Pilot’s Thumb: Macbeth and the Jesuits.”

The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories

, Manchester University Press, 2002, pp. 126–145.Winzeler, Robert L.

Anthropology and Religion: What We Know, Think, and Question

. Altamira Press, 2007.

https://engole.info/samlesbury-witches/

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