True History of the People in England

True history of the people in England.

To think of England immediately I find myself bombarded with an eclectic variety of phrases, sayings and grand imagery. With thoughts of a society based upon the ethos of solidarity no matter the class. Ranging from the stereotypical gentleman with the patriarchal stiff upper lip and his loving with wife lovingly referred to as the English rose.

But where did this all begin? The Romans were in Britain from 45AD travelling to Britain bringing with them a wealth of knowledge (acquired and stolen) from the civilisation which flourished along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea; especially places such as Carthage now modern day Tunisia in North Africa. The Numerus Maurorum Aurelianorum was an African auxiliary unit which was based at Hadrian’s Wall 100-400AD.

The influx of migration thereafter brought a multiplicity of people from all over Europe and beyond including the Germanic tribes like the Saxons, Angles and Jutes from 400-600AD and the constant invasions by Vikings originating from Scandinavia settling here until 11th century. This is all before the great Battle of Hastings 1066 and the victory by William the conqueror whose troops consisted of those from all over mainland Europe

Just by looking at the above short fact based description we can see a great history of migration which gave birth to the generations to follow, and a subsequent royal family with an undeniable multiethnic history. The current monarchy are from the German duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha through the marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from the house name of Wettin. The next two generations to follow Victoria, Edward VII, and George V reigned as members of this house. It was only due to the, high anti-German sentiment amongst the people of the empire whilst battling in World War I which forced the King to abandon all titles held under the German Crown, and to replace all titles and house names sounding German with ones which sounded more “English”. By 1917, George V issued a Royal Proclamation stating all agnatic descendants of Victoria would be members of the House of Windsor and have the surname of the same name.

This is the most obvious, overt and desperate demonstration of the need for an identity. The royal family were forced to pander to the people and satisfy their hunger; in order to solidify a nation feeding them this idea of unity could only be engineered. By 1952, Queen Elizabeth II also officially declared her family to be styled as the House and Family of Windsor. This is against the normal practice of being named through the father in this case Prince Phillip, to do so would have seen descendants named of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg; as Prince Philip is from Greece and Denmark, in a line of the house of Oldenburg.