not so long ago as all that
Aug. 28th, 2019 08:03 amFrom a comment on Charlie Stross's blogpost about the current UK awfulness: "[Elizabeth II's] #1 priority since before she took the throne is to maintain continuity for the monarchy; don't underestimate the impact of her uncle's abdication crisis."
"of her uncle's abdication crisis."
record-scratch
Great-uncle, surely?
The wallpaper in my grandmother's bathroom had newspaper clippings from the early twentieth century. The only ones I can remember were an ad for a Wallace Beery movie (memory says The Sheik; IMDB says that was Valentino) and two headlines: KING OF JUGO-SLAVIA ASSASSINATED... and EDWARD SURRENDERS THRONE THAT HE MIGHT WED AMERICAN. So I was sort of tangentially aware of Edward VIII as a kid, as someone that happened ages ago.
But no. Twentieth-century English monarchs are Ed-George-Ed-George-Liz. And it's the second Ed, the second George's brother, that abdicated. And Elizabeth is 93; she was born in 1926. Perfectly reasonable for her to have been been ten when her uncle stepped down.
Just another reminder that history isn't so long ago after all. (Exhibit B: television footage of a witness to Abraham Lincoln's assassination.) When I was reading those headlines on Gram's wall, I was closer to them than today is to World War II and fighting actual Nazis. Those that do not remember, etc.
"of her uncle's abdication crisis."
record-scratch
Great-uncle, surely?
The wallpaper in my grandmother's bathroom had newspaper clippings from the early twentieth century. The only ones I can remember were an ad for a Wallace Beery movie (memory says The Sheik; IMDB says that was Valentino) and two headlines: KING OF JUGO-SLAVIA ASSASSINATED... and EDWARD SURRENDERS THRONE THAT HE MIGHT WED AMERICAN. So I was sort of tangentially aware of Edward VIII as a kid, as someone that happened ages ago.
But no. Twentieth-century English monarchs are Ed-George-Ed-George-Liz. And it's the second Ed, the second George's brother, that abdicated. And Elizabeth is 93; she was born in 1926. Perfectly reasonable for her to have been been ten when her uncle stepped down.
Just another reminder that history isn't so long ago after all. (Exhibit B: television footage of a witness to Abraham Lincoln's assassination.) When I was reading those headlines on Gram's wall, I was closer to them than today is to World War II and fighting actual Nazis. Those that do not remember, etc.