chUKus other important stuff

UK - Great Britain - Britain - British

• UK is shorthand for The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which is the political construct (does not include Ireland, the Isle of Man…)

• Great Britain is a geographical construct excluding Northern Ireland (But at Olympics UK=GB cuz NI athletes can opt for either UK or ireland)

• Britain is shorthand for something, could be Uk, could be GB, could be less than that (can be received as nasty)

• British is a term that is not always appreciated because of its opaque conceptualisation and operationalisation and because of how it sounds for someone outside of England

Andrew Mountbatten - Windsor

• Was born second in the line of succession to the British throne and is eighth as of 2026

  • served in the royal Navy from 1979 to 2001

  • active duty as a helicopter pilot during the Falklands War (1982)

• overnight, on his 66th birthday, Andrew’s ties to Epstein led to him becoming the first senior British royal to be arrested since King Charles I in 1647

• (on suspicion of) misconduct in public office (so no charges just yet)

  • from 2001 to 2011, Andrew served as the UK’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment, but resigned following scrutiny of his expenses and associations with controversial figures

  • in that period Andrew exchanged classified government reports with Epstein, who at the time had already been a convicted p*dophile

• Mountbatten-Windsor was created by combining the royal family’s House name of Windsor and Prince Philip’s adopted surname of Mountbatten - an Anglicised version of Battenberg

  • Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921-2021), husband of Elizabeth II, the longest-serving royal consort in British history

  • philip was the son of Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Queen Olga of Greece, herself the eldest child of Louis Mountbatten and Victoria Mountbatten also know as the Marquess and Marchioness of Milford Haven

  • They changed their German names to non-German ones in 1917 - a bit late to the party of those changing surnames over WWI anti-german sentiments

  • an uncle of Philip, Lord (Louis) Mountbatten, was killed by the Provisional IRA when a bomb exploded on his fishing boat. Louis had been a father figure for Charles and to a lesser extent his sister and other brothers

Common law

• the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes

  • although it may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on precedent, i.e. judicial rulings made in previous similar cases

  • the presiding judge determines which precedents to apply in deciding each new case

• originated in the 12th century, primarily through the reforms of Henry II

  • During his reign he controlled England, supstantial parts of Wales and Ireland, and much of France, an area that was later called the Angevin Empire, and also held power over Scotland for a time and the Duchy of Brittany

  • he centralised justice, established royal courts, developed the jury system, and promoted uniform legal principles across the kingdom

  • succeeded by Richard I (richard Lionheart)

  • Succeeded by John I, not a popular monarch, lost most French territories and tensions rose such that the had to give in to baronial revolt and agree to further political reforms and limitations of royal power, signed and sealed in the 1215 Magna Carta

• Magna Carta therefore reinforced HII’s developments by limiting royal power and affirming the king was subject to the law

• together, Henry II’s reforms and Magna Carta created the foundations of a legal system based on precedent, due process, and the rule of law. These principles continue to shape legal systems in Britain today

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