#Europe#history#war

Family scandal or discrimination?

Is the reason of the “abdication” Harry and Megan from “the firm” that he is a Wizard?
 
“Buckingham Palace and the queen announced on Saturday that Harry and Meghan would no

by Aliena Skeeter

longer be working members of Britain’s monarchy, no longer use their “Royal Highness” titles and would now pay their own way in life, freeing them to forge what they call a “progressive new role”. Statement from Her Majesty The Queen.

 
When you hear “Muggle-born”, you evaluate it from the magical side. But could you imagine what does it mean for Muggle parents? This is not easy or fun to get a Wizard kid to family. The child’s involuntary reaction may create in parents an erroneous opinion about his physical or mental health. And good parents start to try to heal their child from the imaginary sicknesses. As a result, we can observe a lot of psychological injuries in Muggle-borns and their parents both.
The will of the Source-of-Sorcerery is inscrutable – neither the poorest family nor those at the top of power could not predict the destiny of their children. Even in the Royal family of Great Britain there were several cases of the birth of Wizards among princes and princesses and marriage with Wizards from other aristocratic families. Some cases were comic, some – were tragic.
 
For example, Queen Caroline of Ansbach was Queen consort of Great Britain as the wife of King George II. She was born in very old conservative Wizard family from Bavaria and learned magic in Bayerische Fürstenschule der Zauberei (Bavarian Prince School of Magic) governed the Director Josef Rappelkopf. Caroline from the childhood was considered quite radical for believing that washing with soap was good for health. She even improved spell Aquamenti with adding of special flick by wand, that produced soap water. She bathed in a linen shift to protect her modesty. As her health worsened so too did the rift between her son Frederick and his parents. Frederick was against washing as hard as possible – even he could not ride, no one horse could bear his smell.
Keen to secure a second generation of royal heirs George II and Caroline arranged a marriage between Prince Frederick and the young, beautiful and clean German Princess Augusta. It was hoped that she would be a good influence on Frederick and curb his outrageous spending and flamboyant behavior, and mostly – his smell. But hope failed.
Frederick and his followers were popular with the public, which infuriated Caroline. She declared: “Good Merline! Popularity always makes me sick: but Fritz`s popularity and smell makes me vomit”. So great was their resentment that George II and Caroline explored the possibility of leaving the English throne to their younger son William, Duke of Cumberland. This would mean Frederick was left with only Hanover.
In the autumn of 1737 Caroline`s illness grew worse. Frederick begged to see his dying mother, but Caroline refused to see him, saying “At least I shall have one comfort in having my eyes eternally closed; I shall never sniff that monster again”. She died at St. James Palace on 20 November 1737, holding the hand of her husband, the King.
Another time it happened in XX century, when the King was Wizard. Edward VIII, later Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, was Muggle-born Wizard.
At the childhood he was a strange boy – dog of his auntie died under very suspicious cirmustances. There were also a couple of cases of glass breaking that could not be explained by mere prank.
At age of 11 he got his letter from Hogwarts, and Sorting Hat sent him to Slytherin. For Muggles, of course, the legend was invented about the Osborne Naval College and the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth.
He was supposed to be a King. And it creates tensions between Wizengamot and Muggles` Parliament.
More than 700 years there was no Wizard-King in Britain! Muggles were categorically against such a turn of events. It looks very suspicious – as if Wizards wants to overpowered Muggles!
More than that, when young Edward got his (very weak, honestly) OWLs, it was 1914, and WWI was started. Edward insisted to take part in this mass murder of Muggles, despite the ban for Wizards to be involved in Muggles` wars, that is a substantial part of Statute of Secrecy. In 1916 Edward got Military Cross, but we have no evidences of his personal contribution to the war.
 
From 1919 to 1936 Edward, as the Prince of Wales, represented his father, King George V, at home and abroad on many occasions. His rank, travels, good looks, and unmarried status gained him much public attention, and at the height of his popularity, he was the most photographed celebrity of his time
Though widely travelled, Edward was racially prejudiced against foreigners and Muggles, believing that whites and Wizards were inherently superior. In 1920, on a visit to Australia, he wrote of Indigenous Australians: “they are the most revolting form of living creatures I’ve ever seen!! They are the lowest known form of human beings & are the nearest thing to monkeys.”
In mid-1930s, with arising of Grindelwald, Edward became his supporter, admirer and follower. He tried to force Wizengamot to introduce quotas for the education of Muggle-borns in Hogwarts.
King George V died on 20 January 1936, and Edward ascended the throne as King Edward VIII. Edward caused unease in government circles with actions that were interpreted as interference in political matters. He spoke about “easing-off” of Statute of Secrecy – especially on permitting the use of magic in matters of government.
Edward’s unorthodox approach to his role also extended to the coinage that bore his image.
He broke with the tradition that the profile portrait of each successive monarch faced in the direction opposite to that of his or her predecessor. Edward insisted that he face left (as his father had done), to show the parting in his hair.
Edward caused unease in government circles with actions that were interpreted as interference in political matters. He spoke about “easing-off” of Statute of Secrecy – especially on permitting the use of magic in matters of government.
Edward’s unorthodox approach to his role also extended to the coinage that bore his image. He broke with the tradition that the profile portrait of each successive monarch faced in the direction opposite to that of his or her predecessor. Edward insisted that he face left (as his father had done), to show the parting in his hair.
As an admirer of Grindelwald, Edward VIII forced the Minister for Magic to issue a decree allowing British volunteers to enroll in the Grindelwald Army. (By a lucky coincidence, couple years after that the Dictus` scandal has happened, and such volunteers became the laughing stock of British wizards.) Hector Fawley, Albus Dumbledore, Lord Halifax and Sir Winston Churchill negotiated with Edward VIII, expressing concern of both communities for his behavior.
                                                  Sir Winston Churchill and Lord Halifax
 
They presented Edward with three choices:
– give up the support of Grindelwald and superiority ideas;
– continue against wishes of all British people;
– or abdicate.
It was clear that Edward was not prepared to give up Grindelwald, and he knew that if he would continue against the advice of his ministers, he would cause the both governments to resign, prompting a constitutional crisis. He chose to abdicate. Edward duly signed the instruments of abdication at Fort Belvedere on 10 December 1936.
Edward, now reverted to the title and style of a prince, Duke of Windsor, explained his decision to abdicate in a worldwide Muggle and Wizard radio broadcast. He famously said, “I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as king as I would wish to do.”
His brother, the Duke of York, succeeded to the throne as George VI. George VI’s elder daughter, Princess Elizabeth, became heir presumptive.
 
In October 1937, the Duke and Duchess visited Nazi Germany, against the advice of the British government, and met Gellert Grindelwald at Nurmengard and Adolf Hitler at his Berghof retreat in Bavaria. The visit was much publicised by the German media. During the visit the Duke gave full Nazi salutes and accepted The Golden Triangle from Grindelwald`s hands.
                                                            Gellert Grindelwald and Edward Windzor
 
In February 1940, the German Muggle ambassador in The Hague, Count Julius von Zech-Burkersroda, claimed that the Duke had leaked the Allied war plans for the defence of Belgium, which the Duke later denied. When Wermacht and GA invaded the north of France in May 1940, the Windsors fled south, first to Biarritz, then in June to Francoist Spain. In July the pair moved to Portugal. Churchill threatened the Duke with a court-martial if he did not return to British soil.
In July 1940, Edward was appointed Governor of the Bahamas. The Duke did not enjoy being governor and privately referred to the islands as “a third-class British colony”. He resigned from the post on 16 March 1945. After a duel between Albus and Gellert, whose defeat led to Hitler’s suicide and the end of the War, the Duke and Duchess returned to France and spent the remainder of their lives essentially in retirement as the Duke never held another official role until his death on 28 May 1972.
That was a story of looser Wizard on the throne – he had a shortest time on it.
As I understand it, a loving Grandma Elizabeth wants to rid a good-grandson of such a fate. Or perhaps discrimination exists on both sides of society, Wizard and Muggle, as a universal trait of human beings.
How do you think?