[HN Gopher] The pillar box war
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       The pillar box war
        
       Author : luu
       Score  : 32 points
       Date   : 2023-05-17 00:00 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (blog.plover.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (blog.plover.com)
        
       | mjd wrote:
       | tl;dr
        
         | spyke112 wrote:
         | Brits being brits
        
         | duskwuff wrote:
         | In case you missed the irony, check mjd's profile. :)
        
         | mikequinlan wrote:
         | The pillar box war
         | 
         | A "pillar box" is a British mailbox. It usually has the
         | monogram ("cypher") of the reigning monarch at the time it was
         | built. At right are two examples. The one to the right has the
         | monogram of Queen Elizabeth II, also depicted below.
         | 
         | https://pic.blog.plover.com/history/pillar-box-war/egbox.jpg
         | 
         | https://pic.blog.plover.com/history/pillar-box-war/E2R.png
         | 
         | ("EIIR" is short for "Elizabeth II Regina"). The pillar box to
         | the left has the monogram of her father, George VI.
         | 
         | When Elizabeth was crowned in 1953, there was a dispute in
         | Scotland over what she should be called. "Elizabeth II of
         | Scotland" was a bit of an oddity because Scotland had never
         | before had a queen named Elizabeth: England's Elizabeth I had
         | never been queen of Scotland, which at the time was a separate
         | kingdom. Compare the so-called James VI and I who was King
         | James VI of Scotland but King James I of England. (He was the
         | son of Elizabeth's cousin Mary. James I-V had been the kings of
         | Scotland from 1406-1542.)
         | 
         | Post boxes in Scotland with Elizabeth's "EIIR" monogram were
         | repeatedly vandalized and in some cases exploded. A lawsuit was
         | filed in Scotland, asserting that the proclamation of Elizabeth
         | II was a violation of the 1707 Act of union between England and
         | Scotland. The court disagreed: "The [Act of Union] did not
         | contain any provision as to the style and titles to be adopted
         | by the monarch of the new [United] kingdom." The plaintiff was
         | required to pay the respondent's legal expenses.
         | 
         | The two nations found an acceptable compromise: after 1953
         | pillar boxes erected in Scotland omitted Elizabeth's monogram
         | entirely, and included only a heraldic representation of the
         | crown of Scotland.
         | 
         | The issue doesn't come up with Charles III, who is the third
         | monarch of that name in both England and Scotland.
        
       | amiga386 wrote:
       | In Leith's Kirkgate, by the South Leith Parish kirkyard, there is
       | a pediment with the Scottish arms and "I R" (for Iacoubus Rex) in
       | relief. It's all that remains of the King James Hospital, built
       | 1614, demolished 1824 [0]
       | 
       | It has a "6" chiselled into it [1]
       | 
       | The war has been running for a _long_ time
       | 
       | [0] https://canmore.org.uk/site/51941/edinburgh-king-james-
       | hospi...
       | 
       | [1] https://www.flickr.com/photos/77047514@N00/2556525935
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2023-05-19 23:01 UTC)