Markup View

Author: AgProv

Feb 26th 2013 at 2:36:41 AM

{{Literature:Discworld}} The whole set-up of the city of Ankh-Morpork is largely based on British history, with a dash of Paris, New York and Calcutta (the smell). It begins as a roughly mediaeval city, but is seen in later books as making a social and economic transition into an Industrial Revolution.  Based largely on London - the city map's squiggly river and many placenames are a dead giveaway - the nominal monarchy (although the line of kings is largely defunct)   has overtones of Britishness. The eldest son of the monarch, for instance, is also Prince of Llamedos (Llamedos is the Discworld Wales). The city is ruled by the Patrician "in the name of the King" - effectively a Prince Regent. In the British constitution, a Prince Regent takes over and rules on behalf of the King if the monarch is under the age of majority (the boy-kings Henry VI and Edward V both had Regents) or in the event of illness/insanity (the Prince Regent ruled on behalf of his father, the famously mad King George). Institutions in the City carry the prefix Royal - the royal Mint, the royal Bank, et c. In accordance with Arthurian legend, there is a king-in-waiting: only in this case the King has effectively renounced right to the throne and is content to be a humble policeman.