Latest from the Empire

Cabinet Appointments Earlier this morning, Monday 17 March 2025, His Imperial Majesty, Aggelos I, made the following Cabinet appointments, based upon the nominations from Prime Minister Creed. New Diplomatic Organization HSH Lord Jonathan has reported that all is going very well with the creation of the New Diplomatic Organization. Several friendly states are onboard for the project. A charter for the organization is currently in the early stages of drafting. Lord Jonathan has since stepped down from the role. Crown Prince Shiro has now taken over the position of Ambassador at Large. Premiership Act On 14 March 2025, Parliament passed the Premiership Act. The act creates a Line of Succession in case the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister are incapacitated. The Line of Succession, which is comprised of Cabinet members, is as follows: Senate Reconfirmation On 9 March 2025, Prime Minister Creed announced that the following people have been reconfirmed to the Senate for a five-year term. Empire Expansion The Empire is expected to expand within the coming weeks, with a large influx of land claims. Public details are limited at this time. Chief Herald Cabinet has been in discussion of appointing a new Chief Herald, which is a person responsible for the upkeep of the Coat of Arms and Heraldry. Prime Minister Creed has nominated Austenasian Ambassador to Norway, Chris Ramsay. Cabinet is currently waiting for approval from the Emperor. Active Recruitment The Empire of Austenasia is currently recruiting for new citizens! If there is anyone interested in getting more involved with the Empire, they are more than welcome to visit the Government Website and fill out the following form:

Bradley of Dullahan appointed Deputy Prime Minister

Bradley of Dullahan, Representative of Helinium, was yesterday appointed Deputy Prime Minister following the resignation of Lord Hunter Prater from the position. Lord Prater, who was appointed Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) in September last year upon Lord William Wilson’s victory in the general election, has announced his retirement from national government, although he remains Representative of New Flat Rock. One notable legacy of Lord Prater’s time in office as DPM is his advocacy of weekly meetings of Cabinet, which previously tended to be held as required. Bradley, Duke of Dullahan, also known by his title in the Holy Roman Empire as King of the Romans, was appointed yesterday to fill the vacancy. The position of Deputy Prime Minister is held by a Representative who is selected by the Prime Minister with the consent of the Monarch. Duke Bradley – who also serves as the long-standing Prime Minister of Austenasian ally Wyvern – became an Austenasian national in March 2019. Earlier this year he was elected the parliamentary Representative of the new town of Helinium, which is inhabited by his sister and her partner.

Foreign Office to consider diplomacy requests for two week window

For two weeks in July, the Austenasian Foreign Office will consider requests for diplomatic relations in a temporary lifting of the long-standing policy not to do so. Austenasia has always insisted on granting diplomatic recognition and maintaining relations only with polities of a certain “standard”, such as those with an official claim to independence, reasonably professional behaviour, and a well-established presence and stable government. From the start of the previous decade, the Austenasian government had received a growing number of requests to recognise or even ally with various micronations which were very much below the standards of nations the Empire would be interested in forging official ties with. Many of these applicants were very young – sometimes mere days old – and ended up dissolving a short time afterwards, meaning diplomatic relations would have been a waste of time. Having to politely decline each of these requests – as proved the case for most of them – proved a growing drain on the resources of the Foreign Office. It was therefore the case that on 24 March 2014 the then Prime Minister and Chief Ambassador, HIH Countess Eritoshi, announced that Austenasia would henceforth “refrain from considering non-solicited diplomatic relations… and instead focus… on consolidating and strengthening those relations already held.” This did not prevent the Austenasian government from reaching out on its own initiative to request formal ties with nations in which it was interested, but did provide a means to issue all those in which it was uninterested with a standardly worded “no thank you”. However, earlier today, the Foreign Office has announced that “beginning 3 July and until 17 July, we are temporarily lifting this policy to allow any interested nations to contact us with a request for foreign relations which will be considered.” Permitting requests to be considered will allow potential new friends who may otherwise be overlooked to be considered for formal relations, whereas making it a temporary window will ensure that the number of requests received is relatively manageable. The idea was first proposed by the Prime Minister, Lord Wilson, in the weekly online meeting of Cabinet. A link to an online form enabling authorised representatives of their states or nations to apply for diplomatic relations will be published on July 3rd. UPDATE – The form can be accessed here: https://forms.gle/gAsrpqR4EKUfBro58

Coup underway in New Virginia

Chaos erupted yesterday in the Commonwealth of New Virginia as President Kennedy suspended the constitution in response to a declaration of “revolution” before joining it herself. Events began when Elizabeth Lewis published a poster in the “Announcements” channel on the official New Virginian Discord server. Headed by a picture of Karl Marx, this poster called for an overthrow of the constitutional order, the “building of a socialist… state and party” and “the deportation of dangerous right wing figures”, before declaring “Long live the New Virginian revolution”. A second graphic was then posted calling for the removal of Bradley of Dullahan, the Leader of the Opposition. President Brooklyn Kennedy responded by assuming emergency powers, using the authority granted to her by the Constitution to suspend it “for the time being”, and announcing that all powers of state would be exercised by the Presidency until New Virginia could “return to a state of normalcy”. Under ten minutes later, Kennedy made a second announcement, declaring her support for the “29th of July Movement” revolution. Claiming that the New Virginian parliament was “rife with reactionaries, racists, and elitists”, she stated that the “time has come for these men to be purged”. The President went on to announce that all political parties were immediately dissolved, and power would be held by a Revolutionary Committee comprised of three people appointed and chaired by herself. Sir Simon White, the New Virginian Prime Minister, refused to support the 29th of July Movement, stating “I cannot in good conscience support this insurrection. To outlaw reactionary partisanship is indeed a noble policy, but the outlawing of conservatism in general is utterly repugnant to this nation.” It is furthermore being reported that Adam I of Adammia, who also serves as President of the Senate of New Virginia, has called on the Constitution to be immediately restored and for a general election to be called, criticising the committee for its lack of democratic mandate. Adammia has announced that it has suspended relations with New Virginia, and Wyvern has indicated that it does not recognise the Revolutionary Committee as the legitimate government of the country. In Austenasia, meanwhile, Cabinet met online to discuss the situation, and the following statement was co-authored by Emperor Jonathan I, Prime Minister Lord Gordon, and Deputy PM Lord Wilson: “A hand of friendship, as always, is extended to the New Virginian people, but we cannot recognise an illegitimate government. If the situation has not been resolved with respect to the democratic rights and representation of all New Virginians within the next 36 hours, we will consider the New Virginian government to have fallen and therefore be incapable of maintaining diplomatic relations.” Talks had been in the process of being arranged between Austenasian and New Virginian officials to discuss the way forward following the events of last month. However, following the news of the ongoing coup in New Virginia, the House of Representatives met and voted on a motion calling for the Empire to withdraw from the alliance it still formally held with New Virginia. Independently, eighteen minutes later, the Revolutionary Committee likewise voted to sever the alliance. Bradley von Dullahan later announced the unilateral secession of Helinium – the New Virginian claim governed by himself – from the Commonwealth, interpreting the rhetoric used by Kennedy and the other revolutionaries as thinly-veiled threats against his own position. Lord William Wilson, who also serves as a local governor in New Virginia, said the following: “This coup is of a blatantly authoritarian nature, with a small cabal of politically aligned individuals surrounding the President. They have suspended their constitution and legislature, threatened the exile of political opposition, and used rhetoric of death to ‘capitalists’ and ‘reactionaries’.” He also accused the revolutionaries of seeking to turn New Virginia into an “echo chamber”. Kennedy and Lewis have objected to this summary of events, stating they were “not just removing people for disagreeing with us”. They pointed out that von Dullahan left of his own accord – although Lewis later commented that he “left before he could be kicked [out]” – and argued that he could not technically be considered a political opponent of theirs as they both hold non-partisan offices. Bradley of Dullahan provided the following exclusive statement to the Times: “For a long time Brooke [Kennedy] and Elizabeth [Lewis] have been dissatisfied with the partisan politics that they enabled through the creation of the now abolished political system. It actually worked fine and was stable. A true multiparty system was developing slowly, with in my mind at least another party in the make. However, the government cabinet, as foolish as they were, schemed with the President to declare a fake emergency to amend the constitution. Now it has come to pass, they used some random offensive argument to push through their ideas and abolished the whole lot. Not at all what the Prime Minister had in mind. They enabled the President by feeding her ideas that this was a good idea, and then when she took it a step further they were shocked and angry. However, my disappointment with New Virginia doesn’t end there. The entire justification of this inside coup (all members were government officials, so no “people’s revolution” at all) was on the basis of my person. They do not mention me by name, but every accusation they give is directly relatable to a warped and sickening view that Elizabeth has of me, which the President of the Commonwealth has adopted and used for the declaration. Its inaccurate, misleading, and highly offensive. The President of the Commonwealth of New Virginia and all her cronies in the so-called commission for the salvation of New Virginia and everyone who joined in on the revolution are traitors. The rightful head of government is Simon White. They destroyed a nation without giving it time to grow.” New Virginian Deputy PM James Frisch, who has refused to join the “29th of July Movement”, rejected the allegation that the government had “schemed with the President”,

Dionisiy I and Lord John Gordon confirmed as general election candidates

Emperor Jonathan I yesterday confirmed two candidates for next month’s general election. Prince Dionisiy I of the Fatherland Party will be standing against Lord John Gordon of the Whig Party. Lord Gordon is Representative of Palasia, and Prince Dionisiy is Representative of Theodosiopolis. The Whig Party espouses classical liberalism, but Lord Gordon is on the left-wing of his party, and will be running on a platform of socially liberal ideas. The Fatherland Party’s candidate, Prince Dionisiy, is running on a platform of social conservatism and the promotion of Roman and Christian culture. The general election will take place on 12 February, and will elect the country’s fourth Prime Minister. The incumbent Prime Minister, Lord Admiral Joseph Kennedy, has been in office since March 2015 but is stepping down due to the secession of New Virginia. Lord Gordon previously ran for Prime Minister in 2013 as a Marxist, but lost to Countess Eritoshi with one third of the vote. He then served as her Deputy Prime Minister until her own electoral loss to Lord Admiral Kennedy in 2015. Lord Gordon has held positions in Cabinet, serving as Home Secretary from November 2013 to May 2014 and as Minister of Defence from February to July 2018. He also serves as President of the Iceni Democratic Republic, an independent state located near to Palasia. Prince Dionisiy, who also reigns as sovereign of Montescano, joined Austenasia upon the annexation of Theodosiopolis in March last year. He has since been instrumental in the expansion of Austenasia in the old Roman East, personally claiming Laranda, Seleucia ad Cilicia, Chalcedon, and Trebizond for Austenasia.

Imperial Party announces second Annual Conference

The Prime Minister, Lord Admiral Joseph Kennedy, has announced the date of the second Imperial Party Annual Conference as Party Leader. The conference will occur on 31 July at 4 PM EST via the Imperial Party discord server. The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Lady Vice Admiral Eryn Lewis, are expected to deliver addresses. The Deputy Prime Minister currently serves as Party Chairwoman, and will preside over the conferences proceedings. In attendance will be all Imperial Party cabinet ministers and representatives, New Richmond Mayor Alex Francis MAO, and various private members. The Prime Minister is expected to announce cabinet reforms as part of his address.

Emperor and Prime Minister swap Cabinet positions

His Imperial Majesty the Emperor and Lord Admiral Joseph Kennedy have swapped their positions of Home Secretary and Minister for Culture, respectively. Emperor Jonathan I made the announcement of the partial Cabinet reshuffle earlier this evening. The position of Home Secretary, which had been held by the Emperor himself since October 2014, is responsible for overseeing many of the internal affairs of Austenasia, including border controls, environmental protection, and policing. The position of Minister for Culture, which had been held by Prime Minister Kennedy since May 2015, is responsible for the promotion of Austenasian culture, and includes duties such as the maintenance of public monuments and the appointing of Artists Laureate. The Austenasian Cabinet is comprised of seven such offices, appointed by the Monarch with the consent of the Prime Minister.

Countess Eritoshi elected Prime Minister

Her Imperial Highness Countess Eritoshi of Memphis has been elected Prime Minister of Austenasia in the General Election held yesterday, receiving two-thirds of the votes. The remaining one-third of the vote went to Lord John Gordon of Palasia, who has become Deputy Prime Minister. Surprisingly, Lord Marshal William – the third candidate, and Acting PM before the election – did not receive a single vote in the General Election. He and Eritoshi had been considered by many to be the two with the most chance of winning the election. A Local Election took place at the same time. All those elected Representatives gained 100% of the vote in their respective Towns, with nobody choosing the option to abstain from the election implemented in response to only one person running for each office. In Wrythe, His Imperial Majesty the Emperor was re-elected Representative, winning back the seat which he lost to his sister the then Princess Caroline in December 2011. In Zephyria, Lord Marshal William was re-elected Representative, a position he has held uninterruptedly since September 2010. In Thanasia, Countess Eritoshi was elected Representative, having been Acting Representative since Thanasia was annexed in May earlier this year. In Palasia, Lord John Gordon was elected Representative, having been Acting Representative since Palasia was annexed in July earlier this year. Emperor Jonathan I has congratulated Countess Eritoshi on her victory, and has also announced a Cabinet reshuffle, with his sister Crown Princess Caroline no longer a Representative. He himself has replaced the Crown Princess as Chancellor and Secretary-General, and Lord John Gordon has replaced Lord Marshal William as Home Secretary, but the Lord Marshal has kept his other two Cabinet offices as Minister of Defence and Minister for the Environment, and Countess Eritoshi has remained Chief Ambassador. Turnout was 81.8% for the Local Election and 60% for the General Election.