Political system: Parliamentary monarchy with ELECTED king (not hereditary)
- King = ceremonial aristocratic president, chosen by joint Parliament session
- PM = real executive, leader of Commons majority
- House of Lords (hereditary + life peers) + House of Commons (propertied male suffrage)
- Evolved from 1685 noble parliament through 150 years of reform

Identity crisis: 400 years of French rule → 150 years of English independence
- Norman-French aristocracy: mostly supported independence but culturally suspect
- English gentry: independence movement's backbone
- Huguenot professionals: French-speaking but patriotically English (paradox)
- Language: English = patriotic, French = complex (elite culture but enemy's language)
- Highland Scots: recently absorbed (1765), resentful
- Ireland: colonial subject, Catholic, second-class, independence movement brewing

Technology: ELECTRICAL variant (contrast with Song's steam)
- Electric grid, telegraph, telephone, radio experiments
- Sells electricity/aluminum to Song (strategic leverage)
- "Coal and Lightning Kingdom" vs Song's "Steam and Gears Empire"

Congo: quinine monopoly → river-basin colonial territory
Colonial empire governed separately (New England, New Wales, EIC India)

Flavor: elected king pride, electric vs steam modernity,
French ghost in English culture, cricket and calculus

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>