UK: Calls for ‘Elizabeth the Faithful’ as ‘the Great’ has been linked with ‘despotic rulers’ like Genghis Khan

London, Sep 15

A campaign has been launched to give the late Queen the title of 'Elizabeth the Faithful' because 'the Great' is rather common and has been used by despots and conquerors, local media reported.

Senior UK politicians, including Boris Johnson, the former prime minister, have referred to Elizabeth II as 'the Great' since she died last Thursday at the age of 96, Daily Mail reported.

But Security Minister Tom Tugendhat referred to her as 'the Faithful' last week and today a former Conservative Party Treasurer insisted that it was the best moniker to use.

In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, Lord Farmer said that it reflected 'the fulfilment of the pledge that she made on the cusp of adulthood to serve us her whole life.'

He added: 'Superficially she was indeed great, but more than 110 monarchs have been so designated including the Herod who ordered the slaughter of the innocents, Louis XIV (whose rule made the French Revolution all but inevitable) and Genghis Khan.

The only British monarch to ever be called 'the Great', Alfred was an Anglo-Saxon king of Wessex who fought off a Danish invasion. His reconquest of territory was continued by his successors and his grandson Aethelstan is seen by historians as the first king of England, Daily Mail reported.

Known as the Great Khan, Genghis Khan was a Mongol ruler who rose from humble beginnings to establish the largest contiguous empire in history. At its peak, the empire stretched from the Far East to eastern Europe. His campaigns and those of his sons were extremely bloody and may have resulted in as many as 60 million deaths.

Catherine the Great, the last and longest-serving Empress of Russia, came to power after her husband Peter was overthrown. She was born in a region of modern-day Poland which at the time was in the Kingdom of Prussia.
During her reign, Russia conquered the Crimea, part of Poland and Alaska. She is famous for her string of lovers, including men 40 years her junior when she was in her 60s, Daily Mail reported.

Herod, King of Judea made notorious by his depiction in the Bible. The Gospel of St Matthew says he was responsible for the Massacre of the Innocents, which saw all male children aged two or under killed in the area around Bethlehem in an unsuccessful bid to get rid of the baby Jesus. Modern historians do not believe any such slaughter took place, Daily Mail reported.

--IANS