Here is an article from Niall O’Dowd of “Irish Central” to mark the accession of Charles III. It makes a number of good points, although some others are debateable:
1) Wessex may have ceased to be as a Kingdom when Athelstan took over the others (Mercia, Northumbria and East Anglia) but it had Earls in the eleventh century, including Godwin. Recreating the Earldom was surely inspired by Hardy’s tales from the region.
2) Frederick Edwin Smith died of complications from cirrhosis, but in Belgravia, not India where he had been Secretary of State for four years.
3) Viscount Castlereagh, referred to in the comments, was an interesting character.
4) I can understand the writer’s favourite monarch being Charles II.
5) Only 10% of hereditary peers, 92 in number, can now attend the House of Lords.
murreyandblue 