Henrietta Maria of France
Name: Tiffany Comyn (reigning as Empress Tiffany)
House: Comyn
Date of Birth & Age at Ascension: January 9, 1503 (19 y/o)
Relation to the Previous Monarch: Great-Granddaughter to Malcolm I & V
Personality: Artistic, creative, likes to think of herself as "broad-minded", tends to rely on advisors a lot, not particularly great at "statecraft" and tends to be easily distracted (but is aware of that and tries to snap out of it).
Style of government: A "courtly government" with royal favourites and the imperial legislatures having great say, with the Empress herself aware that she's not a natural leader, so she will gladly defer to them. If possible, she will try to form a "cabinet" of important favourites.
Spouse/Potential Marriage: The King of France [or his heir, which one is closest to her age]. Failing that (hopefully not!) she will seek to marry a close relative of the French King who will not seek to push themselves as consort. [the aim is really an alliance with France].
Main Goal: The Tiffanic Renaissance
Being a woman of the modern 1500s AEnglund, the Empress is keen to continue her great-grandfather's legacy.
She will continue his sponsorship of the universities, and seek to sponsor the creation of one in the west of AEnglund in the growing city of Brickstow ('Bristol'), aware that both universities as is are on the eastern half of AEnglund. This university is aimed to appeal more to the western English and Welsh intellectuals and the growing importance of the Atlantic Ocean for the Empire. She hopes it will be named the Imperial University, but won't push.
She will set up an "Imperial Society of Natural Philosophy" on advice from her more scientific-minded advisors, and hope that there will be many natural philosophers keen to join the Society. Members of the Imperial Society will have imperial favour of course, and given that Tiffany doesn't know much of natural philosophy and of the emerging science, she will seek to try to give her favour as neutral as possible, and based on clear proof.
Keenly aware of her relative's reputation as "Arthur the Navigator", she will also set up an imperial company of people who are employed to explore the world and (ideally) discover riches unexploited or trade routes once-undiscovered, and of course claim it all so it may be enjoyed by the Empire. The "Imperial Company of Navigators" sounds like a good name.
On much more familiar grounds, she will seek to encourage the more...
artistic element in life. The growing popularity of plays in Westminster has caught her eye and she is keen to cultivate it, with her even attending some of the plays and inviting certain playwrights and their company to perform for her. Perhaps if one of the companies catch her eye, they could end up "The Empress' Men"...
And of course she will seek to invite renowned artists and philosophers to court. She does like the paintings and the philosophic wit over such...
cold things such as natural philosophy (even as she sponsors it anyway). She will try her best to encourage the artistic element with her favour. The art she will favour will tend to be more inclined to the
kronisket theory, with a sense of imperial unity being encouraged. The Scots, the Welsh, the English, the Norsh and the Atlantic folk, they're all united in one loving empire.
As a part of this favouring, she will try to encourage more Francophile art, or art that represents the Frank as a 'natural' ally against the Germans, and perhaps a play or a painting here and there that implies that the Northron has more in common with the French, anything to justify her big plans.
Major Goal 1: The Grand Concord
As part of her attempt to marry in the French royal family, she will seek to orient Northron foreign policy towards a more pro-France stance and establish closer ties between the Empire and France, continuing on Cead's legacy, but overall she will try to stay reasonably aloof from war in Europe, well knowing the Empire is exhausted from the most recent Northern War. Perhaps this is just a reasonable geopolitical stance, but her writings suggest it is more motivated by a deep distaste of the idea of being a 'warrior queen' like Etheldreda and Caitlin.
Influenced by some Italian advisors, she will seek to employ the use of "ambassadors" and "embassies" to the countries which she (and her advisors) find crucial to the Empire's interests. Namely, France, Frisia, Austria, Aragon, León, Hungary and of course her relatives (are they still related?) over in Egypt. The Hardradas of Egypt and those of the Empire has long diverged, but she is keen to rekindle relations especially with this new idea of diplomacy. She will also, if possible, send an envoy to Lithuania to establish relations, but if it is unworkable she will not bother.
While she will not seek a binding alliance within her reign with all those countries, she will seek to cultivate warmer and more consistent diplomatic relationships, especially with France which she would be the first to admit the Empire has ran hot-and-cold on.
As part of this diplomatic effort, she will seek to create a military attaché system where the military people will seek to learn from the new ideas emerging elsewhere. She will also host the ambassadors from those countries [if they so desire return any] and welcome them the warmest possible.
Major Goal 2: A Renewed Government for Peace and for War
Some of the Empress' advisors (especially the Italian ones) have been quietly dismayed at how inefficient and how reliant on one person the Imperial structure is. So they have encouraged her to at least dabble in some government reform.
The Flottecortes, Colloquium, Riksdag, Løgting, Alþingi, Inatsisartut and Avalonic Alting (which she would try to gently counsel to change to a new name out of personal confusion at it and the Icelandic one having the same name) would remain of course. The imperial system flourishes on those regional parlements. In addition to those number, and
only if the Flottecortes consent, she will set up a Senedd for the Welsh nobles, elevating it to a nation in itself equivalent to the Faroes and Iceland. This was very much influenced by her more romantic side fuelled by kronisk rhetoric (as well as her brief time being Princess of Wales leading to her visiting her new realm and liking their music a lot).
However, it is true that the current system is woefully inefficient. The advisors do not counsel a major change in the system, pointing to the woes of the Wyrmcrieg and the incoherency of the three-parlement system (and of course, the Riksdag actually has power). Hence the regional parlements will continue as they are, and she will merely ask them all to send a set number of 'delegates' to a much expanded Imperial Court - justifying it as an expansion of the old court to take in account the parlements' wishes, and actually a show of respect to them all.
She will still make herself available to the parlements if they so desire (well, maybe not for the Avalonic Alting. But to be the first European monarch to step foot on Avalon soil... now that's tempting). However, all of this court reform comes with the second aim at a government "renewal".
Namely the bureaucracy. It has been much straining to do the tasks it currently needs to do, and hence that is why she will seek to expand it further - into a proper "Imperial Civil Service". She will also encourage the expanding civil service to open itself up to less
noble sorts, as long as they show some intellectual qualification of course. The Empire needs every intelligent subject, not just the nobles (as appreciated as they are).
She will also put the head of the new civil service in her Imperial Court, so he can advocate for the civil service's interests. No more will bureaucrats silently toil with the government and the monarch unwittingly adding more work.
All this is hoped to make the government run more efficiently (and maybe with less money waste?).
On other matters, after months of arguing between some counsellors who wish for an expansion of the military and others which wish for an expansion of trade routes, the Empress (normally willing to let them come to a conclusion) lost her patience and told them all she has made her decision.
Which is... Both.
Yes. Both.
As her advisors stare at her in confusion, she elaborates on her plan. The North Sea Empire is one ruled by the
sea, correct? Hence the logical thing is to expand the
Navy, but ensure that the Navy also protects and expands the trade routes the Empire can control (and those the Society of Navigators discover too). Hence we will have far more secure trade and stronger economic grounds to build off of.
The Army, ah, that's something to reform indeed. She will, this time deferring to her counsellors, go for a gradual move of the Huscarls to a less "frontline" position and try to utilise more modern ideas to expand the army. She will seek to further encourage the innovation of technology for military means. However, she will pain herself to ensure that the Huscarls see this as not a removal, but as a
promotion. They are the eldest and well respected class, and after the ah, Northern War
debacle, surely they would be up to
helping the Empress modernise the army, with them of course as... officers? Yes, that sounds good. A formalised military hierarchy with the huscarls kicked upstairs to "officer" status.
The huscarls will serve as the core of what her advisors now eagerly describe as a "professional army" like the Eastern Roman Empire. A core of well-trained officers, with local soldiers buttressing up the rank and file, with there being a clear hierarchy of command going all the way up to... oh. The Empress as commander-in-chief. She shows her distaste at having a military role, even if purely ceremonial, but relents to pressure.
With the Navy now oriented to protecting trade and the Army hopefully professionalised, the whole thing should be far less of a money-sink and far more
efficient. Gosh does her councillors like that word. Less money for more action. Hopefully it works.
Minor Goal 1: The Female Art
As much as the Empress likes to present herself as very different from the previous queens [Ethelreda and Caitlin] by being a far more peace-loving and consensus-oriented monarch, she does have her own wishes. A far more humble one of course, but one all the same.
She will seek to encourage some of the noble women to participate in painting and in wider art, with a few receiving her support. If there's enough interest to work with, she will present her paintings to court as a way to signal that even the empress paints, so it is not just a masculine thing.
Eventually she will wish to paint a self-portrait, distrusting anyone else to
truly capture her image. One day, yes. And it'll be beautiful.
Minor Goal 2: A Family Woman
Keenly aware of the AEnglisk tradition of warm royal families and the shortcomings of the Comyns in that area, she will seek to ensure that her own family, her husband, etc., are well-looked after. The Empress will try to set aside a period of time every week to spend with her children, and her husband [if the King of France and his heir] will be kept in regular contact [hopefully helped by the navy being improved] and have enough time to well, produce any children. The ultimate aim is to reintroduce some true family to this Comyn [Bourbon?] dysfunction.
The Empress will also make sure that all her children are well-accommodated to the various heritages they have - the French, English, Scottish, Norwegian and Welsh heritages - as much as possible. Her first son will be granted the Prince of Wales title [as well as Duke of Lothian yes] and when he reaches his tens, be sent to learn as much as possible of the realm of Wales and hopefully grow to like it as much as she does.
Minor Goal 3: A Taste of Fashion
The least of her priorities, but still one, is encouraging a more simple fashion for both men and women. Less large dresses for women, less elaborate clothing for men. This comes from her frustrations at doing anything in an elaborate dress that reduces her to just standing around and looking pretty.
But simple doesn't mean
drab, though. She'll try to ensure it remains colourful, just... less complicated.