The Shadow Court of HM Queen Elizabeth II

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by johndallman

These people unquestionably exist, but who they are is somewhat obscure. People who know the royals personally tend to keep quiet about it, and don't participate in the modern trend for self-publicity, at least on this front. So I'd suggest that you research likely institutions and invent individuals.

While I'll invent individuals when I can't find any suitable ones, I much prefer seizing on flimsy evidence to fictionalise a real person into a paranormally-aware version of him- or herself.

Originally Posted by johndallman

Something to understand about the way royals are treated is that while they don't have much direct authority, people are very polite to them. This extends to granting their wishes in a great many matters that aren't of huge practical importance.*

[...]

*For example, George VI caused the rules for naming Royal Navy ships to be broken. The first "major" warship built during a reign is named after the monarch; this tradition goes back centuries, but Elizabeth II hasn't had hers yet - it is building now. However, George VI asked that "his" be named after his father instead, for personal reasons. This happened, not as a matter of authority, but of politeness.

Just so. It is precisely this sort of influence that the senior members of the Shadow Court rely on when it comes to quietly gathering information, raising black funds for their clandestine activities, advancing the careers of conspiracy members to place them in useful positions and arranging for other small favours that the group needs in their activities.

While no government of the UK has yet been able to perceive the ongoing return of the paranormal, let alone willing to take potentially politically harmful action about it, the Crown is able to prepare the ground for an eventual reveal by extending tendrils of informal influence into various branches of the Civil Service, armed forces, law enforcement, academia and other places.

Originally Posted by johndallman

Some sources of people that may be useful. Westminster Abbey and a few other churches are "Royal Peculiars", which are directly under the monarch's control, rather than the general CofE administration. The Queen knows Cambridge University rather better than Oxford, because Prince Phillip was until quite recently Cambridge's Chancellor (ceremonial head). They visited quite regularly, in part because Phillip liked being in the only place where he took precedence over his wife.

The Master of Trinity College is also a direct royal appointment; Trinity is weird because it's both a pillar of the Establishment, and an academic powerhouse, with about as many Nobel Prizes as France. It seems like a good place to use, and the level of applied eccentricity amongst its students and Fellows will cover up a good deal. The buildings are ancient, but have been modernised. Cambridge also has a whole department devoted to Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic studies, which looks like another good place to use.

Good ideas; thank you.

I'll also be using the University of London quite a lot, as it turns out that many of the colleges falling under it have substantial pedigrees in research that would be useful to the Shadow Court. As mentioned before in this thread, this includes the Warburg Institute, but there are also the Institute of Classical Studies, King's College London School of Arts and Humanities, the School of Oriental and African Studies and the UCL Insitute of Archeology.

Does anyone know of any academics involved with these with known connections to the Royal Family*? Strange beliefs or membership in esoteric organisations? Or a particularly delicious academic specialisation, easily turned to occult uses?

*Such as, for example, having been the recipient of important honours in the gift of the monarch, particularly ones HM has personal discretion over granting, as opposed to confirming the decisions of her government.