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The Kingdom of Redonda is a micronation associated with the tiny uninhabited Caribbean island of Redonda. The island lies between the islands of Nevis and Montserrat, within the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain, in the West Indies. Redonda is legally a dependency of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. The island is just over one mile (1.6 km) long and one-third mile (0.54 km) wide, rising to a 971-foot (296 m) peak. The island teems with bird life, but is more or less uninhabitable by humans because there is no source of freshwater other than rain, and most of the island is extremely steep and rocky, with only a relatively small, sloping plateau area of grassland at the summit. Landing on the island is a very challenging process, possible only via the leeward coast on days when the seas are calm. Climbing to the top of the island is also very arduous. Despite these difficulties, from 1865 until 1912 Redonda was the centre of a lucrative trade in guano mining, and many thousands of tons of phosphates were shipped from Redonda to Britain. The ruins associated with the mineworkings can still be seen on the island. Redonda also is a micronation which may, arguably and briefly, have existed as an "independent kingdom" during the 19th century, according to an account told by the fantasy writer M. P. Shiel. The title to the supposed kingdom is still contested to this day in a half-serious fashion. Despite the official appointment by abdication of the King Josè Juan I in 2019, the Kingdom of Redonda is still associated with a number of supposedly aristocratic members, whose titles are awarded by whoever is currently the "King". Currently there are a number of individuals in different countries who may claim to be the sole legitimate "King" of Redonda until legal counterproof. History The history of the "Kingdom" of Redonda is shrouded in doubt and legend, and it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. During Shiel's lifetime M. P. Shiel (1865–1947), an author of works of adventure and fantasy fiction, was the first person to give an account of the "Kingdom of Redonda," in 1929, in a promotional pamphlet for a reissue of his books.According to tradition, Shiel's father, Matthew Dowdy Shiell, who was a trader and Methodist lay preacher from the nearby island of Montserrat, claimed the island of Redonda when his son, Matthew Phipps Shiell, was born. Supposedly the father felt he could legitimately do this, because it appeared to be the case that no country had officially claimed the islet as territory. Shiell senior is also said to have requested the title of King of Redonda from Queen Victoria and according to the legend, it was granted to him by the British Colonial Office rather than by Victoria herself, provided there was no revolt against colonial power.The son (originally named Matthew Phipps Shiell but later known as the writer M. P. Shiel) claimed he was crowned on Redonda at the age of 15, in 1880, by a bishop from Antigua. However, as M. P. Shiel's recounting of this story never saw print until 1929, it is possible that some, or most, or possibly all of the story of his being crowned King of Redonda may in fact be pure invention.In his writings about Redonda, however, Shiel is critical of the egotism that led him to accept the title, suggesting that there may have been some truth behind the story of the coronation. Shiel does however cite two different names for the bishop who performed the coronation: the Reverend Dr Mitchinson and the Rev. Hugh Semper. These men were both genuine clerics in the Caribbean during this period. The contradiction could of course be explained as due to Shiel's faulty memory rather than the story being based on total invention. In “About Myself” Shiel writes that his attempt to impose a tribute tax on the American guano miners was a request they refused. This early non-recognition of his kingship is another possible argument that the coronation actually occurred. Several of Shiel's works of fiction concerned various aspects of monarchy. One of his detective heroes is called Cummings King Monk. In Shiel's 1901 end-of-the-world story The Purple Cloud, the protagonist Adam Jeffson, the last man on earth, establishes himself as monarch of the devastated globe, while Shiel's novel The Lord of the Sea (1901) has Richard Hogarth, another Overman figure, coming to dominate the world. In 1899, Shiel wrote about visiting Redonda in his adventure novel Contraband of War. In later life, Shiel gave the title, and the rights to his work, to his chief admirer, London poet and editor John Gawsworth (Terence Ian Fytton Armstrong), the biographer of Arthur Machen, who was the realm's Archduke. Gawsworth (1912–70) seems to have passed on the title several times when the writer was low in funds. Gawsworth's realm has been facetiously termed "Almadonda" (by the Shielian scholar A. Reynolds Morse (1914–2000)) after the Alma pub in Westbourne Grove, Bayswater, London, where "King Juan" frequently held court in the 1960s. After Shiel's death Gawsworth had also apparently promised to make Max Juan Tonge Leggett, the first son of his friends Charles and Jean Leggett, his Redondan heir if they gave the child (born in the late 1950s) his royal name of Juan.Some Redondan scholars accept that Gawsworth bestowed the title on his friend the publican Arthur John Roberts in 1967, by "Irrevocable Covenant". Prior to this the late writer Dominic Behan (1928–89) also claimed Gawsworth transferred the title to him in 1960. It is also said that Gawsworth handed on the throne to one Aleph Kamal, whose peers include the novelist Edna O'Brien. Self-appointed monarchs of Redonda include/included Michael Lawler in 2010, Marvin Kitman and William Scott Home. Scott Home's claim to the title was, he says, based on ESP and reincarnation. Following the death of HRH Robert Williamson (aka King Bob the Bald), which created a royal vacancy, Michael Lawler visited Redonda on his sailing yacht "Traveler" on 29 January 2010, with his son Brian Lawler and an Indonesian crew member Yansen Padang. Lawler went ashore and filled the vacancy by proclaiming himself to be the Seventh King of Redonda, and crowned his wife Barbara Lawler as the Queen of Redonda. Publisher, author and environmentalist Jon Wynne-Tyson, however, claims that Gawsworth, prior to dying in 1970, bestowed the kingship on him with the literary executorships, although the writer Iain Fletcher was the joint literary executor for Gawsworth. Later developments Jon Wynne-Tyson subsequently visited Redonda in 1979, on an expedition organized by the philanthropist and Shielian publisher A. Reynolds Morse. Wynne-Tyson ruled as King Juan II until abdicating in favour of the novelist Javier Marías of Madrid in 1997, transferring the literary executorship of Gawsworth and Shiel along with the title.Arthur John Roberts’ title was subsequently inherited by William Leonard Gates, whom Gawsworth had given the title of "Bar.... Discover the Matthew Howorth popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Matthew Howorth books.

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  • Fourteen synopsis, comments

    Fourteen

    Matthew Howorth

    Kim is fourteen. Sometimes, it is not easy being fourteen. A short story.

  • The Gambler synopsis, comments

    The Gambler

    Matthew Howorth

    Tommy is a gambler. But some gambles are bigger than others. A short story.