United Kingdom

United Kingdom, also known as England, Great Britain, Britain, Northern Ireland and Arthur Kirkland, is one of the main characters from Hetalia series.
== Charactah Account ==
More commonly referred to as "England" or "Britain", United Kingdom is a rainy island with the reputation as being the "delinquent of Europe". As a kid he was quite violent, and grew up to be a pirate. However, he's hung up his pirate hat and has gone from being a swashbuckling bad boy to a self-proclaimed "gentleman".
Since long ago, United Kingdom been on bad terms with France. Both have done terrible things to one another, the most notable in the Hetalia series being when England's army burned Jeanne d'Arc at the stake. A teenage France used to pick on a young England back in the day, but their little squabbles and arguments are usually and have been over extremely petty issues. Despite this, they seem to have an underlying respect for one another and spend every Christmas together as shown in the comics. England also allowed France to 'conquer him when they thought the world was ending, something which France had always dreamed of. They are also shown to be quite close to each other, even if they do bicker often, France being one of the Englishman's closest friends.
United Kingdom raised America as a child after fighting over him with France and Finland. The two were like brothers, but England insisted that America not refer to him as such. Due to America declaring his independence and fighting against him, their relationship was spoiled. Apparently, on every 4th of July since then, he becomes ill and heartbroken. In present times, the two are always butting heads over something, but deep down, they both care for each other.
== Appearance ==
=== Anime ===
* Hetalia Axis Powers
* Hetalia Axis Powers Fan Disc
* Hetalia Axis Powers Movie: Paint it, White
* Hetalia World Series
* Hetalia World Series Specials
* Hetalia World★Stars
* Hetalia World★Stars Specials
* Hetalia: The Beautiful World
* Hetalia: The Beautiful World Extra Disc
* Hetalia: The Beautiful World Specials
* Hetalia: The World Twinkle
* Hetalia: The World Twinkle Extra Disc
* Hetalia: The World Twinkle Specials
=== Manga ===
* Hetalia Axis Powers
* Hetalia World★Stars
== Trivia ==
* The character is referred to as United Kingdom, or UK for short, in most merchandise and in his character design on the official anime website (and in some merchandise and fanworks, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, his full nation title). In other instances, however, he is referred to as England, most notably in Gakuen Hetalia and the English-language preview for America's Cleaning Of The Storage. The Japanese word Igirisu means Britain but is sometimes used to refer to England (normally rendered as Ingurando in katakana or eikoku in kanji) in colloquial speech. He is commonly referred to with either name by fans, though England tends to be used to differentiate him from his brothers (that represent the other parts of the UK). A note by Hidekaz Himaruya confirms that he would only be known as England to his brothers, while he would be known as UK to the others. However, the English dub refers to him as Britain. According to FUNimation, this was a request from the Japanese anime producers.
* Although United Kingdom is always called Igirisu in the manga and anime, historically, he would be known as simply England up until the 18th century, when The Kingdom of Great Britain was formed, uniting both England and Scotland (the Act of Union of Wales and England had already taken place 1536-1543). In the early 19th century, Ireland was added, creating The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. After Ireland split to declare itself independent in 1919, the Irish War of Independence waged until 1922, when it became the Irish Free State. Six of the 32 counties of Ireland (mostly from the province of Ulster where there was a great English/Scottish population) rejoined the UK while the other 26 counties formed the Republic of Ireland.
* A UK character is actually first seen at the end of Hetalia: Chapter 1, however, his design was not yet completely finalized. He appears as a short-haired man with a UK label on his shirt and with somewhat thinner eyebrows. Notes in the special booklet for the third volume of the published manga reveal that England was originally to have normal eyebrows, as well as have the appearance of a middle-aged man who dressed much younger. Himaruya decided to give him thicker eyebrows, as he liked the idea of a character having brows modeled after a Shiba Inu.
* United Kingdom appears to be modeled after the character Hikone Kalom from Himaruya's other webcomic Barjona Bombers, though he is the exact opposite of Kalom in personality.
* United Kingdom's birthday could be referred to the 23rd of April, or St. George's Day.
* Himaruya once stated that United Kingdom's eyebrows are actually trimmed, although they don't appear that way since they still remain thick in appearance. He has also stated that Ireland has thicker eyebrows, but with a "different feel" to them.
* It is possible that United Kingdom has a tattoo, for he mentions in his version of Marukaite Chikyuu that "My tattoo really hurts, but it's a hot six-string!" (six-string meaning electric guitar).
* According to a blog post (11/14/10), ironically, island nation and former pirate England, can not swim (in reference to English people in movies,) although, historically, many pirates could not swim. Although, in the Gakuen Hetalia PSP game, he jumps into the water to save a drowning America. The original blogpost was a parody based on characters from English movies and there is nothing to suggest England cannot in fact swim, though the fandom seems to have adopted the idea misguidedly.
* In a translated blog post (17 January 2015) of the official Himaruya blog, it is confirmed that United Kingdom tattoo is located on his butt. 
== Gallery ==
File:United Kingdom Render 01.png
File:United Kingdom Render 02.png
File:United Kingdom 01.png
File:United Kingdom 02.png
File:United Kingdom 03.png
File:United Kingdom Fan Art 01.png
== External Links ==
* England at Hetalia Archives
Category:Characters
Category:Males
Category:Hetalia