England

**England** (イギリス, *Igirisu*) is a main character in the anime and manga series **Hetalia: Axis Powers**. He represents both the United Kingdom and England, and is part of the Allied Forces. The English dub refers to him as **Britain**, a shortened and often informal way to refer to the **United Kingdom**. His name is actually **Arthur Kirkland** (アーサー・カークランド, *Āsā Kākurando*).

## Appearance

England has messy, short blond hair and green eyes. He dresses in a green military uniform with a Sam Browne Belt. His eyebrows are very thick and prominent, even though he apparently trims them. They are a trait that is shared by his younger brother Sealand, as well as Australia, Hong Kong and Wy.

## Personality

England is an obstinate, former pirate, who used to torment Spain. In modern times he claims to be a gentleman, however he is cynical, sharp-tongued, prone to rough speech and yearns for the golden years. He is noted for being horrible at cooking which has caused America, his former charge, to have "bad" taste in food. England is also, apparently, the "king of losing things", and can be described as "spacey" because of his strong belief in magic, spirits, fairies, and various other fantasy-related creatures. France has also described him as "somehow extremely useless when it comes to matters not pertaining to himself or America". He has the ability to communicate with supernatural beings and is not limited to creatures from his homeland, being able to interact with various youkai and spirits from Japanese folklore.Despite this, England often ridicules America's belief in aliens, as well as America's alien friend, Tony. According to the author's notes, England's interests include: embroidery, craftsmanship, literature, rock music, and giving scathing criticisms to America's movies.

He does not know how to express himself, and others often misunderstand him. He is also depicted as being self-deprecating or tsundere. Despite his cynical, realistic view on the world, he is a romanticist. When drunk, his personality will change from that of a gentleman to a bitter and violent delinquent. Also, every year when the Fourth of July comes around, his condition collapses.

It has been mentioned that England has brothers, one representing **Scotland***,* and the others presumably **Wales** and**Northern Ireland**, who hate him and used to drive him away with stones and arrows when he was a child, and even went as far as to mail him curses.

## Trivia

He 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).

Although he's 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.

His birthday could be referred to the 23rd of April, or St. George's Day.

## 2P Side

**Main Article:** 2P England (Oliver Kirkland)