title: Tiger shark

text: The tiger shark commonly attains adult length of and weighs often around . It is dimorphic, with females being the larger sex. Mature females are often over while mature males rarely get that large. Exceptionally large females reportedly can measure over , and the largest males . Weights of particularly large female tiger sharks can exceed . One pregnant female caught off Australia reportedly measured long and weighed . Even larger unconfirmed catches have been claimed. Some papers have accepted a record of an exceptional length for a tiger shark, but since this is far larger than any scientifically observed specimen, verification would be needed. A 2019 study suggested that it would have reached in maximum length.


title: Tiger shark

text: Among the largest extant sharks, the tiger shark ranks in average size only behind the whale shark ("Rhincodon typus"), the basking shark ("Cetorhinus maximus"), and the great white shark ("Carcharodon carcharias"). This makes it the second-largest predatory shark, after the great white. Some other species such as megamouth sharks ("Megachasma pelagios"), Pacific sleeper sharks ("Somniosus pacificus"), Greenland sharks ("Somniosus microcephalus"), and bluntnose sixgill sharks ("Hexanchus griseus") broadly overlap in size with the tiger shark, but as these species are comparatively poorly studied, whether their typical mature size matches that of the tiger shark is unclear. The great hammerhead ("Sphyrna mokarran"), a member of the same taxonomic order as the tiger shark, has a similar or even greater average body length, but is lighter and less bulky, with a maximum known weight of .


title: Tiger shark

text: Tiger shark teeth are unique with very sharp, pronounced serrations and an unmistakable sideways-pointing tip. Such dentition has developed to slice through flesh, bone, and other tough substances such as turtle shells. Like most sharks, its teeth are continually replaced by rows of new teeth throughout the shark's life. Relative to the shark's size, tiger shark teeth are considerably shorter than those of a great white shark, but they are nearly as broad as the root as the great white's teeth and are arguably better suited to slicing through hard-surfaced prey.


title: Tiger shark

text: A tiger shark generally has long fins to provide lift as the shark maneuvers through water, while the long upper tail provides bursts of speed. The tiger shark normally swims using small body movements.


title: Tiger shark

text: The skin of a tiger shark can typically range from blue to light green with a white or light-yellow underbelly. The advantage of this is that when it is hunting for its prey, when prey looks at the shark from above, the shark will be camouflaged, since the water below is darker. When prey is below the shark and looks up the light underbelly will also camouflage the shark with the sunlight. This is known as countershading. Dark spots and stripes are most visible in young sharks and fade as the shark matures. Its head is somewhat wedge-shaped, which makes it easy to turn quickly to one side. They have small pits on the snout which hold electroreceptors called the ampullae of Lorenzini, which enable them to detect electric fields, including the weak electrical impulses generated by prey, which helps them to hunt. Tiger sharks also have a sensory organ called a lateral line which extends on their flanks down most of the length of their sides. The primary role of this structure is to detect minute vibrations in the water. These adaptations allow the tiger shark to hunt in darkness and detect hidden prey.


title: Tiger shark

text: Sharks do not have moveable upper or lower eyelids, but the tiger shark—among other sharks—has a nictitating membrane, a clear eyelid that can cover the eye. A reflective layer behind the tiger shark's retina, called the tapetum lucidum, allows light-sensing cells a second chance to capture photons of visible light. This enhances vision in low-light conditions.


title: Tiger shark

text: The tiger shark is often found close to the coast, mainly in tropical and subtropical waters throughout the world. Its behavior is primarily nomadic, but is guided by warmer currents, and it stays closer to the equator throughout the colder months. It tends to stay in deep waters that line reefs, but it does move into channels to pursue prey in shallower waters. In the western Pacific Ocean, the shark has been found as far north as Japan and as far south as New Zealand. It has also been recorded in the Mediterranean Sea, but rarely, off Malaga (Spain), Sicily (Italy) and Libya.


title: Tiger shark

text: Tiger sharks can be seen in the Gulf of Mexico, North American beaches, and parts of South America. It is also commonly observed in the Caribbean Sea. Other locations where tiger sharks are seen include off Africa, China, India, Australia, and Indonesia. Certain tiger sharks have been recorded at depths just shy of .


title: Tiger shark

text: The tiger shark is an apex predator and has a reputation for eating almost anything. These predators swim close inland to eat at night, and during the day swim out into deeper waters. Young tiger sharks are found to feed largely on small fish, as well as various small jellyfish, and mollusks including cephalopods. Around the time they attain , or near sexual maturity, their selection expands considerably, and much larger animals become regular prey. Numerous fish, crustaceans, sea birds, sea snakes, marine mammals (e.g. bottlenose dolphins ("Tursiops"), common dolphins ("Delphinus"), spotted dolphins ("Stenella"), dugongs ("Dugong dugon"), seals and sea lions, and sea turtles (including the three largest species: the leatherback ("Dermochelys coriacea"), the loggerhead ("Caretta caretta") and the green sea turtles ("Chelonia mydas"),) are regularly eaten by adult tiger sharks. In fact, adult sea turtles have been found in up to 20.8% of studied tiger shark stomachs, indicating somewhat of a dietary preference for sea turtles where they are commonly encountered. They also eat other sharks (including adult sandbar sharks ("Carcharhinus plumbeus")), as well as rays, and sometimes even other tiger sharks.


title: Tiger shark

text: Due to high risk of predation, dolphins often avoid regions inhabited by tiger sharks. Injured or ailing whales may also be attacked and eaten. A group was documented killing an ailing humpback whale ("Megaptera novaeangliae") in 2006 near Hawaii. A scavenger, the tiger shark will feed on dead whales, and has been documented doing so alongside great white sharks.


title: Tiger shark

text: Evidence of dugong predation was identified in one study that found dugong tissue in 15 of 85 tiger sharks caught off the Australian coast. Additionally, examination of adult dugongs has shown scars from failed shark attacks. To minimize attacks, dugong microhabitats shift similarly to those of known tiger shark prey when the sharks are abundant.


title: Tiger shark

text: The broad, heavily calcified jaws and nearly terminal mouth, combined with robust, serrated teeth, enable the tiger shark to take on these large prey. In addition, excellent eyesight and acute sense of smell enable it to react to faint traces of blood and follow them to the source. The ability to pick up low-frequency pressure waves enables the shark to advance towards an animal with confidence, even in murky water. The shark circles its prey and studies it by prodding it with its snout. When attacking, the shark often eats its prey whole, although larger prey are often eaten in gradual large bites and finished over time.


title: Tiger shark

text: Notably, terrestrial mammals, including horses ("Equus ferus caballus"), goats ("Capra aegagrus hircus"), sheep ("Ovis aries"), dogs ("Canis lupus familiaris"), cats ("Felis catus"), and brown rats ("Rattus norvegicus"), are fairly common in the stomach contents of tiger sharks around the coasts of Hawaii. In one case, remains of two flying foxes were found in the stomach of this shark. Because of its aggressive and indiscriminate feeding style, it often mistakenly eats inedible objects, such as automobile license plates, oil cans, tires, and baseballs.


title: Tiger shark

text: Although tiger sharks are apex predators, they are sometimes preyed on by pods of killer whales. A pod's method of hunting a tiger shark is to drive it to the surface. A killer whale will then grab the shark mid-body and hold it upside down to induce tonic immobility and drown the shark. The killer whales bite off the shark's fins before disemboweling and devouring it midwater.


title: Tiger shark

text: All tiger sharks generally swim slowly, which, combined with cryptic coloration, may make them difficult for prey to detect in some habitats. They are especially well camouflaged against dark backgrounds. Despite their sluggish appearance, tiger sharks are one of the strongest swimmers of the carcharhinid sharks. Once the shark has come close, a speed burst allows it to reach the intended prey before it can escape.


title: Tiger shark

text: Males reach sexual maturity at and females at . Typical weight of relatively young sexually mature specimens, which often locally comprise the majority of tiger sharks encountered per game-fishing and scientific studies, is around . Females mate once every three years. They breed by internal fertilization. The male inserts one of his claspers into the female's genital opening (cloaca), acting as a guide for the sperm. The male uses his teeth to hold the female still during the procedure, often causing the female considerable discomfort. Mating in the Northern Hemisphere generally takes place between March and May, with birth between April and June the following year. In the Southern Hemisphere, mating takes place in November, December, or early January. The tiger shark is the only species in its family that is ovoviviparous; its eggs hatch internally and the young are born live when fully developed.


title: Tiger shark

text: Tiger Sharks are unique among all sharks in the fact that they employ embrytrophy to nourish their young inside the womb. The young gestate in sacks which are filled with a fluid that nourishes them. This allows for the young to dramatically increase in size, even though they have no placental connection to the mother.


title: Tiger shark

text: The young develop inside the mother's body up to 16 months. Litters range from 10 to 80 pups. A newborn is generally long. How long tiger sharks live is unknown, but they can live longer than 12 years.


title: Tiger shark

text: Tiger shark ontogeny has been little studied until recently, but studies by Hammerschlag "et al.", indicated that as they grow, their tails become more symmetrical with age. Additionally, while the heads on juvenile tiger sharks are more conical and similar to other requiem sharks, adult tiger sharks have a head which is relatively broader. The reason for the larger caudal fin on juvenile tiger sharks is theorized to be an adaptation to escape predation by larger predators and to catch quicker-moving prey. As tiger sharks mature, their head also becomes much wider and their tails no longer become as large in proportion to their body size as when they are juveniles because they do not face elevated levels of predation risk upon maturity. The results of this study were interpreted as reflecting two ecological transitions: as tiger sharks mature they become more migratory and having a symmetrical tail is more advantageous in long-distance traveling, and that tiger sharks consume more diverse prey items with age, which requires a greater bite force and broader head.


title: Tiger shark

text: The tiger shark is captured and killed for its fins, flesh, and liver. It is caught regularly in target and nontarget fisheries. Several populations have declined where they have been heavily fished. Continued demand for fins may result in further declines. They are considered a near threatened species due to excessive finning and fishing by humans according to International Union for Conservation of Nature. In June 2018 the New Zealand Department of Conservation classified the tiger shark as "Migrant" with the qualifier "Secure Overseas" under the New Zealand Threat Classification System.


title: Tiger shark

text: While shark fin has very few nutrients, shark liver has a high concentration of vitamin A, which is used in the production of vitamin oils. In addition, the tiger shark is captured and killed for its distinct skin, as well as by big-game fishers.


title: Tiger shark

text: In 2010, Greenpeace International added the tiger shark to its seafood red list, which is a list of commonly sold fish likely to come from unsustainable fisheries.


title: Tiger shark

text: Although sharks rarely bite humans, the tiger shark is reported to be responsible for a large share of fatal shark-bite incidents, and is regarded as one of the most dangerous shark species. They often visit shallow reefs, harbors, and canals, creating the potential for encounter with humans. The tiger shark also dwells in river mouths and other runoff-rich water. While it ranks second on the list of number of recorded shark attacks on humans, behind only the great white shark, such attacks are few and very seldom fatal. Typically, three to four shark bites occur per year in Hawaii; one notable survivor of such an attack is surfing champion Bethany Hamilton, who lost her left arm at age 13 to a tiger shark in 2003. This bite rate is very low, considering that thousands of people swim, surf, and dive in Hawaiian waters every day. Human interactions with tiger sharks in Hawaiian waters have been shown to increase between September and November, when tiger shark females are believed to migrate to the islands to give birth.


title: Tiger shark

text: Between 1959 and 2000, 4,668 tiger sharks were culled in an effort to protect the tourism industry. Despite damaging the shark population, these efforts were shown to be ineffective in decreasing the number of interactions between humans and tiger sharks. Feeding sharks in Hawaii (except for traditional Hawaiian cultural or religious practices) is illegal, and interaction with them, such as cage diving, is discouraged. South African shark behaviorist and shark diver Mark Addison demonstrated divers could interact and dive with them outside of a shark cage in a 2007 Discovery Channel special, and underwater photographer Fiona Ayerst swam with them in the Bahamas. At "Tiger Beach" off Grand Bahama, uncaged diving with – and even the handling of – female tiger sharks has become a routine occurrence.


title: Grown Ups 2

text: Grown Ups 2 is a 2013 American comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan and co-produced by Adam Sandler, who also starred in the film. It is a sequel to the 2010 film "Grown Ups" and co-stars Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, Salma Hayek, Maria Bello, Maya Rudolph, and Nick Swardson. It follows Lenny, who moves his family to his old hometown, but while spending time with his old friends, he and his companions must soon face bizarre situations and new enemies. The film is produced by Adam Sandler's production company Happy Madison Productions and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing (Columbia Pictures). The film was released on July 12, 2013, to overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics. The film grossed roughly $247 million on an $80 million budget. It was nominated for nine Razzies at the 2014 Golden Raspberry Awards.


title: Grown Ups 2

text: In 2013, three years after the events of the first film, Lenny Feder relocated his family to his hometown of Stanton, where his friends Eric Lamonsoff, Kurt McKenzie, and Marcus Higgins live. Lenny wakes up to find a deer in his bedroom, which wreaks havoc through the house until he uses his daughter Becky's stuffed animal to lure it outside. Lenny dismisses his wife Roxanne's suggestion that they have another child; Eric worries that his wife Sally is encouraging their children's self-confidence above all else; Kurt gives his wife Deanne a gift for their anniversary, which she has forgotten; and Marcus prepares to spend the summer with Braden, his son from a past fling, but is intimidated by the tall, tattooed teenager, who deeply resents him.


title: Grown Ups 2

text: Roxanne, Sally, and Deanne are dismayed to learn that their attractive new yoga teacher Kyle is gay. Lenny commandeers his children's school bus from Nick, the unstable driver, and takes everyone to their last day of school. He picks up Kurt and Eric and visits K-Mart, where they are joined by Marcus, who has sent Braden to school. Kurt persuades Lenny to throw a party for the first day of summer, and the friends discuss Lenny's childhood bully Tommy Cavanaugh. Police officers Fluzoo and Dante escort them to Becky's ballet recital at McDonough Elementary, where Lenny runs into Tommy, who openly threatens him.


title: Grown Ups 2

text: As school ends, Kurt's daughter Charlotte agrees to go on a date, Lenny's younger son Keith struggles with his own bully Duffy, and Charlotte and Keith's older brothers Andre and Greg accompany Braden to an abandoned quarry, where they join a college party.


title: Grown Ups 2

text: After humiliating their old rival Dickie at the Ice Cream House, Lenny, Eric, Kurt, and Marcus visit the same quarry, where they swam during their youth, only to be confronted by a hostile college fraternity led by Milo and Andy, who force them to jump into the water naked. Finding their fraternity house vandalized, the frat boys blame Lenny and his friends and swear revenge. Later, the friends take Marcus' van, vandalized by Braden, to Eric's auto body shop, and Marcus inadvertently rolls through town in a giant runaway construction tire.


title: Grown Ups 2

text: Lenny learns that Keith is a gifted football kicker, but accidentally breaks his son's leg. Eric apologizes to Sally for avoiding her to spend time with his mother and endures a sexually charged car wash from male cheerleaders. Lenny becomes suspicious of Kyle's relationship with Roxanne, who is angered by her employee Penny's lifelong obsession with Lenny. Marcus bonds with Braden, Charlotte goes on her date, Andre passes his driving test overseen by Wiley, and Greg succeeds in asking out Nancy, a girl he has a crush on.


title: Grown Ups 2

text: Roxanne tells Lenny that she is pregnant, and most of the town arrives for the Feders’ 1980s-themed party. Lenny realizes Roxanne is not having an affair with Kyle, who has repaired Becky's stuffed animal and challenges Tommy to a fight, but Tommy takes a dive to allow Lenny to save face in front of his bullied son. Soon after, the fraternity crashes the party, looking for the culprit of the frat house vandalism, to which Braden admits his role. When the fraternity members insult the townsfolk, a massive brawl breaks out between them. The partygoers eventually defeat the fraternity with Andy getting attacked by the deer thanks to a tactic by Becky using her stuffed animal.


title: Grown Ups 2

text: Afterward friends Nick and Dickie enjoy a meal at Mrs. Lamonsoff's house, reminiscing about their childhood together. Eric's mother reassures Lenny about his new baby and reveals that Eric was accidentally conceived in the men's bathroom at a New England Patriots game. Lenny returns home to Roxanne and they reconcile, looking forward to their growing family.


title: Grown Ups 2

text: The J. Geils Band members Peter Wolf, Seth Justman, Magic Dick, and Danny Klein as well as the group's known tour members Duke Levine and Tom Arey appear as the party band which is identified as Lenny's friends from the aforementioned group.


title: Grown Ups 2

text: Filming of "Grown Ups 2" began on May 2, 2012, in Swampscott and Marblehead Massachusetts, United States, which portrayed the fictional town of Stanton, Connecticut, and ended on July 15, 2012. Some scenes were also filmed in Saugus, Massachusetts. Columbia Pictures and Happy Madison Productions distributed the film. The film was written by Adam Sandler, Fred Wolf and Tim Herlihy and directed by Dennis Dugan, Sandler's longtime collaborator. The film was released on July 12, 2013, in the United States. It was released on August 9, 2013, in the United Kingdom. Rob Schneider, who played Rob Hilliard in the first film, was unable to reprise his role, because of scheduling conflicts with "Rob", and because his wife Patricia was pregnant during production.


title: Grown Ups 2

text: This is the first film sequel that Adam Sandler has starred in. It also has a role played by WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin. Stand-up comedian Chris Hardwick confirmed a cameo as an ice cream vendor via his Facebook page, but it was cut from the film. Additionally, the film features a cameo appearance by sportscaster Michael Kay and includes Shaquille O'Neal as a cop. On July 10, 2012, it was announced Arnold Schwarzenegger's son, Patrick, would be appearing as one of the frat brothers. Oliver Cooper was offered a role as one of the fraternity brothers but had to back out due to scheduling conflicts.


title: Grown Ups 2

text: The first trailer for the film was released on April 2, 2013. The film was released on July 12, 2013, in United States.


title: Grown Ups 2

text: "Grown Ups 2" grossed $133.7 million in North America and $113.3 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $247 million, against a budget of $80 million. It made a net profit of $48 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues for the film.


title: Grown Ups 2

text: In the U.S., the film earned $16.3 million on its opening day, "Grown Ups 2" was released on July 12, 2013, alongside "Pacific Rim". and opened to number two in its first weekend, with $41.5 million, behind "Despicable Me 2". In its second weekend, the film dropped to number four, grossing $19.9 million. In its third and fourth weekends, the film made $11.6 million and $7.9 million, respectively.


title: Grown Ups 2

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, 8% of 116 critics gave "Grown Ups 2" a positive review, with an average rating of 3/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "While it's almost certainly the movie event of the year for filmgoers passionate about deer urine humor, "Grown Ups 2" will bore, annoy, and disgust audiences of nearly every other persuasion." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 19 out of 100 based on 28 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, the same grade earned by its predecessor.


title: Grown Ups 2

text: John DeFore of "The Hollywood Reporter" said, "Throughout, gags are cartoonishly broad and afforded so little time for setup and delivery we seem to be watching less a story than a catalog of tossed-out material." Andrew Barker of "Variety" said, "Among the slackest, laziest, least movie-like movies released by a major studio in the last decade, ""Grown Ups 2"" is perhaps the closest Hollywood has yet come to making ""Ow, My Balls!"" seem like a plausible future project." Mick LaSalle of the" San Francisco Chronicle" gave the film one out of four stars, saying, "The temptation arises to say something nice about ""Grown Ups 2"" just because it doesn't cause injury. But no, it's a bad movie, just old-school bad, the kind that's merely lousy and not an occasion for migraines or night sweats." Linda Barnard of the "Toronto Star" gave the film zero out of four stars, saying, "Adam Sandler scrapes the bottom of the barrel—and then he pukes into it—with "Grown Ups 2", a lazily cribbed-together swamp of pointless and unfunny sketches that makes 2010’s "Grown Ups" look like "Citizen Kane"." Matt Patches of "Time Out New York" gave the film one out of five stars, saying, "In the first five minutes, a deer walks into the star's bedroom and urinates on his face. It's all downhill from there."


title: Grown Ups 2

text: Rafer Guzman of "Newsday" gave the film one out of four stars, saying, "For all its warm and fuzzy notions of family and community, "Grown Ups 2"... has a desperate reliance on jokes about pee, poo and – with surprising frequency – gay panic." Owen Gleiberman of" Entertainment Weekly", who gave the film a B, said, "In certain ways, "Grown Ups 2" marks a return to classically Sandlerian infantile anarchy." Mark Olsen of the" Los Angeles Times" gave the film one and a half stars out of five, saying, ""Grown Ups 2" looks like it was a lot of fun to make. And the last laugh is on us." Elizabeth Weitzman of the "New York Daily News" gave the film two out of five stars, saying, "Like most Adam Sandler movies, it’s exactly like most Adam Sandler movies... This movie stars all Sandler’s buddies and gleefully embraces lowbrow crudity even while promoting loving family values." Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of "The A.V. Club" gave the film a D−, saying, "Largely free of Sandler’s usual schmaltz and lame romance, it’s pure plotless, grotesque high jinks, bizarre and inept in a way that’s fascinating without ever being all that funny." Nick Schager of "The Village Voice" gave the film a negative review, saying "A few decent one-liners notwithstanding, the movie comes off as willfully uninspired."


title: Grown Ups 2

text: Claudia Puig of "USA Today" gave the film one star out of four, saying, "Mystifyingly, the movie manages to emerge plot-free. Instead, it offers a succession of humorless gross-out gags, fat jokes, suggestive posturing, bullying, belches and pratfalls. Life is simple – and gross – in Sandlerville." Sara Stewart of the "New York Post" gave the film half a star out of four, saying, "The movie lurches from one gross-out scene to another, flipping the bird at continuity and logic. It honestly seems as if Sandler and his team descended on a random suburb, halfheartedly improvising and moving on when they got bored." Stephanie Merry of "The Washington Post" gave the film one and a half stars out of four, saying, ""Grown Ups 2" isn’t merely mindless. At times it seems to actually drain IQ points from its viewers while wasting a talented cast of "Saturday Night Live" alums, who are all capable of being much smarter and so much funnier." Andy Webster of "The New York Times" gave the film one out of five stars, saying, "This is pap, plain and simple: scattered raunch-lite devoid of emotional resonance. At best, it sells itself on the spectacle of a TV show’s cast reunion—and even then it disappoints. With the debacles of "That's My Boy" and "Jack and Jill", Mr. Sandler has increasingly squandered his comic capital. His onetime "SNL" brethren do themselves few favors—beyond a paycheck—by working in his orbit." Peter Keough of "The Boston Globe" gave the film one and a half stars out of four, saying, "Apparently the world demanded another family-friendly version of "The Hangover", one that combined scatological comedy with smarmy sentimentality."


title: Grown Ups 2

text: Connie Ogle of the "Miami Herald" gave the film one out of four stars, saying, "Nobody escapes untainted by the foul stench of "Grown Ups 2"; it’s bad enough to make you look askance at Salma Hayek, Maria Bello, and Maya Rudolph, all of whom deserve a chance to do something funny other than pose as wives exuding various degrees of sexiness." Richard Roeper gave the film one and a half stars, saying, "When Taylor Lautner is the funniest thing in a movie starring Adam Sandler and Chris Rock, we're in trouble." Randy Cordova of "The Arizona Republic" gave the film one out of five stars, saying, "In its own way, ""Grown Ups 2"" sets the bar really high. After all, it’s hard to imagine another comedy coming along this year that is this abrasive and free of laughs. It’s like everyone involved intentionally tried to create a horrible movie." Alonso Duralde of "The Wrap" wrote, "Yes, it's time for another visit to the Adam Sandler Death-of-Cinema Fun Factory, the big-screen version of a terrible sitcom where laugh tracks are replaced by the co-stars chuckling at their own awful material." Adam Nayman of "The Globe and Mail" gave the film two out four stars, saying, "None of the stars are trying very hard, and so the most memorable presences are the cameos: If nothing else, "Grown Ups 2" will go down as the only film in history to find room for Steve Buscemi alongside "Stone Cold" Steve Austin."


title: Grown Ups 2

text: In 2014, comedians Tim Batt and Guy Montgomery watched the film every week for a full year for the first season of their podcast, "The Worst Idea of All Time".


title: Grown Ups 2

text: Maria Bello said in an interview, "People have talked about it and we've heard it might happen, but I don't know if there is a script, I don’t know what there is. But I hope so because, boy, it's fun to work with those guys." In January 2020, comedian Tom Scharpling gained attention for uploading an unofficial and unaffiliated "Grown Ups 3" script, written in April 2019, to Twitter.


title: Elizabeth Peña

text: Elizabeth Maria Peña (September 23, 1959 – October 14, 2014) was an American actress, writer and musician. Her work in films included "Nothing like the Holidays", "Batteries Not Included", "La Bamba", "Down and Out in Beverly Hills", "Jacob's Ladder", "Rush Hour", "The Incredibles," and "Lone Star""," for which she won the 1996 Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female and a Bravo Award for Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film. She was also a founding member of the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors. Peña also voiced Rosa Santos in "Maya and Miguel".


title: Elizabeth Peña

text: Peña was born on September 23, 1959, in Elizabeth, New Jersey and raised by her Cuban immigrant parents, Peña was destined for a career in the arts. Her father, Mario, was a playwright, director, actor, and designer in their native Cuba, who opened up the Latin American Theatre Ensemble after establishing a life for him and his family in New York. In 1975, she was a founding member of the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors. In 1977, she graduated from New York's High School of Performing Arts. Ving Rhames and Esai Morales were her classmates, who would later star with her in "Jacob's Ladder", "La Bamba", and "Resurrection Blvd."


title: Elizabeth Peña

text: In 1979, Peña made her film debut in "El Super", a "moving and melancholy comedy about a family of lower middle class Cuban refugees attempting to adjust to life in Spanish Harlem". She worked once again with director Leon Ichaso in his next feature, "Crossover Dreams". She appeared in films such as "Nothing like the Holidays", "La Bamba", "Down and Out in Beverly Hills", "Jacob's Ladder", "Lone Star", "*batteries not included", Blue Steel, 1997's "Gridlock'd" as ER Admissions Person (under the name Elizabeth Anne Dickinson), "Vibes", and "Rush Hour". In 2002, she starred in Showtime's "Resurrection Blvd." as Tia Bibi Corrades in the episode "Justicia", which she also directed. In 2003, she appeared in and directed "It Was Fun While It Lasted", an episode of "The Brothers Garcia". Peña also voiced Mirage in Pixar's animated film "The Incredibles." She guest starred in the 18th episode of season 2 of "Numb3rs" as Sonya Benavides, and in season 4 of "Modern Family" as Pilar, the Colombian mother of Gloria Pritchett. Although she spoke Spanish, she did not dub her own voice for Spanish releases. Peña was also noted for having starred in "I Married Dora", a sitcom in 1987, as Dora Calderon, the title character. She also starred in John Sayles's produced critically acclaimed but short-lived television series "Shannon's Deal" (1989–1991). In 1996, Sayles wrote and directed the mystery film "Lone Star" and again cast her in a co-starring role, for which she won the 1996 Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Bravo Award for Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film from the National Council of La Raza.


title: Elizabeth Peña

text: Peña married William Stephan Kibler in 1988. Their marriage later ended in divorce. In 1994, Peña married Hans Rolla, with whom she had two children, Joey and Kaelan.


title: Elizabeth Peña

text: Peña died on October 14, 2014, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 55. The cause of death listed on her death certificate was cirrhosis of the liver due to alcohol, which caused acute gastrointestinal bleeding, cardiogenic shock and cardiac arrest.


title: Thomas Doherty (actor)

text: Thomas Anthony Doherty (born 21 April 1995) is a Scottish actor and singer from Edinburgh, known for his roles as Sean Matthews on the Disney Channel musical series "The Lodge", Harry Hook in the "Descendants" film franchise, Max Wolfe in the HBO Max reboot of "Gossip Girl", and Walter De Ville in the film "The Invitation". In 2022, he entered the world of audio, portraying Horatio Godkin in the limited series "The Inventor's Apprentice".


title: Thomas Doherty (actor)

text: Doherty was born in Edinburgh on 21 April 1995, and grew up in the city. He has an older brother and younger sister, and his parents were both in the banking business. He attended Royal High School in Edinburgh.


title: Thomas Doherty (actor)

text: After high school, Doherty entered The MGA Academy of Performing Arts in Edinburgh, where he studied musical theatre. He graduated in July 2015 and signed a contract with Olivia Bell Management in London.


title: Thomas Doherty (actor)

text: After his 2015 graduation, Doherty waited tables in Edinburgh at Tigerlilly restaurant. On his days off, Doherty split his time between auditioning for Disney Channel's "The Lodge" and working with the Edinburgh Fringe. He was offered the role of Sean Matthews in "The Lodge", and had to undergo intensive training in mountain biking to prepare for the role. "The Lodge" was filmed in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He stated that he was able to play the character as a Scot, but he toned down his accent in order to better accommodate the viewers in all 108 countries that "The Lodge" aired in. In December 2016, "The Lodge" was renewed for a second series which began production in February 2017.


title: Thomas Doherty (actor)

text: In 2016, Doherty auditioned for "Descendants 2" and was cast as Harry Hook, the son of villain Captain James Hook from "Peter Pan". "Descendants 2" was filmed in Vancouver, Canada, in 2016 and aired on Disney Channel on 21 July 2017. He reprised his role as Harry Hook in the third installment of the Disney Channel franchise, "Descendants 3" which premiered in 2019. In August 2017, Doherty was named one of the 50 fittest boys in the world by "Vogue" magazine.


title: Thomas Doherty (actor)

text: In 2021, Doherty began starring in the HBO Max teen drama "Gossip Girl". The following year, he starred alongside Nathalie Emmanuel in the supernatural horror film "The Invitation".


title: Thomas Doherty (actor)

text: On 16 September 2022, audio erotica app Quinn announced Doherty would be acting in its first audio romance series, "The Inventor's Apprentice". Following the time traveling adventures of Horatio Godkin and Arabella Bellamy in the Victorian era, the three-part series debuted between 22–29 September 2022 on the Quinn app. The series was penned by Emily C. A. Snyder, directed by Rob Valentine, with sound effects by Ross Burman. It was the first Quinn Original series, produced by WTC and Quinn Inc. The series garnered praise particularly for its presentation of the feminine gaze in the world of audio romance and erotica.


title: Thomas Doherty (actor)

text: Doherty credits his experience in "Gossip Girl" as "educational" as it "challenged [his] own preconceived notions and indoctrination of 'this is who you love, this is what you do, everything else is wrong.'" In an interview with "Variety", Doherty declared that, while he has only been in heterosexual relationships, he has always seen sexuality as a spectrum and does not believe in labels.


title: Deebo Samuel

text: Tyshun Raequan "Deebo" Samuel (born January 15, 1996) is an American football wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at South Carolina and was selected by the 49ers in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft. In 2021, he was selected to the Pro Bowl and received first-team All-Pro honors.


title: Deebo Samuel

text: Samuel attended Chapman High School in Inman, South Carolina, where he played high school football and was coached by Mark Hodge. As a senior, he led his team to the semifinals of the AAA playoffs. During his career, Samuel had 166 catches for 2,751 yards and 36 touchdowns; he rushed 133 times for 898 yards and 13 touchdowns. He finished with a record 53 career touchdowns, 94 tackles and 12 interceptions. He won the High School Sports Report Class AAA Offensive Player of the Year, and played in the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas. Samuel was rated as a three-star recruit by the 247 composite. He committed to the University of South Carolina to play college football.


title: Deebo Samuel

text: Samuel played in five games total, making three starts and struggling with injuries. He suffered a hamstring injury in the season opener against North Carolina. Samuel finished the season with 12 receptions for 161 yards.


title: Deebo Samuel

text: In his sophomore season, Samuel played in 10 games and led the team with 59 receptions for 783 yards, he also rushed 15 times for 98 yards and six touchdowns. In the Birmingham Bowl against USF, he had 14 receptions for 190 receiving yards.


title: Deebo Samuel

text: In the first game of the season against NC State, Samuel returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and had five catches for 83 yards for two touchdowns. In Week 2 against Missouri, Samuel once again returned a kickoff for a touchdown, and finished with five catches for 45 yards, and also ran the ball two times for 30 yards and a touchdown. In Week 3 against Kentucky, on the first play from scrimmage Samuel caught a 68-yard touchdown pass from Gamecock quarterback Jake Bentley. After suffering a season-ending injury later in the game, Samuel would finish the season having not even played three full games, yet accumulated 250 yards receiving for three touchdowns, two carries for 30 yards and a touchdown, and two kickoff returns for two touchdowns for a combined 194 yards.


title: Deebo Samuel

text: In Week 3 against Kentucky, with 2:27 left in the third quarter, Samuel caught a pass from Jake Bentley and was awkwardly tackled by Derrick Baity Jr. of Kentucky, bending his leg back. It was announced after the game by head coach Will Muschamp that Samuel had broken his right fibula and would miss the rest of the season. Despite the injury, it was announced that Samuel could possibly return later on in the season, but he suffered a sprained foot in rehab and would not return. Former Gamecock running back Marcus Lattimore (who suffered severe knee injuries in college) had encouraging words for Samuel following his injury, saying: "I know you are down and frustrated and you feel like your dreams are far away now. They aren’t. You can use this moment to show people how to overcome adversity, the whole state of South Carolina loves Deebo."


title: Deebo Samuel

text: On November 5, 2017, Samuel announced that he would be returning for his senior season. Samuel finished the 2018 season with 882 yards receiving and 11 touchdowns, his best game of the season came against Clemson where he caught 10 passes for 210 yards and three touchdowns. He chose not to play in the Gamecocks' bowl game, the 2018 Belk Bowl. He was later selected to play in the 2019 Senior Bowl.


title: Deebo Samuel

text: Samuel was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the second round (36th overall) of the 2019 NFL Draft. He signed a four-year contract with the 49ers on July 25, 2019.


title: Deebo Samuel

text: Deebo Samuel made his NFL debut against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, catching three passes for 17 yards and losing a fumble in the 31–17 road victory. In the next game against the Cincinnati Bengals, he caught five passes for 87 yards and his first NFL touchdown as the 49ers won on the road by a score of 41–17. During Week 8 against the Carolina Panthers, Samuel caught three passes for 19 yards and rushed for 29 yards and a touchdown in a 51–13 victory. Two weeks later against the Seattle Seahawks on "Monday Night Football", he caught eight passes for 112 yards in the 27–24 overtime loss. In the next game against the Arizona Cardinals, Samuel caught eight passes for 134 yards in the 36–26 victory. Samuel would have two more touchdown catches over the next two games against the Green Bay Packers and Baltimore Ravens, and would add another rushing score in the Week 16 contest against the Los Angeles Rams. In the regular-season finale against the Seahawks on "Sunday Night Football", he caught five passes for 102 yards and rushed twice for 33 yards and a touchdown in the 26–21 road victory.


title: Deebo Samuel

text: During Super Bowl LIV against the Kansas City Chiefs, Samuel rushed twice for 53 yards and caught five passes for 39 yards during the 31–20 loss. His 53 rushing yards was the most by a wide receiver in Super Bowl history.


title: Deebo Samuel

text: Samuel was placed on the non-football injury list at the start of training camp on July 28, 2020. He was activated on September 5, 2020, but was placed on injured reserve on September 12. He was activated on October 3. He was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list by the team on November 4, and activated two days later. In Week 12 against the Los Angeles Rams, he had 11 receptions for 133 receiving yards in the 23–20 victory. Samuel finished the 2020 season with 33 receptions for 391 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown.


title: Deebo Samuel

text: During the season-opening 41–33 road victory over the Detroit Lions, Samuel caught nine passes for 189 yards and a touchdown. In Week 8, Samuel had six catches for 171 yards in a 33–22 win over the Bears, earning NFC Offensive Player of the Week. In Week 10, Samuel had five catches for 97 yards and five carries for 36 yards and two total touchdowns in a 31–10 win over the Rams, earning his second NFC Offensive Player of the Week honor of the season.


title: Deebo Samuel

text: Over the course of the season, the 49ers increasingly lined Samuel up in the backfield like a traditional running back, roughly 11% of the time, in order to get the ball in his hands more often and take advantage of his play-making ability. Samuel was elected to the Pro Bowl for 2021. Throughout the season, Samuel had more rushing touchdowns of 10+ yards (6) than 23 NFL teams, He also holds the record for the most rushing touchdowns in a single season by a wide receiver in NFL history, with 8. In a must-win week 18 matchup against the Los Angeles Rams, Samuel threw a 24-yard touchdown pass, ran for a 16-yard touchdown, and totaled 164 yards. Through the air, Samuel finished the regular season with 77 receptions for 1,405 receiving yards and six receiving touchdowns. On the ground, Samuel finished with 59 rushing attempts for 365 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns, the most ever by a wide receiver in a season. Samuel also threw for a touchdown. He was named as a First Team All-Pro.


title: Deebo Samuel

text: Against the Dallas Cowboys in the , Samuel caught three passes for 38 yards, and rushed for 72 yards and a touchdown off ten attempts in the 23–17 win.


title: Deebo Samuel

text: At the 2022 Pro Bowl, Samuel coined the term "wide back" to refer to his position as a wide receiver that started playing running back midway through the 2021 NFL season. He was ranked 19th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2022.


title: Deebo Samuel

text: During the 2022 offseason, it was reported that Samuel requested to be traded, however, he reported to training camp, and ultimately on July 31, 2022, signed a three-year, $73.5 million contract extension with $58.1 million guaranteed.


title: Deebo Samuel

text: Against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 4, Samuel had six catches for 115 yards and a touchdown on a 57 yard catch-and-run in the 24–9 win. After Week 7 against the Kansas City Chiefs, Samuel reportedly had a hamstring issue. Head Coach Kyle Shanahan called the injury day-to-day. This injury ruled Samuel out for Week 8 against the Los Angeles Rams, but Samuel returned after the team’s Week 9 Bye. Against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 14, Samuel had four catches for 43 yards, including 21 rush yards on 4 rush attempts and a rush touchdown on a 17-yard play. However, later on, Samuel injured his ankle and left the game with no return. It was later reported he was expected to have a high ankle sprain, which could rule him out for the remainder of the 2022 regular season.


title: Deebo Samuel

text: Samuel was given the nickname "Deebo" by his father, Galen, after the character Deebo played by Tiny Lister Jr. in the 1995 movie "Friday".


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Following the passing of the British North America Act of 1867 forming a federation in Canada, Lord Carnarvon thought that a similar political effort, coupled with military campaigns, might succeed with the African Kingdoms, tribal areas and Boer republics in South Africa. In 1874, Sir Bartle Frere was sent to South Africa as High Commissioner for the British Empire to effect such plans. Among the obstacles were the armed independent states of the South African Republic and the Kingdom of Zululand.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: Frere, on his own initiative, sent a provocative ultimatum on 11 December 1878 to the Zulu king Cetshwayo and upon its rejection sent Lord Chelmsford to invade Zululand. The war is notable for several particularly bloody battles, including an opening victory of the Zulu at the Battle of Isandlwana, followed by the defence of Rorke's Drift by a small British force from attack by a large Zulu force. The British eventually won the war, ending Zulu dominance of the region.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: By the 1850s, the British Empire had colonies in southern Africa bordering on various Boer settlements, native African kingdoms such as the Zulus and the Basotho and numerous indigenous tribal areas and states. Various interactions with those groups followed an expansionist policy. Cape Colony was formed after the Anglo–Dutch Treaty of 1814 had permanently ceded the Dutch colony of Cape Town to Britain, and its territory expanded very substantially in the 19th century. Natal, in south-eastern Africa, was proclaimed a British colony on 4 May 1843, after the British government had annexed the Boer Republic of Natalia. Matters were brought to a head when three sons (led by Mehlokazulu kaSihayo) and a brother of the Zulu inkosi Sihayo organized a raid into Natal and carried off two women who were under British protection.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: The discovery of diamonds in 1867 near the Vaal River, some northeast of Cape Town, ended the isolation of the Boers in the interior and had a significant effect on events. The discovery triggered a diamond rush that attracted people from all over the world, which turned Kimberley into a town of 50,000 within five years and drew the attention of British imperial interests. In the 1870s, the British annexed West Griqualand, site of the Kimberley diamond discoveries.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: In 1874 Lord Carnarvon, Secretary of State for the Colonies, who had brought about federation in Canada in 1867, thought that a similar scheme might work in South Africa. The South African plan called for a ruling white minority over a black majority, which would provide a large pool of cheap labour for the British sugar plantations and mines. Carnarvon, in an attempt to extend British influence in 1875, approached the Boer states of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic and tried to organize a federation of the British and Boer territories but the Boer leaders turned him down.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: In 1877, Sir Bartle Frere was made High Commissioner for Southern Africa by Lord Carnarvon. Carnarvon appointed Frere to the position on the understanding that he would work to enforce Carnarvon's confederation plan and Frere could then become the first British governor of a federated southern African dominion. Frere was sent to South Africa as High Commissioner to bring this plan about. One of the obstacles to such a scheme was the presence of the independent Boer states of the South African Republic, informally known as the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State, and the Kingdom of Zululand. Bartle Frere wasted no time in putting the scheme forward and manufacturing a casus belli against the Zulu by exaggerating the significance of a number of recent incidents.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: By 1877, Sir Theophilus Shepstone, the British Secretary for Native Affairs in Natal, annexed the Transvaal Republic for Britain using a special warrant. The Transvaal Boers objected but as long as the Zulu threat remained, found themselves between two threats; they feared that if they took up arms to resist the British annexation, King Cetshwayo and the Zulus would take the opportunity to attack. The successive British annexations and in particular the annexation of West Griqualand caused a climate of simmering unease for the Boer republics.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: Shepstone railed against the disruptive effect of allowing Cetshwayo's regime to remain. "Zulu power", he said, "is the root and real strength of all native difficulties in South Africa". In December 1877, he wrote to Carnarvon "Cetshwayo is the secret hope of every petty independent chief hundreds of miles from him who feels a desire that his colour shall prevail, and it will not be until this hope is destroyed that they will make up their minds to submit to the rule of civilisation". Earlier in October 1877, Shepstone had attended a meeting with Zulu leaders near the Blood River to resolve the land dispute between the Zulus and the Boers. He suggested a compromise with the Boers and the meeting broke up without clear resolutions. He turned against the Zulus with vengeance, saying he had come into possession of "the most incontrovertible, overwhelming and clear evidence" never previously disclosed, for supporting the claims of the Boers. He rejected Zulu claims as "characterised by lying and treachery to an extent that I could not have believed even savages are capable of".


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: Shepstone, in his capacity as British governor of Natal, had expressed concerns about the Zulu army under King Cetshwayo and the potential threat to Natal – especially given the adoption by some of the Zulus of old muskets and other out-of-date firearms. In his new role of Administrator of the Transvaal, he was now responsible for protecting the Transvaal and had direct involvement in the Zulu border dispute from the side of the Transvaal. Persistent Boer representations and Paul Kruger's diplomatic manoeuvres added to the pressure. There were incidents involving Zulu paramilitary actions on either side of the Transvaal/Natal border, and Shepstone increasingly began to regard King Cetshwayo, as having permitted such "outrages", and to be in a "defiant mood". King Cetshwayo now found no defender in Natal save the bishop of Natal, John Colenso.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: Colenso advocated for native Africans in Natal and Zululand who had been unjustly treated by the colonial regime in Natal. In 1874 he took up the cause of Langalibalele and the Hlubi and Ngwe tribes in representations to the Colonial Secretary, Lord Carnarvon. Langalibalele had been falsely accused of rebellion in 1873 and, following a charade of a trial, was found guilty and imprisoned on Robben Island. In taking the side of Langalibalele against the colonial regime in Natal and Theophilus Shepstone, the Secretary for Native Affairs, Colenso found himself even further estranged from colonial society in Natal.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: Bishop Colenso's concern about the misleading information that was being provided to the Colonial Secretary in London by Shepstone and the Governor of Natal prompted him to champion the cause of the Zulus against Boer oppression and official encroachments. He was a prominent critic of Frere's efforts to depict the Zulu kingdom as a threat to Natal. Colenso's campaigns revealed the racialist foundation underpinning the colonial regime in Natal and made him enemies among the colonists.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli's Tory administration in London did not want a war with the Zulus. "The fact is," wrote Sir Michael Hicks Beach, who would replace Carnarvon as Secretary of State for the Colonies, in November 1878, "that matters in Eastern Europe and India ... wore so serious an aspect that we cannot have a Zulu war in addition to other greater and too possible troubles." However, Sir Bartle Frere had already been into the Cape Colony as governor and High Commissioner since 1877 with the brief of creating a Confederation of South Africa from the various British colonies, Boer Republics and native states and his plans were well advanced. He had concluded that the powerful Zulu kingdom stood in the way of this, and so was receptive to Shepstone's arguments that King Cetshwayo and his Zulu army posed a threat to the peace of the region. Preparations for a British invasion of the Zulu kingdom had been underway for months. In December 1878, notwithstanding the reluctance of the British government to start yet another colonial war, Frere presented Cetshwayo with an ultimatum that the Zulu army be disbanded and the Zulus accept a British resident. This was unacceptable to the Zulus as it effectively meant that Cetshwayo, had he agreed, would have lost his throne.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: Shaka Zulu, the first Zulu king, had through war and conquest built the small Zulu tribe into the Zulu Kingdom, which by 1825 encompassed an area of around . In 1828 he was assassinated at Dukuza by one of his inDunas and two of his half-brothers, one of whom, Dinggh kaSenzangakhona, succeeded him as king. By the 1830s migrating Boers came into conflict with the Zulu Kingdom, then ruled by Dingane. Dingane suffered a crushing defeat on 16 December 1838, when he attacked a group of 470 Voortrekker settlers led by Pretorius at the Battle of Blood River. Dingane's half brother, Mpande kaSenzangakhona, then defected with some 17,000 followers and allied with the Boers against Dingane. Dingane was assassinated and Mpande became king of the Zulu empire.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: In 1839, the Boer Voortrekkers, under Pretorius, formed the Boer Republic of Natalia, south of the Tugela, and west of the British settlement of Port Natal (now Durban). Mpande and Pretorius maintained peaceful relations. However, in 1842, war broke out between the British and the Boers, resulting in the British annexation of Natalia. Mpande shifted his allegiance to the British, and remained on good terms with them.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: In 1843, Mpande ordered a purge of perceived dissidents within his kingdom. This resulted in numerous deaths, and the fleeing of thousands of refugees into neighbouring areas, including the British-controlled Natal. Many of these refugees fled with cattle, the main measure of the Zulu wealth. Mpande began raiding the surrounding areas, culminating in the invasion of Swaziland in 1852. However, the British pressured him into withdrawing, which he did shortly afterwards. At this time, a battle for the succession broke out between two of Mpande's sons, Cetshwayo and Mbuyazi. This culminated in 1856 with the Battle of Ndondakusuka, which left Mbuyazi dead. Cetshwayo then set about usurping his father's authority. When Mpande died of old age in 1872, Cetshwayo took over as ruler.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: In 1861, Umtonga, another son of Mpande, fled to the Utrecht district, prompting Cetshwayo to assemble an army on the nearby frontier. According to claims later brought forward by the Boers, Cetshwayo offered the farmers a strip of land along the border if they would surrender his brother. The Boers complied on the condition that Umtonga's life was spared, and in 1861 Mpande signed a deed transferring this land to the Boers. The south boundary of the land added to Utrecht ran from Rorke's Drift on the Buffalo to a point on the Pongola River.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: The boundary was beaconed in 1864, but when in 1865 Umtonga again fled from Zululand to Natal, Cetshwayo, seeing that he had lost his part of the bargain (for he feared that the still living Umtonga might be used to supplant him, as Mpande had been used to supplant Dingane), removed the beacon and claimed the land ceded by the Swazis to Lydenburg. The Zulus asserted that the Swazis were their vassals and therefore had no right to part with this territory. For a year, a Boer commando unit, under Paul Kruger and an army under Cetshwayo were posted to defend the newly acquired Utrecht border. The Zulu forces took back their land north of the Pongola. Questions were also raised as to the validity of the documents signed by the Zulus concerning the Utrecht strip; in 1869 the services of the lieutenant-governor of Natal, then Robert William Keate, were accepted by both parties as arbitrator, but the attempt then made to settle disagreements proved unsuccessful.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: In spite of his dislike for their activities, Cetshwayo permitted European missionaries in Zululand. Though he did not harm or persecute the missionaries themselves, several converts were killed. The missionaries, for their part, were a source of hostile reports. While numerous Zulus of rival factions fled into Natal and some of the surrounding areas, Cetshwayo continued and maintained the peaceful relations with the Natal colonists that had prevailed for decades. Such was the political background when Cetshwayo became absolute ruler of the Zulus upon his father's death in 1873.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: As ruler, Cetshwayo set about reviving the military methods of his uncle Shaka as far as possible. He formed new age-set regiments and even succeeded in equipping his regiments with a few antiquated muskets and other outdated firearms. Most Zulu warriors were armed with an "iklwa" (the Zulu refinement of the "assegai" thrusting spear) and a shield made of cowhide. The Zulu army drilled in the personal and tactical use and coordination of this weapons system. While some Zulus also had firearms, their marksmanship training was poor and the quality and supply of their powder and shot was dreadful. The Zulu attitude towards firearms was summarized: "The generality of Zulu warriors, however, would not have firearms – the arms of a coward, as they said, for they enable the poltroon to kill the brave without awaiting his attack."


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: The tension between Cetshwayo and the Transvaal over border disputes continued. Sir Theophilus Shepstone, whom Cetshwayo regarded as his friend, had supported him in the border dispute, but in 1877 he led a small force into the Transvaal and persuaded the Boers to give up their independence. Shepstone became administrator of the Transvaal, and in that role saw the border dispute from the other side. Shepstone claimed to have evidence supporting the Boer position but, ultimately, he failed to provide any. In a meeting with Zulu notables at Blood River in October 1877, Shepstone attempted to placate the Zulu with paternal speeches, however they were unconvinced and accused Shepstone of betraying them. Shepstone's subsequent reports to Carnarvon then began to paint the Zulu as an aggressive threat where he had previously presented Cetshwayo in a most favourable light.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: In February 1878 a commission was appointed by Henry Bulwer, the lieutenant-governor of Natal since 1875, to report on the boundary question. The commission reported in July and found almost entirely in favour of the contention of the Zulu. However, Sir Henry Bartle Frere, then high commissioner and still pressing forward with Carnarvon's federation plan, characterized the award as "one-sided and unfair to the Boers", stipulated that on the land being given to the Zulu, the Boers living on it should be compensated if they left or protected if they remained. In addition, Frere planned to use the meeting on the boundary commission report with the Zulu representatives to also present a surprise ultimatum he had devised that would allow British forces under Lord Chelmsford, which he had previously been instructed to use only in defense against a Zulu invasion of Natal, to instead invade Zululand. Three incidents occurred in late July, August and September which Frere seized upon as his "casus belli" and were the basis for the ultimatum with which Frere knew Cetshwayo could not comply, giving Frere a pretext to attack the Zulu kingdom.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: The first two incidents related to the flight into Natal of two wives of Sihayo kaXongo and their subsequent seizure and execution by his brother and sons and were described thus:


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: The third incident occurred in September when two men were detained while on a sandbank of the Thukela River near the Middle Drift. Sir Bartle Frere described this matter in a despatch to Sir Michael Hicks Beach, who had replaced Carnarvon as Secretary of State for the Colonies:


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: By themselves, these incidents were flimsy grounds upon which to found an invasion of Zululand. Bulwer did not initially hold Cetshwayo responsible for what was clearly not a political act in the seizure and murder of the two women.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: The original complaint carried to Cetshwayo from the lieutenant-governor was in the form of a request for the surrender of the culprits. The request was subsequently transformed by Sir Bartle Frere into a "demand". Frere wrote to Hicks Beach, 30 September 1878:


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: In reply, in at least three dispatches, 17 October, 21 November and 18 December, Hicks Beach emphatically states that war is to be avoided and a British invasion of Zululand prohibited. From 21 November dispatch:


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: After considerable discussion and exchanges of views between Sir Bartle Frere and Sir Henry Ernest Gascoyne Bulwer, it was decided to arrange a meeting with representatives of the Zulu king. The ostensible reason for this "indaba" was to present the findings of the long-awaited Boundary Commission to the Zulu people. The occasion was also to be used to present the king with an ultimatum.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: When the ultimatum was presented, the two infractions by Sihayo’s sons and the roughing up of Smith and Deighton had become only part of the justification that was used, as several matters had arisen in the meantime. One of them was Cetshwayo’s apparent breaking of promises to Mr Theophilus Shepstone at the king’s "coronation" in 1872. That farcical piece of theatre had been agreed to by Cetshwayo simply to satisfy the wishes of Shepstone and meant nothing to the Zulu people. Indeed, his real Zulu installation had taken place several weeks earlier when he had been acclaimed by his izinduna.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: A second addition to the ultimatum, which seems almost like an afterthought, required the surrender of Mbelini kaMswati. Mbelini was the son of a Swazi king who unsuccessfully disputed the succession with his brother, resulting in his exile from the kingdom. He took refuge with Cetshwayo and was granted land in the region of the Intombe River in western Zululand. (It is entirely possible that Cetshwayo regarded him as a useful buffer between him and the Boers of the Transvaal.) Here, he took up residence on the Tafelberg, a flat-topped mountain overlooking the river. Something of a brigand, Mbelini made raids on anyone in his area, Boer and Zulu alike, accruing cattle and prisoners in the process. With the annexation of the Transvaal, Britain had also to deal with Mbelini and because Frere was convinced that the bandit chief was in the pay of the Zulu king, his surrender was included in the ultimatum. The light in which Mbelini was regarded is shown in a paragraph from a memorandum written by Sir Henry Bulwer:


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: Frere has been accused of chicanery by taking deliberate advantage of the length of time it took for correspondence to pass between South Africa and London to conceal his intentions from his political masters or at least defer giving them the necessary information until it was too late for them to act. The first intimation to the British government of his intention to make 'demands' on the Zulu was in a private letter to Hicks Beach written on 14 October 1878. The letter only arrived in London on 16 November and by then messengers had already been despatched from Natal to the Zulu king to request the presence of a delegation at the Lower Tugela on 11 December for the purpose of receiving the Boundary Commission’s findings. Had Hicks Beach then sent off a telegraph forbidding any action other than the announcement of the boundary award, it might have arrived in South Africa just in time to prevent the ultimatum being presented. No prohibition was sent and could hardly be expected to have been, for Hicks Beach had no means of knowing the urgency of the events that were in train. Nowhere in Frere’s letter was there anything to indicate how soon he intended to act, nor was there anything to suggest how stringent his demands would be.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: Hicks Beach had earlier admitted his helplessness with regard to the Frere's actions in a telling note to his Prime Minister:


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: Frere wanted to provoke a conflict with the Zulus and in that goal he succeeded. Cetshwayo rejected the demands of 11 December, by not responding by the end of the year. A concession was granted by Bartle Frere until 11 January 1879, after which Bartle Frere deemed a state of war to exist. The British forces intended for the defense of Natal had already been on the march with the intention to attack the Zulu kingdom. On 10 January they were poised on the border. On 11 January, they crossed the border and invaded Zululand.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: The terms included in the ultimatum were delivered to the representatives of King Cetshwayo on the banks of the Thukela river at the Ultimatum Tree on 11 December 1878. No time was specified for compliance with item 4, twenty days were allowed for compliance with items 1–3, that is, until 31 December inclusive; ten days more were allowed for compliance with the remaining demands, items 4–13. The earlier time limits were subsequently altered so that all expired on 10 January 1879.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: To ensure that there was no interference from London, Frere delayed informing the Colonial Office about his ultimatum until it was too late for it to be countermanded. The full text of his demands did not reach London until 2 January 1879. By then, Chelmsford had assembled an army of 18,000 men- redcoats, colonial volunteers and Natal African auxiliariesalong the Zululand border ready for the invasion.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: For his part, Cetshwayo strenuously attempted to avoid war with the British and, should it occur, to limit its scope and effects. He ordered his troops to defend their country only if attacked and not to carry the war beyond its borders. He directed them to avoid killing any of the invaders other than the regular British soldiers in their red coats.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: The pretext for the war had its origins in border disputes between the Zulu leader, Cetshwayo, and the Boers in the Transvaal region. Following a commission inquiry on the border dispute which reported in favour of the Zulu nation in July 1878, Sir Henry Bartle Frere, acting on his own, added an ultimatum to the commission meeting, much to the surprise of the Zulu representatives who then relayed it to Cetshwayo. Cetshwayo had not responded by the end of the year, so an extension was granted by Bartle Frere until 11 January 1879. Cetshwayo returned no answer to the demands of Bartle Frere, and in January 1879 a British force under Lieutenant General Frederic Thesiger, 2nd Baron Chelmsford invaded Zululand, without authorization by the British Government. The exact date of the invasion was 11 January 1879. Chelmsford crossed the Buffalo River at Rorke's Drift, an old Irish trader's post that had become a mission station, in command of 4,700 men, which included 1,900 White troops and 2,400 African auxiliaries.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: Lord Chelmsford, the Commander-in-Chief of British forces during the war, initially planned a five-pronged invasion of Zululand composed of over 16,500 troops in five columns and designed to encircle the Zulu army and force it to fight as he was concerned that the Zulus would avoid battle. In the event, Chelmsford settled on three invading columns with the main center column, now consisting of some 7,800 men comprising the previously called No. 3 Column and Durnford's No. 2 Column, under his direct command. He moved his troops from Pietermaritzburg to a forward camp at Helpmekaar, past Greytown. On 9 January 1879 they moved to Rorke's Drift, and early on 11 January commenced crossing the Buffalo River into Zululand. Three columns were to invade Zululand, from the Lower Tugela, Rorke's Drift, and Utrecht respectively, their objective being Ulundi, the royal capital.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: While Cetshwayo's army numbered perhaps 35,000 men, it was essentially a militia force which could be called out in time of national danger. It had a very limited logistical capacity and could only stay in the field a few weeks before the troops would be obliged to return to their civilian duties. Zulu warriors were armed primarily with "Assegai" thrusting spears, known in Zulu as "iklwa", clubs, some throwing spears and shields made of cowhide.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: The initial entry of all three columns was unopposed. On 22 January the centre column, which had advanced from Rorke's Drift, was encamped near Isandlwana; on the morning of that day Lord Chelmsford split his forces and moved out to support a reconnoitering party, leaving the camp in charge of Colonel Pulleine. The British were outmanoeuvred by the main Zulu army nearly 20,000 strong led by Ntshingwayo Khoza. Chelmsford was lured eastward with much of his centre column by a Zulu diversionary force while the main Impi attacked his camp. Chelmsford's decision not to set up the British camp defensively, contrary to established doctrine, and ignoring information that the Zulus were close at hand were decisions that the British were soon to regret. The ensuing Battle of Isandlwana was the greatest victory that the Zulu kingdom would enjoy during the war. The British centre column was wrecked and its camp annihilated with heavy casualties as well as the loss of all its supplies, ammunition and transport. The defeat left Chelmsford no choice but to hastily retreat out of Zululand. In the battle's aftermath, a party of some 4,000 Zulu reserves mounted an unauthorised raid on the nearby British army border post of Rorke's Drift and were driven off after 10 hours of ferocious fighting.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: While the British central column under Chelmsford's command was thus engaged, the right flank column on the coast, under Colonel Charles Pearson, crossed the Tugela River, skirmished with a Zulu impi that was attempting to set up an ambush at the , and advanced as far as the deserted missionary station of Eshowe, which he set about fortifying. On learning of the disaster at Isandlwana, Pearson made plans to withdraw back beyond the Tugela River. However, before he had decided whether or not to put these plans into effect, the Zulu army managed to cut off his supply lines, and the Siege of Eshowe had begun.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: Meanwhile, the left flank column at Utrecht, under Colonel Evelyn Wood, had originally been charged with occupying the Zulu tribes of north-west Zululand and preventing them from interfering with the British central column's advance on Ulundi. To this end Wood set up camp at Tinta's Kraal, just 10 miles south of Hlobane Mountain, where a force of 4,000 Zulus had been spotted. He planned to attack them on 24 January, but on learning of the disaster at Isandlwana, he decided to withdraw back to the Kraal. Thus one month after the British invasion, only their left flank column remained militarily effective, and it was too weak to conduct a campaign alone. The first invasion of Zululand had been a failure.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: It had never been Cetshwayo's intention to invade Natal, but to simply fight within the boundaries of the Zulu kingdom. Chelmsford used the next two months to regroup and build a fresh invading force with the initial intention of relieving Pearson at Eshowe. The British government rushed seven regiments of reinforcements to Natal, along with two artillery batteries.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: On 12 March, an armed escort of stores marching to Luneberg, was defeated by about 500 Zulus at the Battle of Intombe; the British force suffered 80 killed and all the stores were lost. The first troops arrived at Durban on 7 March. On the 29th a column, under Lord Chelmsford, consisting of 3,400 British and 2,300 African soldiers, marched to the relief of Eshowe, entrenched camps being formed each night.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: Chelmsford ordered Sir Evelyn Wood's troops to attack the abaQulusi Zulu stronghold in Hlobane. Lieutenant Colonel Redvers Buller, led the attack on Hlobane on 28 March. However, as the Zulu main army of 20,000 men approached to help their besieged tribesmen, the British force began a retreat which turned into a rout and were pursued by 1,000 Zulus of the abaQulusi who inflicted some 225 casualties on the British force.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: The next day 20,000 Zulu warriors attacked Wood's 2,068 men in a well-fortified camp at Kambula, apparently without Cetshwayo's permission. The British held them off in the Battle of Kambula and after five hours of heavy attacks the Zulus withdrew with heavy losses but were pursued by British mounted troops, who killed many more fleeing and wounded warriors. British losses amounted to 83 (28 killed and 55 wounded), while the Zulus lost up to 2,000 killed. The effect of the battle of Kambula on the Zulu army was severe. Their commander Mnyamana Buthelezi tried to get the regiments to return to Ulundi but many demoralised warriors simply went home.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: While Woods was thus engaged, Chelmsford's column was marching on Eshowe. On 2 April this force was attacked en route at Gingindlovu, the Zulu being repulsed. Their losses were heavy, estimated at 1,200, but the British suffered only two dead and 52 wounded and the next they relieved Pearson's men. They evacuated Eshowe on 5 April after which the Zulu forces burned it down.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: The new start of the larger, heavily reinforced second invasion was not promising for the British. Despite their successes at Kambula, Gingindlovu and Eshowe, they were right back where they had started from at the beginning of January. Nevertheless, Chelmsford had a pressing reason to proceed with haste – Sir Garnet Wolseley was being sent to replace him, and he wanted to inflict a decisive defeat on Cetshwayo's forces before then. With yet more reinforcements arriving, soon to total 16,000 British and 7,000 Native troops, Chelmsford reorganised his forces and again advanced into Zululand in June, this time with extreme caution building fortified camps all along the way to prevent any repeat of Isandlwana.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: One of the early British casualties was the exiled heir to the French throne, Imperial Prince Napoleon Eugene, who had volunteered to serve in the British army and was killed on 1 June while out with a reconnoitering party.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: Cetshwayo, knowing that the newly reinforced British would be a formidable opponent, attempted to negotiate a peace treaty. Chelmsford was not open to negotiations, as he wished to restore his reputation before Wolseley relieved him of command, and he proceeded to the royal kraal of Ulundi, intending to defeat the main Zulu army. On 4 July, the armies clashed at the Battle of Ulundi, and Cetshwayo's forces were decisively defeated.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: After the battle of Ulundi, the Zulu army dispersed, most of the leading chiefs tendered their submission, and Cetshwayo became a fugitive. Wolseley, having relieved Chelmsford after Ulundi, took over the final operations. On 28 August the king was captured and sent to Cape Town. It is said that scouts spotted the water-carriers of the king, distinctive because the water was carried above, not upon, their heads. His deposition was formally announced to the Zulu. Wolseley wasted no time in discarding Bartle Frere's confederation scheme and drew up a new scheme which divided Zululand into thirteen chiefdoms headed by compliant chiefs which ensured that the Zulus would no longer unite under a single king and made internal divisions and civil wars inevitable. The dynasty of Shaka was deposed, and the Zulu country portioned among eleven Zulu chiefs, including Zibhebhu, John Robert Dunn, a white adventurer, and Hlubi, a Basuto chief allied to the British in the war.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: Chelmsford received a Knight Grand Cross of Bath, largely because of Ulundi. However, he was severely criticized by the Horse Guards investigation and would never serve in the field again. Bartle Frere was relegated to a minor post in Cape Town.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: Following the conclusion of the Anglo-Zulu War, Bishop Colenso interceded on behalf of Cetshwayo with the British government and succeeded in getting him released from Robben Island and returned to Zululand in 1883.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: A Resident (Melmoth Osborn) was appointed to be the channel of communication between the chiefs and the British government. This arrangement led to much bloodshed and disturbance, and in 1882 the British government determined to restore Cetshwayo to power. In the meantime, however, blood feuds had been engendered between the chiefs Usibepu (Zibebu) and Hamu on the one side and the tribes who supported the ex-king and his family on the other. Cetshwayo's party (who now became known as the Usuthu) suffered severely at the hands of the two chiefs, who were aided by a band of white freebooters.


title: Anglo-Zulu War

text: When Cetshwayo was restored Usibepu was left in possession of his territory, while Dunn's land and that of the Basuto chief (the country between the Tugela River and the Umhlatuzi, i.e., adjoining Natal) was constituted a reserve, in which locations were to be provided for Zulu unwilling to serve the restored king. This new arrangement proved as futile as had Wolseley's. Usibepu, having created a formidable force of well-armed and trained warriors, and being left in independence on the borders of Cetshwayo's territory, viewed with displeasure the re-installation of his former king, and Cetshwayo was desirous of humbling his relative. A collision very soon took place; Usibepu's forces were victorious, and on 22 July 1883, led by a troop of mounted Boer mercenary troops, he made a sudden descent upon Cetshwayo's kraal at Ulundi, which he destroyed, massacring such of the inmates of both sexes as could not save themselves by flight. The king escaped, though wounded, into Nkandla forest. After appeals to Melmoth Osborn he moved to Eshowe, where he died soon after.


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: In early December 1936, a constitutional crisis in the British Empire arose when King-Emperor Edward VIII proposed to marry Wallis Simpson, an American socialite who was divorced from her first husband and was pursuing the divorce of her second.


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: The marriage was opposed by the governments of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth. Religious, legal, political, and moral objections were raised. As the British monarch, Edward was the nominal head of the Church of England, which at this time did not allow divorced people to remarry in church if their ex-spouses were still alive. For this reason, it was widely believed that Edward could not marry Simpson and remain on the throne. As a twice-divorced woman, Simpson was perceived to be politically, morally and socially unsuitable as a prospective queen consort. It was widely assumed by the Establishment that she was driven by love of money or position rather than love for the King. Despite the opposition, Edward declared that he loved Simpson and intended to marry her as soon as her second divorce was finalised.


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: The widespread unwillingness to accept Simpson as the King's consort and Edward's refusal to give her up led to his abdication in December 1936. He was succeeded by his brother Albert, who became George VI. Edward was given the title of Duke of Windsor, and styled Royal Highness, following his abdication, and he married Simpson the following year. They remained married until his death 35 years later.


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: Edward had been introduced to Wallis Simpson, an American citizen and wife of British shipping executive Ernest Aldrich Simpson, by Lady Furness on 10 January 1931, when Edward was Prince of Wales. Ernest Simpson was Wallis's second husband; her first marriage, to U.S. Navy pilot Win Spencer, had ended in divorce in 1927. It is generally accepted that Wallis Simpson and Edward became lovers in 1934, while Lady Furness (who was also in a relationship with the prince) was visiting relatives in the United States. However, Edward adamantly insisted to his father, King George V, that he was not physically intimate with Simpson and that it was inappropriate to describe her as his mistress. Edward's relationship with Simpson further weakened his poor relationship with his parents. Although King George and Queen Mary met Simpson at Buckingham Palace in 1935, they later refused to receive her. Edward and Simpson were secretly followed by members of the Metropolitan Police Special Branch, who produced reports on the nature of their relationship and their investigations into Wallis Simpson's private life that included the "pursuit of vicious gossip" and the identification of a "secret lover". The prospect of having an American divorcee with a questionable past having such sway over the heir apparent led to anxiety among government and establishment figures.


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: Edward VIII succeeded his father on 20 January 1936, after which Simpson attended more official functions as the King's guest. Despite her name appearing regularly in the Court Circular, the name of her husband was conspicuously absent. In the summer of that year, the King eschewed the traditional prolonged stay at Balmoral in favour of a holiday with Simpson in the eastern Mediterranean that was widely covered in the American and continental European press, but not by the British press, which maintained a self-imposed silence. Nevertheless, Canadians and expatriate Britons, who had access to the foreign reports, were largely scandalised by the coverage.


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: By October, it was rumoured in high society and abroad that Edward intended to marry Simpson as soon as she was free to do so. At the end of that month, the crisis came to a head when she filed for divorce and the American press announced that marriage between her and the King was imminent. The King's private secretary, Alec Hardinge, wrote to him on 13 November, warning: "The silence in the British Press on the subject of Your Majesty's friendship with Mrs Simpson is not going to be maintained ... Judging by the letters from British subjects living in foreign countries where the Press has been outspoken, the effect will be calamitous." Senior British ministers knew that Hardinge had written to the King and may have helped him draft the letter.


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: The King invited Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin to Buckingham Palace the following Monday (16 November) and informed him that he intended to marry Simpson. Baldwin replied that such a marriage would not be acceptable to the people, stating: "... the Queen becomes the Queen of the country. Therefore in the choice of a Queen the voice of the people must be heard". Baldwin's view was shared by the Australian High Commissioner in London, Stanley Bruce, who was also a former prime minister of Australia. On the same day that Hardinge wrote to the King, Bruce met Hardinge and then wrote to Baldwin, expressing horror at the idea of a marriage between the King and Simpson.


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: Nevertheless, the British press remained quiet on the subject until Alfred Blunt, Bishop of Bradford, gave a speech to his diocesan conference on 1 December, which alluded to the King's need of divine grace: "We hope that he is aware of his need. Some of us wish that he gave more positive signs of his awareness." The press took this for the first public comment by a notable person on the crisis and it became front-page news on 3 December. When asked about it later, however, the bishop claimed he had not heard of Simpson at the time he wrote the speech. Acting on the advice of Edward's staff, Simpson left Britain for the south of France two days later in an attempt to escape intense press attention. Both she and the King were devastated by the separation. At a tearful departure, the King told her, "I shall never give you up."


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: Opposition to the King and his marriage came from several directions. Edward's desire to modernise the monarchy and make it more accessible, though appreciated by many of the public, was distrusted by the British Establishment. Edward upset the aristocracy by treating their traditions and ceremonies with disdain, and many were offended by his abandonment of accepted social norms and mores.


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: Government ministers and the royal family found Wallis Simpson's background and behaviour unacceptable for a potential queen. Rumours and innuendo about her circulated in society. The King's mother, Queen Mary, was even told that Simpson might have held some sort of sexual control over Edward, as she had released him from an undefined sexual dysfunction through practices learnt in a Chinese brothel. This view was partially shared by Alan Don, Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who wrote that he suspected the King "is sexually abnormal which may account for the hold Mrs S. has over him". Even Edward VIII's official biographer, Philip Ziegler, noted that: "There must have been some sort of sadomasochistic relationship ... [Edward] relished the contempt and bullying she bestowed on him."


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: Police detectives following Simpson reported back that, while involved with Edward, she was also involved with a married car mechanic and salesman named Guy Trundle. This may well have been passed on to senior figures in the establishment, including members of the royal family. Joseph Kennedy, the American ambassador, described her as a "tart", and his wife, Rose, refused to dine with her.


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: Wallis was perceived to be pursuing Edward for his money; his equerry wrote that she would eventually leave him, "having secured the cash". The future prime minister Neville Chamberlain (then Chancellor of the Exchequer) wrote in his diary that she was "an entirely unscrupulous woman who is not in love with the King but is exploiting him for her own purposes. She has already ruined him in money and jewels ..."


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: Relations between the United Kingdom and the United States were strained during the inter-war years and the majority of Britons were reluctant to accept an American as queen consort. At the time, some members of the British upper class looked down on Americans with disdain and considered them socially inferior. In contrast, the American public was clearly in favour of the marriage, as was most of the American press.


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: In Edward's lifetime, the Church of England forbade the remarriage of divorced people in church while a former spouse was still living. The monarch was required by law to be in communion with the Church of England, and was its nominal head or Supreme Governor. In 1935 the Church of England reaffirmed that, "in no circumstances can Christian men or women re-marry during the lifetime of a wife or a husband". The archbishop of Canterbury, Cosmo Gordon Lang, held that the king, as the head of the Church of England, could not marry a divorcée. If Edward married Wallis Simpson, a divorcée who would soon have two living ex-husbands, in a civil ceremony, it would directly conflict with Church teaching and his role as the Church's "ex officio" head.


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: Wallis's first divorce (in the United States on the grounds of "emotional incompatibility") was not recognised by the Church of England and, if challenged in the English courts, might not have been recognised under English law. At that time, the Church and English law considered adultery to be the only grounds for divorce. Consequently, under this argument, her second marriage, as well as her marriage to Edward, would be considered bigamous and invalid. The Matrimonial Causes Act 1937, which was passed shortly after Edward and Wallis's marriage, would allow for numerous other divorce justifications at the legal level.


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: When Edward visited depressed mining villages in Wales, his comment that "something must be done" led to concerns among elected politicians that he would interfere in political matters, traditionally avoided by constitutional monarchs. Ramsay MacDonald, Lord President of the Council, wrote of the King's comments: "These escapades should be limited. They are an invasion into the field of politics and should be watched constitutionally." Although Edward's comments had made him popular in Wales, he became extremely unpopular with the public in Scotland following his refusal to open a new wing of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, saying he could not do so because he was in mourning for his father. The day after the opening, he was pictured in newspapers on holiday: he had turned down the public event in favour of meeting Simpson.


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: As Prince of Wales, Edward had publicly referred to Labour county councillors as "cranks" and made speeches counter to government policy. During his reign as king, his refusal to accept the advice of ministers continued: he opposed the imposition of sanctions on Italy after its invasion of Ethiopia, refused to receive the deposed Emperor of Ethiopia, and would not support a strengthening of the League of Nations.


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: Members of the British government became further dismayed by the proposed marriage after being told that Wallis Simpson was an agent of Nazi Germany. The Foreign Office obtained leaked dispatches from the German Reich's Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Joachim von Ribbentrop, which revealed his strong view that opposition to the marriage was motivated by the wish "to defeat those Germanophile forces which had been working through Mrs Simpson". It was rumoured that Simpson had access to confidential government papers sent to Edward, which he left unguarded at his Fort Belvedere residence. While Edward was abdicating, the personal protection officers guarding Simpson in exile in France sent reports to Downing Street suggesting that she might "flit to Germany".


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: As a result of these rumours and arguments, the belief strengthened among the British establishment that Simpson could not become a royal consort. British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin explicitly advised Edward that the majority of people would be opposed to his marrying Simpson, indicating that if he did, in direct contravention of his ministers' advice, the government would resign "en masse". The King responded, according to his own account later: "I intend to marry Mrs Simpson as soon as she is free to marry ... if the Government opposed the marriage, as the Prime Minister had given me reason to believe it would, "then I was prepared to go"." Under pressure from the King, and "startled" at the suggested abdication, Baldwin agreed to take further soundings on three options:


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: The second option had European precedents, including Edward's own great-grandfather, Duke Alexander of Württemberg, but it had no parallel in British constitutional history. The prime ministers of the five Dominions (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the Irish Free State) were consulted, and the majority agreed that there was "no alternative to course (3)". William Lyon Mackenzie King (Prime Minister of Canada), Joseph Lyons (Prime Minister of Australia), and J. B. M. Hertzog (Prime Minister of South Africa) opposed options 1 and 2. Mackenzie King told Edward to do "what he believed in his own heart was right" and the Canadian government appealed to the King to put his duty before his feelings for Simpson. Governor General of Canada Lord Tweedsmuir told Buckingham Palace and Baldwin that Canadians held deep affection for the King, but also that Canadian public opinion would be outraged if Edward married a divorcée. Michael Joseph Savage (Prime Minister of New Zealand) rejected option 1 and thought that option 2 "might be possible ... if some solution along these lines were found to be practicable", but "would be guided by the decision of the Home government". In communications with the British government, Éamon de Valera (President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State) remarked that as a Roman Catholic country, the Irish Free State did not recognise divorce. He supposed that if the British people would not accept Wallis Simpson then abdication was the only possible solution. On 24 November, Baldwin consulted the three leading opposition politicians in Britain: Leader of the Opposition Clement Attlee, Liberal leader Sir Archibald Sinclair, and Winston Churchill. Sinclair and Attlee agreed that options 1 and 2 were unacceptable, and Churchill pledged to support the government.


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: Churchill did not support the government, however. In July, he had advised the King's legal counsel, Walter Monckton, against the divorce, but his advice was ignored. As soon as the affair became public knowledge, Churchill started to pressure Baldwin and the King to delay any decisions until parliament and the people had been consulted. In a private letter to Geoffrey Dawson, the editor of "The Times" newspaper, Churchill suggested that a delay would be beneficial because, given time, the King might fall out of love with Simpson. Baldwin rejected the request for delay, presumably because he preferred to resolve the crisis quickly. Supporters of the King alleged a conspiracy between Baldwin, Geoffrey Dawson, and Cosmo Gordon Lang, the archbishop of Canterbury. The royal physician Bertrand Dawson was possibly involved in a plan to force the prime minister to retire on the grounds of heart disease, but he eventually accepted, on the evidence of an early electrocardiograph, that Baldwin's heart was sound.


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: Political support for the King was scattered and comprised politicians alienated from the mainstream parties such as Churchill, Oswald Mosley (leader of the British Union of Fascists), and the Communist Party of Great Britain. Former Prime Minister David Lloyd George also supported the King despite disliking Simpson. He was, however, unable to take any active role in the crisis because he was on holiday in Jamaica with his mistress Frances Stevenson. In early December, rumours circulated that the King's supporters would join in a "King's Party", led by Churchill. However, there was no concerted effort to form an organised movement and Churchill had no intention of leading one. Nevertheless, the rumours damaged the King and Churchill severely, as members of parliament were horrified at the idea of the King interfering in politics.


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: The letters and diaries of working-class people and ex-servicemen generally demonstrate support for the King, while those from the middle and upper classes tend to express indignation and distaste. "The Times", "The Morning Post", "Daily Herald", and newspapers owned by Lord Kemsley, such as "The Daily Telegraph", opposed the marriage. On the other hand, the "Daily Express" and the "Daily Mail", owned by Lord Beaverbrook and Lord Rothermere, respectively, appeared to support a morganatic marriage. The King estimated that the newspapers in favour had a circulation of 12.5 million, and those against had 8.5 million.


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: On 3 December, Edward had a "tense" meeting with Baldwin. Backed by Churchill and Beaverbrook, Edward proposed to broadcast a speech via the BBC. The proposed text invoked the "ancient custom" for a King to "address his public utterances to his people". Edward proposed to remind his listeners: "I am still the same man whose motto was 'Ich Dien', I serve." In the proposed speech, Edward indicated his desire to remain on the throne or to be recalled to it if forced to abdicate, while marrying Simpson morganatically. In one section, Edward proposed to say:


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: Baldwin blocked the speech, saying that it would shock many people and would be a grave breach of constitutional principles. By modern convention, the sovereign could only act with the advice and counsel of ministers. In seeking the people's support against the government, Edward was opting to oppose binding ministerial advice and instead act as a private individual. Edward's British ministers felt that, in proposing the speech, Edward had revealed his disdainful attitude towards constitutional conventions and threatened the political neutrality of the Crown.


title: Abdication of Edward VIII

text: Cabinet Office files released in 2013 show that on or before 5 December 1936, the Home Secretary, Sir John Simon, had ordered the General Post Office (which controlled British telephone services) to intercept "telephone communications between Fort Belvedere and Buckingham Palace on the one hand and the continent of Europe on the other".