King or Queen?

[ffutures]

At home because I've felt like death for the last couple of days (probably just man-flu), which gives me the time to meditate on important(?) questions...

In FF XII London is going to be the largest city in the world:

The largest city on Earth, London extends from the Channel coast to the suburb of Cambridge, from Swindon to the Thames Estuary, and merges seamlessly with towns as far to the north as Manchester, unified by a complex network of roads, high-speed tube railways, and aerial services. Much of the French coast south of London is effectively a continuation of the suburbs; three high-capacity tube and road tunnels ensure that commuters can usually reach the heart of the city in 45 minutes by rail, less than 30 by air.

I'm going to be saying more about the city and its infrastructure, e.g. the hundreds of freight trains from Ireland etc. that bring in produce to keep the city alive, but the main question that's bugging me right now - for the header to this section, is London the King or Queen of cities?

Googling on "London King/Queen of cities" gives me "About 96,700,000 results" for King, and "About 56,600,000 results" for Queen. It's a victory for King, but I'm still not convinced it's so overwhelming that I can rule Queen out of contention completely.

So, if cities have a gender at all, would the ridiculously large expanded London I'm describing here be the King or the Queen of cities, and if so, why?

Comments

[maviscruet.livejournal.com]

Emperor of cites?

I also think it's a historical question - who was monarch when it eclipsed everything everything else...

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I'm describing a succession of Emperors. But I really don't like "Emperor of Cities" somehow, not sure why.

I'm tempted to go with "The Mighty Metropolis," 'About 3,140,000 results,' but the Dangermouse vibes put me off.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Emperors seem somehow... not very British.

[w00hoo.livejournal.com]

And yet Emperor was what came to mind for me too. I'd go with the gender of the monarch when it got big. Mighty Metropolis sounds too American (and there's the Dangermouse thing, although less so.)

Is this direction brought on by all of the Crossrail workings?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

The city is described as very big without many specifics, I decided to make it really vast, so it needs a lot of transportation infrastructure etc. With the Victorian obsession with railway tunnels etc. a tube system seemed a good idea, with antigravity ships for cargo and the richer commuters.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

We had an Empress back when we had an Empire *g*.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Was she referred to as the Empress? (I honestly have no idea.)

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Not in Britain as far as I know, nor as "Empress Victoria", but she was proclaimed and referred to as Empress of India (the Empire also included Canada, Australia and New Zealand, but I don't know that any of them actually called her that, I think they called her the Queen still). I believe some of the African states referred to her as Empress.

(I love this quote from the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/victoria_queen.shtml): "During this period, Britain was largely uninvolved in European affairs, apart from the Crimean War from 1853 - 1856." I say, not much of a war really, what? *g*.)

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Ha, yes, excellent. The Crimea? Filthy foreign place, don't know why we'd even mention it eh. Cup of tea?

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Tea, eh? Don't mind if I do, old chap, don't mind if I do.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Barbarians at the gate old boy? Wouldn't mind seeing them off eh?

[tavelorn.livejournal.com]

Dryden called London the "Empress of the Northern clime" in his poem Annus Mirabilis and characterized the city as feminine throughout the poem.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Thanks!

[gbsteve.livejournal.com]

Empress is what came to mind for me too but get hardly any hits for it or "Emperor of Cities". The "Queen of Cities" seems to be Istanbul. "City of Cities" works for me, and there's a book.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

City of cities feels a bit off, somehow, but I'll give it some thought.

[secondsilk.livejournal.com]

This is going to bug me now.
What comes to mind is:
Queen = beauty and grace.
King = power and solidness.

I think the King of cities is necessarily large, whereas the Queen of cities could be beautiful but relatively small scaled, but then my history's not very good.

Googling king/queen of cities brings up the comic King of Cities and various online dictionary definitions of Queen, which seems to suggest that Queen is the more common way of describing cities.

[nelc.livejournal.com]

This, I think. I personally prefer 'Queen of Cities' as a phrase, but I think 'King of Cities' would fit the setting better.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm inclined to agree, Queen does seem to feel more appropriate.

[robertprior.livejournal.com]

You could just go with The City. If it is that significant, any mention of the City without specifying which one means London.

[dandello.livejournal.com]

Empress of Cities?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Certainly a possibility.

[ggreig]

All this talk of Kings and Queens makes me think Pearl of Cities ;-)

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Doesn't feel right somehow, but thanks.

[pbristow.livejournal.com]

Jammy Dodger of Cities. [NODS]