United Kingdom

United Kingdom, also known as England, Britain and Arthur Kirkland, is one of the main characters from Hetalia anime and manga.

United Kingdom represents both the United Kingdom and England, and is part of the Allied Forces.

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

Personality
England is a fanciful, blunt, obstinate former pirate who used to torment Spain. In modern times he claims to be a gentleman; however, he is cynical, sharp-tongued, prone to rough speech, and yearns for the golden years. He often uses British vocabulary, such as 'bloody' and 'git'. He is noted for being horrible at cooking which has caused America, his former charge, to have "bad" taste in food. England is also, apparently, the "king of losing things", and France has described him as "somehow extremely useless when it comes to matters not pertaining to himself or America". He can be described as "spacey" because of his strong belief in magic, spirits, fairies, and other fantasy creatures. He has the ability to perform magic, such as spells and curses, and can also summon demons and other magical creatures. He is able to communicate with supernatural beings and is not limited to creatures from his homeland, being able to interact with youkai and spirits from Japanese folklore. He also happens to have fantasy friends, such as a flying bunny, unicorns, fairies, gnomes, and Captain Hook, but oddly enough he did not believe in Santa Claus until Finland came and brought them presents. Despite this, England often ridicules America's belief in aliens and Tony. According to the author's notes, England's interests include embroidery, craftsmanship, literature, rock music, and giving scathing criticisms to America's movies. He appears to be sharp-witted and surprisingly creative, although he seems to have rather bad luck. According to the author, he is rarely afraid of anything, and is rather interested in ghost stories, especially if he can use them to startle America. He also seems to be very stubborn and strong-willed and does not easily succumb to stress or pressure. He is shown to be startlingly mature at times and is very friendly with young or cute people and magical creatures. He also has a quite strong sense of responsibility and has been seen scolding France and America when they don't take things seriously. In some recent notes, the author has stated that England has a very rich and unlimited personality and that he can't decide whether England is a serious person or not.

Because of his status as an island nation, England is pretty distant and prefers to work alone. Perhaps because of this, he does not know how to express himself, leading to others often misunderstanding him. He is also depicted as being self-deprecating or tsundere. For example, despite his generally harsh behavior, he is definitely stated to have a softer side and seems to genuinely care for other nations. This is illustrated by the fact that he likes giving them advice, yet specifically mentions that he "does not do it because he's worried about them". Despite all this, he highly values his country's pride, and sometimes comes over as very arrogant. Despite his cynical, realistic view of the world, he is said to be a "quite a romanticist before he goes to sleep." When drunk, he suddenly becomes very nostalgic, and the next morning, he'll pretend that nothing has happened. Also, every year when the Fourth of July comes around, his condition collapses.

In a blog post, England is depicted as not being able to swim to illustrate how British characters can't swim in movies.

Trivia

 * He is referred to as United Kingdom, or UK for short, in most merchandise and in his character design on the official anime website (and in some merchandise and fanworks, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, his full nation title). In other instances, however, he is referred to as England, most notably in Gakuen Hetalia and the English-language preview for America's Cleaning Of The Storage. The Japanese word Igirisu means Britain but is sometimes used to refer to England (normally rendered as Ingurando in katakana or eikoku in kanji) in colloquial speech. He is commonly referred to with either name by fans, though England tends to be used to differentiate him from his brothers (that represent the other parts of the UK). A note by Hidekaz Himaruya confirms that he would only be known as England to his brothers, while he would be known as UK to the others. However, the English dub refers to him as Britain. According to FUNimation, this was a request from the Japanese anime producers.


 * Although he's always called Igirisu in the manga and anime, historically, he would be known as simply England up until the 18th century, when The Kingdom of Great Britain was formed, uniting both England and Scotland (the Act of Union of Wales and England had already taken place 1536-1543). In the early 19th century, Ireland was added, creating The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. After Ireland split to declare itself independent in 1919, the Irish War of Independence waged until 1922, when it became the Irish Free State. Six of the 32 counties of Ireland (mostly from the province of Ulster where there was a great English/Scottish population) rejoined the UK while the other 26 counties formed the Republic of Ireland.
 * A UK character is actually first seen at the end of Hetalia: Chapter 1, however, his design was not yet completely finalized. He appears as a short-haired man with a UK label on his shirt and with somewhat thinner eyebrows. Notes in the special booklet for the third volume of the published manga reveal that England was originally to have normal eyebrows, as well as have the appearance of a middle-aged man who dressed much younger. Himaruya decided to give him thicker eyebrows, as he liked the idea of a character having brows modeled after a Shiba Inu.
 * He appears to be modeled after the character Hikone Kalom from Himaruya's other webcomic Barjona Bombers, though he is the exact opposite of Kalom in personality.
 * His birthday could be referred to the 23rd of April, or St. George's Day.
 * Himaruya once stated that his eyebrows are actually trimmed, although they don't appear that way since they still remain thick in appearance. He has also stated that Ireland has thicker eyebrows, but with a "different feel" to them.
 * It is possible that he has a tattoo, for he mentions in his version of Marukaite Chikyuu that "My tattoo really hurts, but it's a hot six-string!" (six-string meaning electric guitar).
 * According to a blog post (11/14/10), ironically, island nation and former pirate England, can not swim (in reference to English people in movies,) although, historically, many pirates could not swim. Although, in the Gakuen Hetalia PSP game, he jumps into the water to save a drowning America. The original blogpost was a parody based on characters from English movies and there is nothing to suggest England cannot in fact swim, though the fandom seems to have adopted the idea misguidedly.
 * In a translated blog post (17 January 2015) of the official Himaruya blog, it is confirmed that his tattoo is located on his butt.