Adam I, Emperor of Adammia

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His Imperial Majesty
Adam I
Adamus Primus Imperator
Adam James Belcher
KCJ KGCSM KCGM IKA KPP KOF KSB MEng
Adam I at Bournbrook & Selly Oak Social Club, Birmingham
Emperor of Adammia
Reign13 April 2013 – present
CoronationNot crowned
PredecessorThrone established
Prime Ministers
List
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Assumed office
7 December 2022
Preceded byLord Saunders
In office
10 October 2019 – 14 October 2020
Preceded byLord Maude
Succeeded byLady Thornton
In office
1 September 2013 – 23 October 2018
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byLord Maude
Lord Chancellor of the State of Adammia
Assumed office
1 September 2013
Preceded byPosition established
20th, 22nd, 28th & 34th Chair of the Grand Unified Micronational
In office
13 September 2014 – 13 December 2014
Preceded byVera Hewitt
Succeeded byTaeglan I Nihilus
In office
1 April 2015 – 30 July 2015
Preceded byTaeglan I Nihilus
Succeeded byJonathan I
In office
7 July 2018 – 1 July 2019
Preceded byKing Adam I
Succeeded byBradley of Dullahan
In office
1 January 2022 – 1 July 2022
Preceded byAnthony Clark
Succeeded byAnthony Barauskis
Born19 February 1998 (1998-02-19) (age 26)
Pinderfields Hospital, Wakefield
HouseHouse of Belcher / House of Hall
FatherEmperor Father Kevin
MotherEmperor Mother Jayne
ReligionAtheist
OccupationSoftware engineer
Alma materUniversity of Birmingham
Political partyLiberal-Moderate Party
Liberal Democrats
Monarchical styles of
Emperor Adam I
Reference style His Imperial Majesty
Spoken style Your Imperial Majesty
Alternative style Sire

His Imperial Majesty Emperor Adam I, known as Adam James Belcher outside of micronationalism, is the first and to date only Emperor of the Empire of Adammia. He is the Founder of the nation, having established it on 13 April 2013. He also serves as Adammia's Lord Chancellor - effectively the nation's chief executive officer - alongside dozens of minor government roles. Adam is generally credited for the vast majority of Adammia's political, cultural and economic development, having written almost all current legislation. He is an influential figure in the governing Liberal-Moderate Party, of which he is President, and through this he enjoys considerably more influence than would be expected of most constitutional monarchs. However, in recent years his influence has been challenged by populist movements such as the Storm Party, which have called on him to reduce his involvement in domestic politics. He has served many years as Minister of Foreign Affairs, and he is Adammia's foremost representative on the world stage.

Adam has served a record five terms as Chair of the Grand Unified Micronational, the longest-serving Chair in the organisation's history and the only person to accumulate over two years in the role; he is also the only Chair of the organisation to have been elected to two consecutive terms. The GUM is an organisation for which he has often been an outspoken advocate, and he was arguably the organisation's most influential delegate from 2018 to 2022. His work in the GUM saw him selected as DIME Magazine's first ever "Micronationalist of the Year" for 2019,[1] and for which he won the Nicholas Randouler Award for Outstanding Contribution to Micronationalism in the 2022 GUM Development Awards. He is also a former Deputy First Minister of Mercia, and a former President of the Senate of New Virginia, where he was briefly Acting President. In 2019, Adam became an administrator of MicroWiki, but he resigned in 2021. On 5 April 2024, he was appointed by the Austenasian Senate as fifth in line to the Austenasian Throne.

Besides his involvement in micronationalism, Adam is an active member of the Liberal Democrats. He is an alumnus of the University of Birmingham, where he studied computer science and software engineering, and he currently works as a software engineer. He is also an amateur author, investor, game developer and videographer. In 2023, Imperial Publishing House published his first book, History of Adammia Volume I.

Personal life

Adam's political compass.

Adam Belcher was born on 19 February 1998 to Kevin Belcher and Jayne Belcher (née Hall), in West Yorkshire, United Kingdom. He started school in 2002, began high school in 2009 and completed high school in 2014. He attended Barnsley College from 2014-2016 where he achieved A-Levels in Maths, Further Maths and Computing, and began studying Computer Science and Software Engineering at the University of Birmingham in September 2016. Graduating as a Master of Engineering (MEng) in July 2020, he became a junior software developer at pension consultancy Barnett Waddingham on 28 September 2020.

Ever since his early childhood, Adam has been a keen PC gamer, with him operating a gaming YouTube channel (now the Adammic media company AB Animation Ltd.) from January 2012, though this channel is now largely inactive. Through the video game Minecraft, he became part of a gaming community which now gathers twice per year at the Insomnia Gaming Festival.

Adam began programming in Java as a hobby in August 2012, and decided to persue software development as his career path following a conversation with Damian Parker, who later became High Lord Overseer of Creatuxia, in March 2013. Adam released a text-based game, The Lion Game, under the name of his Adammic software company Top Hat Software in 2014.

Adam was also a member of the Reddit Model House of Commons from September 2017 to November 2018, sitting as a Liberal Democrat list MP for Yorkshire, then Wales, and finally South East England. He was the Shadow Transport Secretary in the 17th Opposition, and was the Shadow Education Secretary in the 18th Opposition.

Adam has been a member of the Micropolitan Club and Lounge since 2019 and the National Liberal Club since November 2022.

Political career

Following the 2015 General Election, Adam became a member of the Liberal Democrats, a British political party. He first stood for election to Wakefield Metropolitan District Council in the Crofton, Ryhill and Walton ward in the 2016 local elections, winning 252 votes (6.2%); aged just 18 years and 2 months, he was one of the youngest political candidates in the UK in 2016.

Upon arriving at university, he soon joined and became active in the University of Birmingham Liberal Democrats society; in March 2017, he was elected as the society's Internal Campaigns Officer, and he later became its Secretary in October 2017. He stood again for the Liberal Democrats in Crofton, Ryhill and Walton in the 2018 local elections and received 396 votes (10.9%, an increase of 4.7% on 2016). In July 2018, he was co-opted as Regional Chair of the West Midlands Young Liberals, but stood down at the subsequent election. At the Liberal Democrats party conference, he is a regular attendee of the Glee Club. He made his first conference speech in March 2019, arguing against allowing non-MPs to serve as party leader.

On 21 March 2019, Adam was elected as Vice-Chair of the UoB Liberal Democrats. He stood again in Crofton, Ryhill and Walton in the 2019 local elections, this time as a target candidate, achieving 621 votes (18.5%, an increase of 7.6% on 2018). In October 2019, he was elected to the Young Liberals Conference Committee, his first successful UK-wide election. In the 2020 Young Liberals elections, he was elected regional Chair of the Yorkshire and Humber Young Liberals, as well as re-elected to the newly-renamed Events Committee. He was re-elected to both positions in 2021, whilst failing in his campaign to become YL's federal Vice-Chair.

In 2022, Adam was elected Secretary of the Leeds West Liberal Democrats, having moved to that local party when moving to what is now Lagentia in November 2020. This was his first position on a local party executive. Shortly thereafter, he became the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Kirkstall ward of Leeds City Council; in the May 2022 local elections he achieved 287 votes (5.8%, an increase of 2.6% compared to the previous candidate), followed in the May 2023 local elections with 288 votes (6.1%). He was elected to a fourth term on the Young Liberals Events Committee in 2022, but resigned on 26 June 2023. His campaigns for YL Events Officer in 2022 and Vice-Chair in 2023 were both unsuccessful.

Empire of Adammia

Foundation

On 12 April 2013, whilst researching for GCSE History homework, Adam discovered micronationalism via Wikipedia. By the evening of 13 April, Adam's bedroom was claimed independent from the United Kingdom, with the first paper Adammic flag hanging on the wall. From this point forward he was the de facto Emperor of Adammia. On 15 April, Adam wrote the first draft of the Supreme Directive, and the final version was 'ratified' by Sir Alex Helliker, the only other citizen at that time, on the 19th. From this point onwards, Adam was de jure the Emperor of Adammia, although he never had a formal coronation.

Absolute Monarch

For the first two months of his reign, Emperor Adam ruled as an absolute monarch. During this period, he expanded the Empire massively from its early state, annexing Tytannia, Sapientia and Maternia in April 2013 as well as expanding the Adammic Imperial Province from the original bedroom to the entire property. He founded the Military, the Treasury, and designed many of Adammia's official symbols. In May, he led the Military during its first engagement at the Skirmish of Tytannia, as well as entering Adammia into the Grand Unified Micronational. He appointed himself Archduke of West Adammia around this time. In June, his alliance with the Ordo Vladius led to a large population boost, and he also created the state media.

Constitutional Monarch

Towards the end of June 2013, Emperor Adam wrote a brand new Supreme Directive, which he presented on state TV on 23 June in a press conference. Under the laws of the existing Supreme Directive, a new fundamental law would require the approval of the people, so Adam organised Adammia's first public referendum on 30 June. The public unanimously proclaimed this new Supreme Directive and as a result he sacrificed his status of an absolute monarch. Now an executive constitutional Monarch, his Decrees were now subject to the scrutinity of the Ruling Council.

Emperor Adam I's personal coat of arms

However, this did not slow down his micronational career. He won the local election to become Minister (now Councilor) of the Adammic Imperial Province (now Primoria), started the ID card project, and signed Adammia's first treaty with Burnham in July. In August 2013 he created the LIST Party, annexed Creatuxia, Adammia's first colony, and oversaw the election of Prime Minister Jayne Belcher. In September he became the Lord Chancellor of State. He was responsible for an Imperial Decree recognising dozens of other nations, and he played a major part in setting up the Ministry of Finance's Contributions scheme. In October, his Sixteenth Decree overhauled many of his previous Decrees, making changes to the titles and styles system, changing the national sport, and privatising his YouTube channel, which up until that point had been state owned.

Following the merge of Tytannia and Sapientia on 24 November 2013, Adam used his power as Archduke of West Adammia to replace Emperor Father Kevin with Crown Prince Daniel as the Duke of the Adammic Imperial Province, as the Crown Prince had just lost his position as Duke of Tytannia and Adam was keen to keep his brother as a member of the Ruling Council. This meant that the Emperor Father could no longer be Minister of Defence, and Adam volunteered to replace him. Shortly after, Prime Minister Emperor Mother Jayne appointed him Adammia's second Minister of Defence.

In 2014, the creation of numerous government agencies and companies saw Adam taking on dozens of small roles, directing many of the agencies and having a brief tenure as a temporary Minister of Infrastructure until being replaced with Sir Paul McKenna. On 15 July 2014, the citizens of the micronation DEONQED made Adam their new Emperor following a revolution. Adam merged this new gain with the rest of Adammia on 22 July 2014, creating Borealia, and promptly assumed the title of Emperor of Borealia. He lost the office of Councilor of Primoria to Crown Prince Daniel following the 26 July 2014 Local Elections. In October 2014, he rebranded the LIST Party as the Liberal Party. In December 2014, after it was realised that Adam had inherited the leadership of The Mohawks alongside DEONQED, he resigned as Mohawk leader; Tom Martin promptly established the Mohawkian Empire, which was involved in a brief diplomatic stand-off with Adammia over the status of Borealia.

On 7 November 2015, the Cabinet Office was established, and Emperor Adam was appointed as the first Cabinet Secretary. The following month, Adam launched the Emperor's Fabulous Quiz, a key cultural feature of Adammia.

In August 2016, despite his first and only visit to the colony the month before, Adam was forced to abdicate the throne of Borealia following the Borealian Independence Referendum, and was succeeded by Tom Martin. After Sir Paul McKenna won the 2016 National Election, Adam was replaced as Minister of Defence and Minister of Citizenship, but re-gained the position of Minister of Infrastructure.

In September 2016, Adam moved out of the Imperial Household in Adamsville and into his first university accommodation; the following month, he and his flatmate Luca Panconi founded the Colony of Alluria. Adam served as Governor of Alluria until March 2017, when he handed the position to another of his flatmates, Anna Darke. Meanwhile, Adam increasingly clashed with the alt-right Adammic National Party members of the Colonial Council, particularly over his attempt to rescind diplomatic recognition of the United States in November 2016 in the aftermath of the election of Donald Trump as President; his decision was subsequently overturned by the Ruling Council, the first and only occasion to date that one of Adam's Imperial Decrees has been overturned.

Adammia's inactivity in early 2017 was largely caused by Adam's preoccupation with university life and his increasing involvement with the university's Liberal Democrats society. However, Adam continued to work on Adammia and began to lay the groundwork for its eventual revival; he appointed Ems Simpson as his Director of Communications in June 2017, marking the beginning of the Liberal Drinks Mafia's involvement in Adammia. In July 2017, he rebooted the Adammic Express, and founded Adammic Investment Ltd.; meanwhile, Adam drafted a constitution for the Liberal Party, and it became the first Adammic political party to adopt a constitution. Adam remained as the party's administrative president, but handed over the party's political leader role to his brother Prince Jake. After Jake was elected as the Liberal Party's first Prime Minister, Adam ceased to be Minister of Infrastructure after the department was merged into the new Ministry of National Development. Delays in organising the 2017 summer elections caused Adam a great deal of frustration, which compelled him to begin the process of relocating Adammia's government to the newer, Birmingham-based territories in the autumn of 2017. Following a crunch meeting with his legal advisor, Sir Alex Helliker, on 27 October 2017, Adam put the Fourth Amendment to the Supreme Directive before the Empire for a referendum, which was subsequently passed. He served as acting Minister of Citizenship and Information in the provisional Cabinet.

Second Era

Following the November election, Adam's friends in the Liberal Drinks Mafia took up senior government posts, displacing the House of Hall as the Empire's main ruling class. Adam led Adammia back into the GUM as a full member state in December 2017, marking Adammia's full return to the intermicronational stage. He founded in the Order of the Meerkat in February 2018. In April 2018, he and Prince Jake occupied Sandal Castle and claimed it as part of the Empire. Adam signed key treaties with neighbouring Wazakhstan and the influential Austenasia in the summer of 2018, and he formed a close alliance with the revitalised Nolland, which took the form of the Cardiff Pact. Adam made his first ever state visit to Austenasia in September 2018, as part of that nation's 10th independence day celebrations.

In September 2018, Adam worked with Prime Minister Lord Helliker to merge the Liberal Party with Helliker's Moderates, forming the Liberal-Moderate Party, effectively a coup against the inactive Liberal leader Lord General Panconi. Adam continued his position as the new party's administrative president, but the unpopular merger led to the creation of Lord Saunders' Storm Party, which won power at the 2018 election and saw Adam losing his position as Minister of Foreign Affairs, forcing him out of the Cabinet for the first time in over five years.

Emperor Adam negotiated with the new populist government in early 2019 to draft a new constitutional settlement which brought in the House of Citizens as the lower chamber of a new bicameral Parliament. After Lord Helliker stood down, Adam recruited Charles Michael to serve as the new Liberal-Moderate leader, and brought on Amity Gilmour to manage the party's 2019 general election campaign. However, the party was mired by Adam's involvement in the Adammic data privacy scandal, when Lord Helliker's official report as Attorney General concluded that Adam had likely violated the GDPR Compliance Act 2018 in making certain edits to MicroWiki, forcing Adam to resign as Cabinet Secretary. In spite of this, the Liberal-Moderates managed to win the most seats in the general election and formed a coalition government with the Dank Party, and Adam, elected as an MP at the #2 position on the Lib-Mod list, returned to his former post as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Speaker of the House Lord Maude also appointed Adam as Deputy Speaker, and he subsequently became the effective acting Speaker due to Lord Maude's inactivity.

In December 2019, Adam issued a personal statement to the Empire of Adammia Facebook group expressing some of the personal hurt that had been caused by recent political discourse, saying that it had damaged his enthusiasm for the micronation. A number of opposition politicians apologised, and the tone of Adammic politics became less tense as a result. In January 2020, Adam issued an Imperial Decree declaring that Adammia would consider itself an honourary part of the European Union, in an act of protest against the UK's imminent departure from the EU. In March 2020, Adam, in agreement with Prime Minister Lord Michael, declared a national state of emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic. Days later, he was evacuated by his father from his residence in Varwall as citizens abandoned South Adammia en masse before the UK's nationwide lockdown took effect. He moved into his mother's residence in Maternia.

Third Era

Following the 2020 general election, Adam was re-elected as a Lib-Mod MP, but the party was relegated to opposition and Lady Sophie Thornton took his position of Minister of Foreign Affairs. However, due to Lord Maude's inactivity, he was able to be elected unopposed as Speaker of the House, a role which he held until that chamber's dissolution two years later. In November 2020, he moved out of his mother's residence in Maternia to a house that he rented in Kirkstall, Leeds, which he claimed as the colony of Lagentia, with himself serving as its Governor and sole resident. During the UK's second and third coronavirus lockdowns over the winter of 2020-21, Adam held monthly virtual meetings with Prime Minister Lord Juliano Saunders, a briefly held practice which has not been observed before or since. In July 2021, Adam and Lord Saunders agreed to end Adammia's coronavirus state of emergency, which they formally did at a gathering of Adammic citizens in Birmingham. The following month, Adam met with Jonathan I, Emperor of Austenasia and Mike Lewis of Lundenwic in London, which was his first in-person micronational meeting since the pandemic.

After the 2021 general election went uncontested due to a lack of candidates following the collapse of the Red Green Alliance, Adam agreed to calls from the outgoing PM Lord Saunders and publicly announced that the new House of Citizens would only work on electoral reform, aiming to reduce the number of seats, before another election would be held in early 2022. Adam chaired meetings over the following months where an Eighth Amendment to the Supreme Directive, which would change the electoral system for the House from D'Hondt to STV, was drafted. This was approved by the February 2022 Adammic constitutional amendment referendum, and Adam then immediately called a general election for March 2022 as promised. However, this also went uncontested in most of the subdivisions as the number of candidates continued to dwindle, and Adam decided to cancel the election and allow the House elected in October 2021 to remain in place. The cross-party unity government led by Lord James Green remained in office, but became increasingly inactive as Adam focussed on his fifth term as GUM Chair and macronational elections.

In June 2022, Adam chaired the first in-person meeting of the Ruling Council since 2019 at another gathering of citizens in Birmingham. Here, Adam proposed abolishing the House of Citizens entirely, reducing the number of provincial representatives on the Ruling Council from two to one per province, and creating a number of new national Council representatives to be elected under STV. The Council agreed to these proposals, but it remained an open question as to whether the prime minister would be appointed by the Ruling Council, or elected nationally, as had been the case prior to the 2019 reforms. This question was eventually resolved by a private discussion between Adam and prime minister Lord Green at Brighton in September 2022. Following another referendum, Adam signed the Ninth Amendment and called another general election for November 2022. This election outcome saw the Liberal-Moderates forming a minority government, with Lord Charles Michael returning as prime minister, and Adam returned to the Cabinet as both Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defence. Around the same time, Adam attended the wedding of Emperor Jonathan I and Princess Hannah as a groomsman.

Throughout early 2023, Adam's main domestic priority was preparing for Adammia's tenth Foundation Day celebrations. Central to this was the commemorative History of Adammia Volume I, which Adam completed in early April. Around a week later, Adam, alongside Lord Michael, welcomed Rector of the Serene Beaconite Republic, James Frisch, to Imperial City on Foundation Day as Adammia hosted its first ever state visit. In October 2023, Adam welcomed Jonathan I and Hannah of Austenasia to Imperial City for a state visit.

In August 2024, Adam moved out from and dissolved the colony of Lagentia after buying his first house in Normanton, which he subsequently annexed as the county of Normandensis within Greater Tytannia. Normandensis is now his permanent official residence.

Grand Unified Micronational

2013 - 2015

In his capacity as Monarch and as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Adam has so far been Adammia's only consistent delegate to the Grand Unified Micronational. He gained significant influence at the end of the term of Quentin I of Wyvern as Chair in December 2013, when the organisation's elections were completely forgotten about until he reminded the other delegates. The action prompted the new Chair, Ciprian of Juclandia, to nominate him as Vice-Chair on 15 December 2013. During his term as Vice-Chair of the Grand Unified Micronational, Adam chaired one Quorum in Ciprian's absence, on 16 February 2014. During the same term, Adam was appointed the last ever secretary of the GUM Advancement Council, with the neglected body being finally disbanded at the end of the term on 13 March 2014.

Adam failed to notice the opening of nominations for the next term, meaning he was not able to run for the new position of GUM Science and Research Secretary as he intended. Instead, John Gordon took the position. However, Gordon was removed from the office for inactivity, to be replaced by Adam following a motion of Quorum on 27 April 2014. Due to exams, Adam was unable to do little more in his half-term other than offer up several suggestions for projects, none of which had time to be put into practice. This, combined with his lack of an official agenda and his opponent Karl Friedrich being more experienced, meant that Adam lost the June 2014 election for Science Secretary by a massive landslide.

Adam I holding the flag of Adammia at the 2019 GUM Birmingham Summit

During the Summer 2014 term, Adam once again rose to prominence as a kind of personal assistant to the incumbent Chair Vera Hewitt. In August 2014, a motion to recognise this role with an official office failed to pass through Quorum, with numerous delegates agreeing that Adam was only doing the Chair's job. This was one of the main reasons behind Adam's decision to accept his nomination by Richard Hytholoday to run in the September 2014 elections for the office of Chair. Adam ran against Kennedy, who was seeking re-election, and won by 7 votes to 5. Adam thus became Chair of the Grand Unified Micronational on 13 September 2014, and served a term until December 2014. Notably, he is the first and only Chair to date belonging to a centrist political party (though a number of independent moderates have also filled the position throughout history).

Adam served no role in the term of Taeglan I Nihilus immediately following his own, but he returned to contest the Chairmanship in the March 2015 elections against James I, running on a platform of improving the GUM's image in a time of plummeting activity. However, this rapidly fell apart when the March elections were declared invalid due to turnout being too low. After winning a second election, Adam began a second term as Chair on 1 April 2015, but had now changed tack and followed the advice of many senior members of the MicroWiki community in dissolving the GUM as an organisation. He oversaw the GUM's transition into a formal chatroom on 14 June 2015, and remained Chairman until Emperor Jonathan I took office on 30 July 2015.

2016 - present

When the GUM was revived in 2016, Adam took a semi-active role. In July 2016, he was appointed Statistics Secretary of the GUM. In December 2016, Adam was nominated to serve as Vice-Chair under newly-elected Chair King Adam I of Überstadt, but was rejected by Quorum after most delegates chose to abstain. Emperor Adam is understood to have taken offence at what he perceived to be an arbitrary decision, and this may have contributed to Adammia's decision to downgrade itself to GUM observership in March 2017 as part of a wider package of inactivity measures. Following its Second Era revival, Adam would oversee Adammia's return to full membership in January 2018. On 14 April 2018, the Quorum appointed Adam Supreme Justice of the Grand Unified Micronational, making him one of the very few people in GUM history to have served as Chair, Vice-Chair and Supreme Justice. In July 2018, he was elected to a third term as Chair, followed by a fourth term in January 2019, the first time in history a Chair had been elected to a second consecutive term, having defeated opposing candidate Nicholas Randouler of Posaf. During his year-long terms, Adam oversaw a move from Skype to Discord which led to the size of the organisation almost doubling, from 16 to 30 full member states. Adam also organised the third 24 Hour Quorum to mark the organisation's tenth anniversary, and hosted the 2019 Grand Unified Micronational Birmingham Summit. His term as 28th Chair is now considered one of the most successful terms in the GUM's history,[citation needed] and Adam was selected as DIME's "Micronationalist of the Month" for the month of June in 2019 to award his term as Chair.

Now considered one of the GUM's elder statesmen alongside Jonathan I and Bradley of Dullahan, Adam continued to serve the organisation in minor executive roles after stepping down as Chair, becoming the organisation's head technical administrator, responsible for looking after roles on the Discord server. Between July and November 2019 he was Secretary for Micronational Development, and became Secretary for Public Relations and Press in November 2019 as part of an executive reshuffle. He would manage the GUM's Wordpress blog (apart from a period in early 2020, when Zabëlle Skye stood in for him as he finished his Masters dissertation) until July 2020, when he returned to the position of Micronational Development Secretary.

After a fairly inactive term as MDS, Adam stood for Chair in the December 2020 election, but lost for the first time to Jack Dean; nonetheless, he secured the most votes ever cast for an unsuccessful candidate in GUM history. Following the election, he continued to oppose many proposals put forward by the Dean administration. This trend continued into the subsequent Clark administration, where he became an Associate Justice after narrowly failing to be elected as Supreme Justice. Adam and Bradley of Dullahan formed an unofficial opposition to what they saw as Clark's overly bureaucratic vision for the GUM, believing that the Supreme Court had become too powerful relative to the Quorum. Adam stood on a platform of "putting the Quorum back in charge" in the December 2021 election, and won by a landslide, securing his record-breaking fifth term as Chair. This term was arguably only moderately successful compared to his 2018-19 term, though it did see the return of the GUM Development Awards. His term was also dominated by the fallout from "Black January" in the MicroWiki community, in which Adam attempted, with mild success, to mediate. However, ongoing macronational elections limited the time he could give to the role.

After leaving office in July 2022, Adam resumed being an ordinary delegate, but remained active in the organisation. In early 2023, his furious opposition to a membership application from a "Third French Empire" - which claimed all of France, and by extension the Adammic colony of Xanada - led to tension with Clark and a protracted court case. Adam wrote an amendment to the GUM Charter which would establish a new principle of territorial integrity; faced with its imminent passage, Clark chose to withdraw New Florence from the organisation. Shortly afterwards, the Quorum appointed Adam to succeed Clark as the Director-General of the GUM - effectively the organisation's permanent administrative assistant.

Mercia

Adam became a citizen of Mercia when it was known as Burnham in 2013. Following the nation's transition into Mercia, he was granted the noble title of Count of Penmine and Spildcastle in March 2015. One year later, following encouragement from HL Richard I, he and Earl Anthony Clark founded the Social Democratic Party of Mercia, with Adam as leader and Clark as administrative president. Following a general election in May 2016, the SDP won two seats in the Mercian Parliament House, with Adam becoming an MP for Kernollond. The SDP then entered a coalition government, which resulted in Adam becoming Deputy First Minister of Mercia. However, when Anthony Clark left the MicroWiki community in July 2016, the SDP was forced to dissolve. Despite originally stating that he would continue to support the coalition government, a series of by-elections left his coalition partners with a majority without him. Deciding that he was no longer needed, he resigned as Deputy First Minister just before a cabinet reshuffle on 13 August 2016, and subsequently stood down as an MP at the September general election.

After the Eden administration became inactive, Adam joined Baron von Uberquie's emergency cabinet in March 2017 as Minister of Internal Affairs and Defence. However, like the rest of this cabinet he in turn also became inactive. During a brief revitalisation of Mercia in early 2018, Adam and Clark refounded the SDP, but did not see much electoral success.

During yet another revitalisation of Mercia in March 2020, Adam joined Horatio Eden's emergency cabinet as Minister of Internal Affairs. He supported Ava Neasa in their legal case against the Mercian government on the issue of same-sex marriage, and threatened to resign from the cabinet if the government attempted to defend the case. After a same-sex marriage bill was passed by Parliament with Adam's support, the cabinet was dissolved and Adam was relieved of his post as a general election was called. After considering joining Clark in a third iteration of the SDP, he briefly supported Eden's Advance movement, until Mercia's withdrawal from the GUM and Eden's subsequent departure from micronationalism. He remained independent and did not stand in the general election. After the election, he renounced his Mercian citizenship and the title of Count of Penmine and Spildcastle in solidarity with Clark, who himself resigned over the stance of the Mercian Christian Church towards the LGBT community.

Nolland

Adammia long had ties with Nolland due to the latter's membership of the so-called Wurtige Bloc, the former members of the Wurtige Empire, which was allied with Adammia. After several years of inactivity on the part of Nolland, Tsar Thomas revealed to Emperor Adam in early 2018 that he was a fellow member of the Young Liberals. The two nations immediately became close partners, with the two leaders meeting in person in Cardiff in August 2018 to sign the Cardiff Pact, a rare military alliance between the two nations. On 1 January 2019, Tsar Thomas appointed Adam as Earl of Carew as part of the New Years Honours List. Shortly thereafter, Adam became a citizen of Nolland.

Adam did not participate in Nollandish politics until May 2020, when Nolland was revived due to the coronavirus pandemic. In the ensuing general election, Adam joined Novus Popularis led by Thom Campion and stood in the Abroad Citizens constituency where he was elected unopposed alongside James Frisch and Sebastian Cousins. On 12 May 2020, Campion appointed Belcher as Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Finance and the Economy. However, Nolland lapsed back into inactivity in a matter of months, and Adam's role in the nation went no further. In December 2022, Adam agreed with Tsar Thomas to terminate the Cardiff Pact.

New Virginia

Belcher became a citizen of the Commonwealth of New Virginia on 2 August 2020. On 5 August, he was named by President Vera Hewitt as a nominee Senator, which was confirmed upon the election of the House of Burgesses on the 23rd. The day prior, he had been confirmed as one of New Virginia's first Consuls. On 24 August, he was elected President of the Senate of New Virginia. For the 2021 New Virginian general election, Adam hosted live coverage for Adammic Online Broadcasting, which was very well received.

Following the failed July 2021 coup d'état attempt, Hewitt resigned as President of the Commonwealth, leaving Adam as Acting President, albeit over a rump nation following the secession of New Richmond, Shoreline and Nordale. During his several months in office, he worked with prime minister Simon White to stabilise the nation following the failed coup and laid the groundwork for an early presidential election. He attended the online inauguration of Sertor Valentinus as his successor on 19 October 2021, and shortly thereafter renounced his New Virginian citizenship, as part of a larger process of stepping back from the online micronational community. His brief period as both Emperor of Adammia and Acting President of New Virginia is the only time that Adam has been head of state of two countries at once (except for the single week in July 2014 when DEONQED was in personal union with Adammia, prior to its annexation).

Personal views

Micronational

Emperor Adam is usually characterised as a light secessionist, who generally claims that Adammia is a sovereign state whilst doing little to advance this position in practical terms; Adammia has never submitted a declaration of independence to the UK government. That being said, Adam has historically been hesitant to embrace either the secessionist or simulationist labels, and has forged alliances on behalf of Adammia with both secessionist (such as Austenasia) and simulationist (such as Mercia) nations. Under Adam's rule, Adammia has had little to do with secessionist nations which consider themselves to be above the label of micronationalism such as Arkovia, which Adam has described as "pretentious", as well as extremely simulationist nations such as Sorrenia.

Adam has, at times, been an outspoken advocate for micronational organisations, particularly the GUM, when many organisations have been labelled as "YAMOs" by more skeptical micronationalists. Adam has often emphasised the role of intermicronational organisations in fostering a professional spirit within the micronational community which he believes cannot be achieved through informal venues such as the YBM. Adam was the author of an unpublished report within the Adammic Ministry of Foreign Affairs which expressed the view that the GUM should be a provider of services to micronations, rather than the other way round. This view of the GUM likely influenced Adam's efforts to have the GUM organise its first ever summit in Birmingham in 2019.

Adam is also one of very few micronationalists, alongside Henry Clément and Ives Blackwood, to have seriously hypothesised about micronational economic theory, making him something of a micronational economist. In a 2017 opinion piece in the Adammic Express, Adam praised the Glastieven Model for its realisation that micronational economics should focus on industry and productivity rather than finance, as had been previously advocated by the MEG, but went further to suggest that micronational currencies and inter-micronational trade were, on the whole, worthless, due to the inefficiencies caused by international postage and packaging costs and the inconvenience of converting between micronational and macronational currencies. Adam has been critical of attempts to create a common intermicronational currency, such as the failed Micronational Dollar.

Macronational

Emperor Adam's views are usually characterised as socially liberal. He has advocated for drug legalisation, improved civil liberties and electoral reform in the United Kingdom. He has long identified as a strong secularist, arguing that bishops should be removed from the House of Lords. In recent times, he has been a staunch advocate of free trade, criticising the protectionist policies of Donald Trump. He is also highly pro-European, actively criticising the Brexit process in the UK. In spite of his generally progressive views, he has publicly stated support for the British monarchy.

Adam has described himself as a liberal feminist, and strongly believes in LGBT rights, particularly including trans rights. He also believes in land value taxation. Within the Liberal Democrats, he is generally on the left of the party, having supported Tim Farron's leadership bid in 2015 and Layla Moran's leadership campaign in 2020.

Ancestry

Descent from Charlemagne

Evidence suggests that Adam is likely to be descended from Charlemagne through Walter of Cornwall, the illegitimate son of Richard Plantagenet, 1st Earl of Cornwall. This would also mean that Adam is descended from Thomas Hungerford, the first formally recorded Speaker of the House of Commons, who was the father of Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford and the grandfather of Sir Edmund Hungerford. If true, it would make Adam the 24th cousin twice removed of Queen Elizabeth II, with their common ancestor being John, King of England.

Descent from Charlemagne

  1. Charlemagne, Emperor of the Romans (b. 742)
  2. Louis the Pious, Emperor of the Romans (b. 778)
  3. Charles the Bald, Emperor of the Romans (b. 823)
  4. Judith of Flanders (b. 843)
  5. Baldwin II, Margrave of Flanders (b. 865)
  6. Arnulf I, Count of Flanders (b. 890)
  7. Baldwin III, Count of Flanders (b. 940)
  8. Arnulf II, Count of Flanders (b. 961)
  9. Baldwin IV, Count of Flanders (b. 980)
  10. Baldwin V, Count of Flanders (b. 1012)
  11. Matilda of Flanders, Queen Consort of England (b. 1031)
  12. Henry I, King of England (b. 1068)
  13. Empress Matilda, Lady of the English (b. 1102)
  14. Henry II Plantagenet, King of England (b. 1133)
  15. John Plantagenet, King of England (b. 1166)
  16. Richard Plantagenet, 1st Earl of Cornwall (b. 1209)
  17. Sir Walter of Cornwall (b. 1254, illegitimate)
  18. Margaret of Cornwall (b. 1280)
  19. Sir Hugh Peverell (b. 1300)
  20. Sir Thomas Peverell MP (b. 1340)
  21. Lady Catherine Peverell of Hungerford (b. 1380)
  22. Sir Edmund Hungerford (b. 1409)
  23. Sir Thomas Hungerford (b. 1440)
  24. Sir John Hungerford (b. 1460)
  25. Sir Anthony Hungerford (b. 1485)
  26. Sir John Hungerford (b. 1513)
  27. Susan Hungerford (b. 1554)
  28. Mary Cox (née Choke) (b. 1573)
  29. Margaret Buck (née Cox) (b. 1609)
  30. William Buck (b. 1635)
  31. Joan Bunney (née Buck) (b. 1667)
  32. Joan Cook (née Bunney) (b. 1688)
  33. Martha Ball (née Cook) (b. 1713)
  34. Sarah Ilott (née Ball) (b. 1742)
  35. William Ilott (b. 1780)
  36. James Ilott (b. 1807)
  37. Martha Hazel (née Ilott) (b. 1846)
  38. Charlotte Boxall (née Hazel) (b. 1876)
  39. Edgar Boxall (b. 1901)
  40. HG Madam Winifred Hall (née Boxall) (b. 1945)
  41. HIH Emperor Mother Jayne Belcher (née Hall) (b. 1968)
  42. HIM Emperor Adam I (b. 1998)

Boxall descent

Adam is the 10th cousin once removed of Jonathan I, Emperor of Austenasia, with their common ancestor being Richard Boxall, born in 1612.

Descent from Richard Boxall

  1. Richard Boxall (b. 1560)
  2. Richard Boxall (b. 1586)
  3. Richard Boxall (b. 1612)
  4. Thomas Boxall (b. 1650)
  5. Thomas Boxall (b. 1676)
  6. Thomas Boxall (b. 1700)
  7. Richard Boxall (b. 1740)
  8. Richard Boxall (b. 1775)
  9. John Boxall (b. 1807)
  10. Henry Boxall (b. 1843)
  11. Edgar Boxall (b. 1901)
  12. HG Madam Winifred Hall (née Boxall) (b. 1945)
  13. HIH Emperor Mother Jayne Belcher (née Hall) (b. 1968)
  14. HIM Emperor Adam I (b. 1998)

Male primogeniture descent

Descent from George Belcher

  1. George Belcher (b. 1748)
  2. Richard Belcher (b. 1785)
  3. William Belcher (b. 1809)
  4. John Belcher (b. 1839)
  5. John Belcher (b. 1869)
  6. Frederick Belcher (b. 1900)
  7. Kenneth Belcher (b. 1939)
  8. HIH Emperor Father Kevin (b. 1965)
  9. HIM Emperor Adam I (b. 1998)

State photographs

State photographs are official photographs of the Emperor used on government sources such as the empireofadammia.org.uk website. They are updated every one to two years.

State photographs

Image Date Location Photographer Notes
28 April 2013 The Square, Tytannia HIH Prince Jake Believed to have been the first ever photograph of Adam I to have been published on the Internet.
21 June 2014 Tytannia Army Base, Tytannia Major, Tytannia HIH Prince Jake First state photograph to include the top hat.
18 October 2015 Imperial Square, Imperial City, Tytannia Sir Jonny Blair KOA
21 March 2017 Great Hall, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom Unknown University of Birmingham student First state photograph taken outside Adammic territory. Cropped from a photograph of the University of Birmingham Liberal Democrats at the Guild Awards.
2 February 2018 Fazeley Studios, Birmingham, United Kingdom Spandan Photography Cropped from a photograph taken at the University of Birmingham International Model United Nations Charity Gala.
15 September 2018 Hilton hotel, Brighton, United Kingdom Lady Ems Simpson Taken at the Liberal Democrats federal party conference.
6 June 2019 Bournbrook & Selly Oak Social Club, Birmingham, United Kingdom Peter Tutykhin Taken at the University of Birmingham Conservative Society's Port and Policy event.

Style and honours

Adam's current full style:

His Imperial Majesty Emperor Adam I of Adammia, Imperator Adammiae I, Founder of Adammia, Grand Marshal of the Military of Adammia, Field Marshal of the Adammic Army, Grand Admiral of the Adammic Navy, Air Chief Marshal of the Adammic Air Force, Lord Chancellor of the State of Adammia, Sovereign of the Order of Adammia, Sovereign of the Order of the Meerkat, Duke of Deira, Earl of Carew, Knight Companion of the Glorious Order of Saint John, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Marinus, Knight Commander of the Most Gracious Order of the Marquis, Imperial Knight of the Austenasian Order, Knight Protector of the Order of the Poppy, Stranger Knight Companion of the Order of the Diaconus, Knight of the Ordo Fidelium, Knight of the Order of Saint Bartholomew, Knight of the Order of the Snake Knights, Companion of the Most Honourable Order of Lundenwic, Companion of the Order of Saint Thomas and Saint Andrew, Commander of the Most Excellent Order of Cavendish, Commander of the Order of the Wyvern, Member of the Most Excellent Order of the Wildebeest, Master of Engineering

Shortened style, which is normally used when signing documents:

His Imperial Majesty Adam I, Emperor of Adammia, Duke of Deira, Earl of Carew, Lord Chancellor of State, Grand Admiral etc.

Latin style (rarely used):

Eius Imperialis Maiestis Adamus Primus Imperator, Imperator Adammiae I, Dux Deirae, Magnus Carewae, Dominus Craftaniae II

Honours

Noble

  • Austenasia Duke of Deira - 4 June 2018
  • Tsardom of Nolland Earl of Carew - 1 January 2019

Chivalric

Academic

Ribbon bars

See also

References

  1. ↑ Z. Skye & J. Lycon (26 December 2019) DIME Magazine Issue #1". p. 19–21. Archived from the original on 26 December 2019.
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