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Lord Monflathers

Lord Monflathers

The current Lord Monflathers was one of the nobles of Ankh-Morpork called to hear the rantings of Edward d'Eath during the events of Men at Arms. Like the other nobles he declined to aid Edward's plan to bring back the king, preferring the current situation to the risks of change. He takes his name from two disastrous WWI battles; Mons and Flanders where the generals marched their men across no man's land in a uniform line into the enemy fire. When this 'brilliant' battle plan failed they repeated their errors but added more men and operated on the theory that if your side lost 900,000 men but the other side lost a million, this was a great victory. Pratchett picks this name with good reason since Lord Monflathers' ancestor led 600 men (the same number as in the Charge of the Light Brigade) to glorious defeat at the Battle of Quirm.

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There are clear parallels to the Roundworld Lords Raglan and Cardigan, who between them were responsible for sending England's six hundred men towards the guns of the Russians in the ill-fated "Charge of the Light Brigade", immortalized by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

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