Last month saw what would have been the one hundredth birthday of our late maternal grandmother the Duchess of Merton. In honour of her memory, and in recognition both of the recent tragic death of Taras Oliynyk and of the upcoming tenth anniversary of the death of our paternal grandmother, the Augusta Bette, our Imperial Majesty has therefore resolved to establish an official Book of Remembrance to honour and preserve the memories of those who have died who were of importance to Austenasia and its people.
In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, some days of the year are specially set apart for the commemoration of the dead; today, the day before Orthodox Pentecost, is one of these Saturdays of Souls, and so is especially appropriate for the issuing of this Edict.
The Book of Remembrance shall be kept in the form of a codex acquired by the Throne, and entries shall be made at the direction and discretion of the Monarch. The Throne shall be responsible for acquiring supplementary volumes to continue the Book of Remembrance should the initial codex be filled.
Each entry shall be headed by the full legal name of the deceased person at their time of death, together with their years of birth and death, except where a person held a title, in which case their entry shall be headed with the highest ranking title they held during their lifetime. If a person was usually known by a nickname or middle name, that will be noted in the entry.
Each entry shall include a picture, ideally a photograph of the individual; if not a photograph, then a portrait; if not a portrait, then their coat of arms; and should they have no coat of arms, then a photograph or picture of an appropriate location or landmark such as their headstone or residence, together with their signature if possible.
Each entry shall include a written obituary. This should include their date and place of birth, their immediate family members, their religious affiliation if known, a description of their life and character, their date and place of death, and the site of their burial where applicable. Any other details of importance, especially relating to their significance to Austenasia and to honours paid to them in death, should also be included where possible.
Entries shall be made in the chronological order of the death of their subjects, and care shall be taken to ensure that entries are of a similar and reasonable length. Entries shall not be made until at least forty days have passed from the death of the respective individual.
Proclaimed at Wrythe this eleventh day of June, Soul Saturday, during the tenth year of our reign, in the year of the consulship of Dominus Otto Betula Comes Lygoniae and Tania Comitissa Memphidos, anno mundi 7530.