#britishness

As someone who’s been a lifelong Britophile, raised on Enid Blyton adventures, Agatha Christie mysteries, Oasis, the Beatles and Queen songs and Julie Andrews’ perfect accent, I’ve always adored the quirks of Britishness: the dry humour, the self-control, the endless cups of tea. I even spent a while in Cambridge, living with a British family, studying in a British school, and soaking up every “sorry,” every “cheers,” every drizzle-filled day with absolute delight.

When I was a kid in my country (Portugal) and my parents asked me where I wanted to fly to (my dad worked for the Portuguese air transportation company, so we had free trips every year), I would always choose London or Rio de Janeiro.

So, naturally, when I first read "Harry Potter", it felt like coming home, not to a world of magic, but to a world of Britishness. Every character, from Harry to McGonagall, is a walking, talking British archetype. And I say that with love!

These aren’t lazy stereotypes, they’re storytelling DNA, the kind of cultural shorthand that gives the wizarding world its charm, wit, and texture.

Harry Potter

The everyboy, the “João Silva” (most common Portuguese male name) of Britain, if you will. Ordinary, awkward, and quietly brave. He’s the embodiment of the working or middle-class British teen who just wants a normal life but ends up in something extraordinary. Even his name sounds like someone you’d find on a list of average Britons.

Ron Weasley

The archetypal “boy next door.” Loyal, funny, insecure, and slightly embarrassed by his big family. He’s that perfectly British mix of self-deprecation and heart, the kind of lad who’ll save your life and then make a joke about it.

Hermione Granger

The classic “swot”: the overly academic, rule-loving overachiever. There’s a long British tradition of characters like her in school stories: brilliant, slightly bossy, but ultimately the moral compass. She’s the one rewriting the system with her homework turned in early.

Minerva McGonagall

The stern-but-fair Scottish schoolmistress, straight out of the pages of British boarding school fiction. Sharp as a tack, dryly witty, terrifyingly competent and, of course, she secretly loves her students. She’s the kind of teacher who could silence a room just by raising an eyebrow. Reminds me of Enid Blyton's boarding school books.

Draco Malfoy

A perfect specimen of the upper-class snob: posh accent, expensive haircut, inflated ego, and a family crest on the silverware. He’s Eton and Oxford privilege rolled into one sneer. You can practically hear him saying “Father will hear about this” in any British school corridor.

Horace Slughorn

The old Oxford don in wizard robes. Loves good food, fine company, and name-dropping his “famous” students. A social climber wrapped in tweed and charm; you just know he’d be in the Rotary Club, chatting about his connections while enjoying a second dessert.

Remus Lupin

Polite, weary, intellectual, the archetype of the British gentleman scholar. Self-controlled to a fault, with that dry, apologetic humour. You can practically see him marking essays in an old cardigan, sipping tea as he broods over his tragic fate. The kind of man who says “I’m terribly sorry” even when you step on his foot.

Sirius Black

The “bad boy” from the late 20th century. Long hair, motorbike, and posters of bikini girls in his room. He’s the rebellious aristocrat: posh roots, bad attitude, reckless charm. Every school had a Sirius: the popular, untouchable heartbreaker who probably snogged everyone.

Cornelius Fudge

The ultimate British bureaucrat: full of polite evasions, terrified of scandal, and obsessed with keeping up appearances. He could stroll straight into "Yes, Minister" and no one would blink. If denial were an Olympic sport, he’d have a Ministry-funded medal.

Molly Weasley

the quintessential late-20th-century British “mother hen”: warm, bustling, and endlessly protective. She runs her home like a cozy command center, balancing affection with firm discipline. Her heart is enormous, her patience occasionally frayed, and her love fierce enough to face down dark wizards. She’s the kind of woman who’ll scold you for tracking mud in and knit you a jumper five minutes later.

Why it works?

These characters feel real because they draw from real British archetypes. Rowling’s world mirrors Britain itself: its class divisions, eccentric teachers, dry wit, tea culture, and obsession with keeping calm in chaos. It’s the kind of Britain that’s half Enid Blyton and half BBC satire.

Those archetypes are what make the story read like home... or like a perfect British boarding school you’ve somehow been invited into.

And if you love the Britishness of it all (the humor, restraint, manners...) you’re in good company. 😁

So, this is gonna get wordy. Be warned!

I would like to start off saying that any Scot telling you to call them English is probably English, rather than Scottish.

Otherwise, being British or Scottish specifically and preferring either name is very often a political statement, more notably after the 2014 independence referendum. People in Scotland who want to be called British are much more likely to be Unionists, or sympathetic to the union status quo-- might even be Conservative! Unionists are known in Scotland for being more Conservative than their anti Unionist counterparts. I'm not a unionist so I won't be explaining why they like the union.

Meanwhile, someone who places emphasis on being Scottish before British is more likely to be anti-Union, having voted to leave the UK in 2014. This isn't a definitive one or the other answer, because like you said there isn't necessarily a single correct answer. That said, many people in Scotland are more left leaning than our English counterparts, and politically many of us place some weight to that. On top of that, the Acts of Union never annexed us the way Wales was, instead merging the governance of the two sovereign kingdoms (Scotland, and England/Wales), and in doing so there were some agreements in these Acts that we would be an 'equal nation' of sorts. This... hasn't always been the case in the UK, and a lot of different people who care about that have their own nitpick with the inequality of the United Kingdom as it relates to living here. There's a fucktonne of reading to do on that, I assure you.

Also, many people know how atrocious the British Empire was, over here, and don't want anything to do with it as far as we can manage. Hating the existence of the remnants of empire is a pretty valid reason to not want to be 'British', imo.

Also, I want to reiterate that no part of Scotland is in England, we are not a region of England. A Scot is only English if he's also, well, English. This is important to remember, because it's important to people. Plus, England spent centuries trying to invade and conquer us, so yknow. They did some pretty awful things to historical Scots in doing so, including banning our instruments and languages to the point that there's an entire historical genre of Scottish music performed a capella, because all we could use was our voices.

All this and more is why someone in Scotland probably won't take kindly to being called English by a stranger. Plus, honestly, it's just a bit ignorant and may just come off offensive. I doubt a French man would enjoy being called German, you know?

In general, it's important to listen to what the person you're talking to would rather be called, cause isn't that the same for everything? We've got preferred names, pronouns, titles, roles; some places like here we've also got preferred terms for our identity within our countries. This also isn't uncommon in certain regions of Europe at all, so I've a feeling this may resonate more with people from Catalonia or the Tyrol, so on and so forth.

close your eyes and hear a British accent.

Photography Roxy Lee

Roxy Lee is born and raised in Hackney in east London. She’s known for her candid ‘inside out’ portraits of the underground. 

“The two people in the picture are good friends of mine, so it means something to me in that sense – there’s an emotional connection. I just think it looks quite joyous. It wasn’t staged, it was spontaneous. It was taken at Glastonbury last year, in the crowd watching Diana Ross and I just snapped a quick photo because it was happening. I guess that’s just what I do. 

I told him the truth

We'd run out of tea

He looked ready to cry

Like the addict he is