Edgard Merigold
Edgard Henry Peter Merigold, (19 November 2277 - 21 December 2365) was an Empherian politician who served as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Empherias. He previously and subsequently served as Lord of the Treasury, and briefly as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Son of expert civil servant, Richard Merigold, Edgard had always been taught at the best education and under guidance of his father's Whig policies, developed under John Edward's government. He first joined the government as a civil servant under Isaac Campbell's fifth government in late 2295 at age eighteen. He was appointed as a financial adviser with guidance due to his gifted ability in a government reshuffle on 5 June 2298. As a great campaigner in the 2299 General Election, Merigold was appointed as Chief Financial Adviser in August 2299. He replaced retiring Lord of the Treasury, Peter Bowes, in another government reshuffle on 18 January 2300. Isaac Campbell announced his intention to resign as Prime Minister secretly to his cabinet in July 2301, and selected Edgard Merigold to succeed him. He wanted him to do this because of his popularity with the young wing of the party, his connections to Richard Merigold, and expertise over the Treasury. Merigold was then officially sworn in on 11 October 2301 as the next Prime Minister. He continues this role for the next three years - and winning the 2302 General Election, which he called to gain support.
Ultimately, he stepped down and resigned on 8 September 2304 as he found the job too stressful, and wished to move away from the capital. Isaac Campbell replaced him as Prime Minister once again, and Merigold retired from politics. However, after a four year gap, he was re-appointed as Empherias Ambassador to Ahitereira in 2308 which he held for ten years until 2318. He then decided to return to politics and joined Campbell's tenth government as Lord of the Treasury once again in the government reshuffle of 13 March 2319. Following Spencer Young's succession to be Prime Minister, Merigold was appointed as Chancellor of the Exchequer on 12 March 2321. He notably continued to hold this position following Young's resignation and subsequent return to Campbell. He finally retired once more on 4 January 2334 following a year of election campaigning. His life from this point was marred with health issues. He almost died in 2339 but seemed to recover.
Following the election defeat of the Whigs in 2338, Merigold was outspoken for his support of Liberal Prime Minister Alice Rusbridge. He noted in an interview in 2344 that he "regretted deeply not being a part of the Liberal movement which now so dominates the political landscape". He was involved in a train crash at the age of 70 in 2348 which permanently paralysed his body from the waist down. He wrote for a daily newspaper column from 2351 onwards and advocated for Rusbridge's re-election bid in the 2353 General Election. In 2355, he founded the Merigold's company, which was to be based on Merigold Street - which he had helped found whilst Prime Minister. In 2362, he stepped down from his column newspaper job and gave all of his company shares to his son, Maurice Merigold. He was bedridden for much of early 2365, before seeing a slight improvement and then relapse. He died on national day, 21 December 2365, officially of pneumonia, at the age of 88.