Harthacnut, sometimes referred to as Canute III, was King of Denmark from 1035 to 1042 and King of England from 1040 to 1042. He was Emma of Normandy; when Cnut died in 1035, Harthacnut struggled to retain his father's possessions. Magnus I took control of Norway, but Harthacnut succeeded as King of Denmark and became King of England in 1040 after the death of his half-brother Harold Harefoot. Harthacnut died in 1042 and was succeeded by Magnus in Denmark and Edward the Confessor in England. Harthacnut was the last Scandinavian to rule England. Harthacnut was born shortly after the marriage of his parents in July or August 1017. Cnut had put aside his first wife Ælfgifu of Northampton to marry Emma, according to the Encomium Emmae Reginae, a book she inspired many years Cnut agreed that any sons of their marriage should take precedence over the sons of his first marriage. In 1023, Emma and Harthacnut played a leading role in the translation of the body of the martyr St Æelfheah from London to Canterbury, an occasion seen by Harthacnut's biographer, Ian Howard, as recognition of his position as Cnut's heir in England.

In the 1020s Denmark was threatened by Norway and Sweden, in 1026 Cnut decided to strengthen its defences by bringing over his eight-year-old son to be the future king under a council headed by his brother-in-law, Earl Ulf. However, Ulf alienated Cnut by getting the Danish provinces to acknowledge Harthacnut as king without reference to Cnut's overall authority and by failing to take vigorous measures to meet Norwegian and Swedish invasions, instead waiting for Cnut's assistance. In 1027, Cnut arrived with a fleet, he had Ulf murdered. He drove the invaders out of Denmark and established his authority over Norway, returning to England in 1028 and leaving Denmark to be ruled by King Harthacnut. Cnut had left Norway under the rule of Håkon Eiriksson, but he was drowned in 1029, Cnut appointed his son Svein to rule Norway with the assistance of Ælfgifu, Cnut's first wife and Svein's mother. However, they made themselves unpopular by heavy taxation and favouring Danish advisers over the Norwegian nobles, when King Magnus I of Norway, the son of the former King of Norway, invaded in 1035, they were forced to flee to Harthacnut's court.

Harthacnut was a close ally of Svein, but he did not feel his resources were great enough to launch an invasion of Norway, the half-brothers looked for help from their father, but instead they received news of his death in November 1035. In 1035, Harthacnut succeeded his father on the throne of Denmark as Cnut III, he was unable to come to England in view of the situation in Denmark, it was agreed that Svein's full brother, Harold Harefoot, should act as regent, with Emma holding Wessex on Harthacnut's behalf. In 1037, Harold was accepted as king, Harthacnut being, in the words of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, "forsaken because he was too long in Denmark", while Emma fled to Bruges, in Flanders. In 1039, Harthacnut sailed with ten ships to meet his mother in Bruges but delayed an invasion as it was clear Harold was sick and would soon die, which he did in March 1040. Envoys soon crossed the channel to offer Harthacnut the throne. While the general outline of events following Cnut's death are clear, the details are obscure, historians give differing interpretations.

M. K. Lawson in his Dictionary of National Biography article on Harthacnut states that it is unclear whether Harthacnut was to have England as well as Denmark, but it was a reflection of a formal arrangement that mints south of the Thames produced silver pennies in his name, while those to the north were all Harold's. There might have been a division of the kingdom, he stayed in Denmark because of the threat from Magnus of Norway, but they made a treaty by which if either died without an heir, his kingdom would go to the other, this may have freed Harthacnut to pursue his claim to England. According to Ian Howard, Harthacnut agreed to help Svein recover Norway and planned an invasion in 1036. Svein died shortly before it was to set out. War was avoided by the treaty between Harthacnut and Magnus, which Harthacnut agreed to because he had no plausible candidate to rule Norway after Svein's death, he was in any case temperamentally inclined to avoid campaigns and wars. Howard dates the treaty to 1036, whereas other historians date it to 1039 and believe it freed Harthacnut to launch an invasion of England.

Exiled in Bruges, Emma plotted to gain the English throne for her son. She sponsored the Encomium Emmae Reginae, which eulogised her and attacked Harold for arranging the murder of Alfred Atheling in 1036; the work describes Harthacnut's horror at hearing of his half brother's murder, in Howard's view, was influential in persuading the cautious Harthacnut to invade England. According to a edition of the Encomium, the English took the initiative in communicating with Harthacnut in 1039 when they became aware that Harold had not long to live. Harthacnut travelled to England with his mother; the landing at Sandwich on 17 June 1040, "seven days before Midsummer", was a peaceful one, though he had a fleet of 62 warships. Though he had been invited to take the throne, he was taking no chances and came as a conqueror with an invasion force; the crews had to be rewarded for their service, to pay them, he levied a geld of more than 21,000 pounds, a huge sum of money that made him unpopular, although it was only a quarter of the amoun

Colin Guy Champion Rawlins, was a British civil servant and decorated Royal Air force officer. Rawlins was born on 5 June 1919 in the Metropolitan Borough of Lewisham, England, his parents were R. S. C. Rawlins and Yvonne Blanche Andrews, he spent his early childhood in South America, living in Rio de Janeiro. When his mother died in 1924, he and his sister lived with relations in the Union of South Africa for the next two years. After his father remarried, the siblings moved to British Kenya to join their father and step-mother, he was educated at the Prince of Wales School in Nairobi. In 1933, the family moved back to England, he was educated at Charterhouse an all-boys public school in Godalming, between 1933 and 1937. In 1937, Rawlins matriculated into The Queen's College, he represented Oxford University in swimming competitions in 1938 and 1939. Having joined the Oxford University Air Squadron, he was called up for active service at the beginning of World War II. Rawlins joined the Oxford University Air Squadron while studying at the University of Oxford.

This meant his was able to learn to fly and train as an officer cadet of the Royal Air Force at the same time as studying for his degree. He was commissioned in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve on 1 November 1938 as a pilot officer. At the beginning of World War II, Rawlins was called up for active service, he received advanced pilot training at No. 8 Flying Training School RAF, RAF Montrose, at No. 16 Operational Training Unit, RAF Upper Heyford. He was promoted to flying officer on 1 May 1940, he joined No. 144 Squadron RAF, flying Handley Page Hampden medium bomber. From August to December 1940, he serve a tour of operations with Bomber Command, flying night bombers over North-West Europe, he was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross in February 1942 to for service during this period. From January 1941 until his return to flying in May 1941, Rawlins was rested from active duty. On 1 May 1941, he was promoted to flight lieutenant. On 12 May 1941, he was shot down near the Netherlands, by Helmut Woltersdorf.

On 11 February 1941, Rawlins was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross "in recognition of gallantry displayed in flying operations against the enemy". For service during World War II, he was awarded the 1939–1945 Star, the Air Crew Europe Star, the War Medal 1939–1945. If he had lived to 2013, he would have received the Bomber Command Clasp, belatedly instituted on 26 February of that year

Paul Siegfried is an American attorney based in New York City. Siegfried is the former executive director of the Mayor's Advisory Committee on the Judiciary for Mayors Abraham Beame, Ed Koch, David Dinkins and Rudy Giuliani. Siegfried's role was to identify and recommend judicial candidates to serve as judges in New York City; the Politico, a political newspaper, reported in a piece about Giuliani's judicial appointments that Siegfried is a registered Democrat and could have been replaced by Giuliani. The Politico's Ben Smith wrote: "Under Giuliani, the chairman was Paul Curran, a former Republican U. S. Attorney. Again, Giuliani could have replaced Siegfried, he chose not to." When Michael Bloomberg became Mayor of New York, Siegfried resigned to avoid being removed in Bloomberg's purge of staffers associated with Giuliani. In an article in the New York Law Journal, Paul Curran, the former head of the Mayor's Advisory Committee on the Judiciary, said of Bloomberg's decision to allow Siegfried to resign: "It was a big mistake not to retain Paul Siegfried....

Done the job well for a long time, had built up relations with judges and prosecutors who would comment candidly on the qualifications of prospective judges and judges seeking reappointment." Federal Election Commission disclosures and the Center for Responsive Politics show that Siegfried donated $2300 to the Rudy Giuliani Presidential Exploratory Committee and $2000 to the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton for President Exploratory Committee. In the 2006 election cycle, he gave a total of $4100 to Hillary Clinton's reelection campaign. In the year 2000, he donated $1000 to Giuliani's Senate campaign. Siegfried is married to Wendy Siegfried and has two stepsons and Angus Dillon, one biological son, Evan Siegfried. Evan Siegfried worked as a press aide on Giuliani's presidential campaign and before that for Senator Bill Nelson