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Yes, I mentioned Napoléon's brothers; but I forgot about the Bernadottes and Murats. Points well taken: they really underscore the importance of associations and connections, in furthering oneself in life.

But in the end, there is nothing like genealogical ties to established dynasties, which all these native, upstart, or *conquest* royals sought. It's what Henry VII, the first Tudor king of England, had to do by forging an alliance with Elizabeth of York, to strengthen his claim on the throne. It had been exclusively through conquest (just like that of William of Normandy). He had defeated his Yorkist rival, King Richard III, on the battlefield and proclaimed himself king (it certainly helped that all his other rivals had previously killed each other off in the War of the Roses). Evidently, the other nobles accepted him as such: possession, then, is nine-tenths of the law -- but not 100%.

For genealogically speaking, he had virtually no claim on the throne, since he descended from the Plantagenets through an illegitimate line of the house of Lancaster (and moreover, through a female).

How these parvenu dynasties fare afterward, however, depend on chance, circumstance, fate, politics, and a host of other factors. The Bonapartes eventually got deposed, like the French Bourbons (both the Légitimists and the offshoot Orléanists); so did the Murats. But the Bernadottes have survived remarkably, and even spread their wings (their descendants reign also in Norway, Denmark, Belgium, and Luxembourg).