Re: then George VII
User logged in as John W
Discussions about the 'foreign' origins of Royal families always seem to assume that their different origins from those of the people they rule somehow compromise (or at least confront) their legitimacy. In fact their foreignness, what scholars term their "alterity", is a universal and essential element of monarchy, as Marshall Sahlin's has propounded in several essays on his concept of 'the Stranger King'. As Sahlin's points out, dynasties almost universally claim descent from gods and Demi-gods, or from heroes from other places. This is as true of Alexander the Great as it is of King Charles III or Emperor Naruhito. Sahlins arguments can be found here:
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