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Re:Prince Philip has died by Grustaf on Friday April 09, 2021 @07:35AM (#26749193)
It's obviously not a social fiction, regardless of what you may think about monarchy in general.

They have power because they inherited it from someone that conquered it. Just like people may inherit companies and fortunes.

Re:Prince Philip has died by bidirectional on Friday April 09, 2021 @08:16AM (#26749547)
Not at all in the case of Elizabeth II. She holds the throne because parliament gave it to her ancestor, George I, to avoid a Catholic inheriting the throne.
Re:Prince Philip has died by Grustaf on Friday April 09, 2021 @09:47AM (#26750510)
Well, George I was born a duke of the Holy Roman Empire and a relative of the queen, so it's not like the picked someone off the streets.

Besides, to a modern democrat, what could be more legitimate that receiving something from parliament?

Re:Prince Philip has died by baybal2 on Friday April 09, 2021 @08:38AM (#26749758)
Yes, another tidbit, UK barely avoided getting a German monarch by 2 years. Otherwise they may have ended with a Prussian on the throne
Re:Prince Philip has died by cygx on Friday April 09, 2021 @08:57AM (#26749951)
Instead, the heir now descends from the houses Battenberg ('Mountbatten') and Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha ('Windsor')...
Re:Prince Philip has died by Grustaf on Friday April 09, 2021 @09:43AM (#26750455)
Surely George I _was_ German?
Re:Prince Philip has died by andrepd on Friday April 09, 2021 @09:25AM (#26750255)
Yes, that is indeed the point.