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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsB-b-but I saw on the TV show Bridgerton that British aristocracy...
Was just alive with people of color! Why, the queen as recently as 1813 was of African descent! The Duke of HASTINGS and his whole family were, too!
Surely, that wasn't a lot of revisionist history bullshit, was it? You can't seriously be suggesting to me that European royals are, and have always been, totally racist white supremacist assholes. I thought it was Americans that started that. You know, when they came over here from...
Never mind.
DURHAM D
(32,611 posts)Actually, maybe Harry as well. That would be so cool and a big FU to the Royals.
Aristus
(66,462 posts)But I don't think it was ever proven. And the people spreading the rumors weren't doing so to show how progressive the royal family was.
Happy Hoosier
(7,386 posts)Charlotte had African ancestors and many portraits of her have what many consider obvious African features.
"I go back and forth between wishing I had actually written her in the books and then being glad I didn't, because I don't know if I could have done as good a job," Quinn says.
What was intriguing to the writer was the debate amongst historians over whether or not the real Queen Charlotte was Black. One particular researcher has tracked the royal's genealogy and believes he's found evidence that she was. Despite peers contesting his findings, Quinn looked into how that influenced the world of the Netflix series.
"I don't think it's ever going to be proven or disproven to be honest with you," Quinn says. "But let's say she was Black. And what if that was accepted at the time and people acknowledge that, and then she used that position to lift other people of color to higher positions in society. What would society look like?"
end of quote
This is one of several articles about her.
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)to take the Windsor name because he was born into the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg.
He changed his name to Montbatten, but the Royal Tonguewaggers didn't like that either because it came from his grandfather, Prince Louis of Battenberg, a small town in Hesse.
All good German stock.
all of this goes back to the Royal insistence that royalty could only marry other royalty, and marriages were often as not arranged for political purposes. As would be expected the gene pool of royals got pretty shallow, so genetics got the best of some of them.
None of European royalty, the few who are left, have much, if any say in governing. They get trotted out for state celebrations. None of the others, though, spend what the Brits do.
BTW, the Japanese Emperor's throne goes back to 686 BC. They don't let him do much, either.
Srkdqltr
(6,317 posts)Of course they are only real English because they live there.
Hekate
(90,793 posts)And Ireland, of course, does not consider itself British. Ireland was completely overcome only a few times, despite the Medieval depredations of the terrifying Norsemen. The Romans scarcely even tried that island. Well, Scotland: the reason the Romans built that wall was the Scots wouldnt bend the knee. Thats the Gaels for you. Sure, the British eventually won over Ireland, but the Irish decisively never gave in.
But look at the English language itself: English is closely related to German, but retains many words from everybody else. Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians, Normans: they came, they conquered, they were absorbed.
I visited London once, and thought to myself that the former Empire was fully represented on every street. Regardless, people born and raised in the UK are British and consider themselves British very much as we Americans do.
I studied another island nation in college: Japan. Now that is a nation concerned with its cultural and racial purity. For centuries they isolated themselves. A couple of times when it looked like they were about to be invaded, a typhoon arose and sank the enemy ships the Divine Wind, or Kami Kaze. Revere the Emperor, expel the foreigner was a slogan of long duration.
The British Isles, otoh, has no such purity in the first place. The DNA of the the Royals of Europe criss-crosses throughout Northern Europe, Western Europe, and Russia as marriages were arranged and alliances sealed.
Im surprised at you, actually, to think that a DNA test would make any difference. Its all European, and various books, archives, and genealogies make titles and lineage publicly available for research. The only thing theyve never had to deal with was someone who was, all three, a foreigner, a commoner, and of mixed race. That upset their little applecart.
Srkdqltr
(6,317 posts)I understand the background of the royals and who they really are opposed to what they think they are.
Treefrog
(4,170 posts)What makes an American in your world? All of us have some sort of foreign ancestry. The royals really are English. All the royal houses of Europe intermarried.
Response to Treefrog (Reply #12)
Mosby This message was self-deleted by its author.
gldstwmn
(4,575 posts)Not how it was.