GREAT BRITAIN: Useful Privilege

The members of virtually every royal house, regnant or deposed, in Europe are related to Europe's most prospering crown, Britain's. Among them is Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover, who is descended from King James I's granddaughter, the Electress Sophia of Hanover, and thereby legally entitled to ascend the British throne -provided that the 60-odd heirs who precede him all die. Last week, after a year of litigation, the British court of appeal ruled that Prince Ernest's ancestry entitles him to an even more useful privilege: that of British nationality. By implication, the court's decision, based on a law passed...

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