Rogue Princess

Science Fiction Quarterly – February 1952

It's a mad, merry mixup when Claude Godwin, star of 21st Century costume pictures, finds himself involved with a princess of Greenland, kidnapped, and told that he is the rightful heir to the throne of England. Not that Godwin enjoys being the Saxon Pretender, but the alternatives are even less to his liking!

Monarchy has a tendency to persist as a half-serious game, long alter all the meaning of "kings" and "queens", etc., has departed from a nation's life. In its proper place, this can be a rather charming anachronism, but there's always the possibility that someone, or some group, may try to "restore" the throne in earnest This aside, we can look upon such problems as "legitimacy"—no joke in past centuries, when prolonged and devastating wars often accompanied a change of sovereigns—with amusement, as Mr. de Camp does here. A delightful dissertation on one of the reasons why the head who wears the crown rests uneasily.