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In 2011, I developed a slender little apercu which I kept repeating to myself at appropriate moments: "Britain is a foreign country."
That might seem obvious, but we don't always think of it that way. Sometimes we think of the United Kingdom as a closely shared culture or as, to use the language of LeCarre's spies, our "cousins."
They are and they aren't.
In many ways the British are very different, and one of the ways involves the woman being celebrated this year not just in the UK but in 16 sovereign states.
The reign of Queen Elizabeth has reached its 60th years. She has surpassed all previous monarchs except Victoria. She has signed 3,500 bills into law. Most notably, she recently passed George III, who is a sore subject around here. So we're different. But the U.S. is also full of people who count royal blood among their corpuscles. We'll meet the people who call themselves Royal Bastards today on this show.
Leave your comments below or email colin@wnpr.org or tweet us @colin.
