“The real king of England” on the BX10 bus in The Bronx

Got chatting to a funny-strange New Yorker on the bus tonight whom I almost offended when I lightheartedly accused him of speaking a corrupted version of the English language.

Turns out he’s originally English, from the illustrious locale of Bognor Regis, and moved to America when he was eight years old. He even slipped into an authentic English accent to prove his authenticity.

Anyway, wasn’t sure how much of his chitchat was the well-oiled claims of a pure fantasist and how much was in the realm of truth, but he claimed the following:

1) He attended William and Kate’s Royal Wedding, not as a mere flag-waving member of the hoi-poloi-riff-raff  in the street, but in Westminster Abbey as one of the esteemed invited guests.

2) His claim to fame? He is actually the ‘real king of England’ as his family, from Bognor Regis (Regis = king in Latin), can trace their lineage back to those natives who booted the Romans out of the land of pastures green somewhere way back in the early centuries of A.D., thus significantly pre-dating the Windsor dynasty currently presiding rather undemocratically over the kingdom.

I offered to bow down to him, but he politely demurred.