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Posted: 22 Sep 2011 10:04 AM PDT

Wolfgang Nebodity, University of Vienna, has published Lord Cornbury and the Arcana Practice. Here is the abstract.

In 1702 Queen Anne, the second daughter born to James II and his first wife, Anne Hyde, appointed her cousin, Lord Cornbury, governor of the Province of New York. He turned out as one of colonial New York's unique and controversial figures. This was mainly due to the fact that he kept the "arcana imperii" of his queen. He claimed that "he represented a woman and ought in all respects to represent her as faithfully as he could." Thus he acquired the rituals and rhetoric of queenship. His power depended on the role of the female monarch, both as a symbol of harmony and dynastic stability and as a potential focus for political factionalism, disunity and discontent.

Download the paper from SSRN at the link.