In answer to Zacattack's question about why Imrahil, as a prince of Gondor, wasn't ruling in place of the Stewards:
When the last King went to Minas Morgal to answer the Witch King's challange and disapeared, there was no direct heir to take his place. There were several distant relatives to the King, such as the Prince of Dol Amroth, who could have claimed the throne but the Steward took control to prevent a civil war between the claimants. There had been a disasterous civil war over the succession a few generations earlier and no-one was keen to repeat the experience.
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