According to the director Michael Powell, who directed him in his final picture, "The Thief of Bagdad", Selten was an illegitimate son of the then 19-year-old Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII (1841-1910) of England.
On stage from 1878.
Audiences saw him in his last and perhaps most famous role---the Old
King in "The Thief of Bagdad"---more than a year after he died.
At the time of his death he was thought to have been the oldest film star in Britain.
In a career that spanned over sixty years, he was probably best remembered for playing affable "fruity" aristocrats.