"Born to the purple" (what does that THIS refer to?)

[Torenable]

Hi guys

The last sentence(blue one) of the paragraph below confused me about the meaning of "born to the purple"

[Yankee]

Hi Richard

I think the writer intended "this" to refer generally to everything that had been explained in the paragraph, which included, of course, the idea that at one time you had to be born into a royal or an influential family in order to be allowed to wear purple.
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"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Torenable]

hi Yankee

Thanks for your replying.

I think I understand now. When reading something, I have to ignore some questionable information (for me) and make a conclusion by some common sense in some case, right?

This's a challenge for me. My IELTS tutor told that keeping mind blank when do reading test, trying to accept author's viewpoint (even the sky is red) and catching his or her thought.

The meaning of the reds is different from the paragraph, and it is just in front of the phrase. I think that's why the red sentence drive me mad.

Thanks a lot!

Richard