Does the Monarchy Matter?

By the time you read this, Prince William and Kate Middleton will have become man and wife in another “wedding of the century” at Westminster Abbey. All week long, cable news channels as well as channels like the History Channel, Lifetime, TLC, PBS, and Discovery have been running various specials relating to the royal wedding, including topics like Charles and Diana, the ghosts of Westminster Abbey, and what’s on the menu for the reception.  All of this being reported with gusto by questionable British reporters and American reporters who think it cute to say "cheerio"!

All of this begs the question who cares! As Americans, we divested ourselves of the British monarchy in the late 1700’s with that American Revolution thing. Many of us try to act nonchalant about the whole thing. We cite the waste of money and the anachronistic nature of the Royals. We should have the problems those people have!!!! And that old lady Queen….what a puss!!! The British really ought to dump her.

Well…maybe yes, maybe no. But at the end of the day, I think Americans are secretly enamored by the monarchy. In the past three years two monarchy related Academy Award winning films have enjoyed financial success in American theaters. The Queen examined how the royal family reacted to the death of the divorced Princess Diana. The King’s Speech told the story of how Queen Elizabeth’s father, the speech impaired George VI, handled becoming King after Edward VIII’s abdication of the throne to tally-ho with Wallis Simpson.

Whether we like it or not, whether we want to admit it or not, following the British Monarchy is about as American as apple pie! Do we lose sleep over it? Of course not! On the other hand, notwithstanding all of the melting pot theories about our society, the roots of the America are planted firmly in the Britain. Those roots have flowered into a special relationship between our two countries that came to fruition in the 20th Century through two world wars and the ultimate victory of the west in the Cold War. The UK is our number one ally in the world today. Even our legal system is based on the British system of common law. So what happens there matters to us…a lot!

Brush away the fluff of the tabloids and the escapades of the idle rich, the monarchy has played an extraordinary role in world history. The expansion of the British Empire culminating under Queen Victoria; the inter-relationships of the European royal families leading to World War I; the bravery of King George and his family, including the current Queen Elizabeth, during the German bombardment of London during World War II; and Queen Elizabeth’s supervision of the dismantling of the British Empire and establishment of the British Commonwealth during the 1950’s and 60’s all demonstrate that far from being irrelevant, the monarch still exercises influence that effects all of our lives.

And at the other end of the spectrum, in today’s dreary world, it is a diversion into a world almost all of us will never experience, but gee whiz, wouldn’t it be fun if we could.

I will be watching the wedding at 4:00 AM this Friday morning, mostly because I am usually up at that time drinking my first of at least 10 cups of coffee and I doubt if there will be anything on other than wedding coverage anyway!!! But also because it’s fun and interesting to watch another link forged into an historical chain that goes back a thousand years. Very few other institutions can claim the that kind of longevity.

God Save the Queen…at least for a little while.