Real Royals

This week has brought out all the Royal-Watchers, and I have to admit that I’m one of them. My love affair with England began when I was twelve, when I first went to England for three weeks and began my love of travel. How could I not love it? It was rainy and old and literally foreign, with different food (stands selling hot chestnuts), different accents (blimey!), different transportation (trains & double-decker buses), different buildings (castles with turrets) and a different city vibe than I had felt anywhere before.

But I think the presence of the royals influenced the culture the most. While society gets farther and farther from ceremony, tradition, and respect for history, the presence of the British Monarchy gives us the true definition of class. We need more class.

Sure, some people may say that society is moving away from the royals – that they’re no longer needed, that they spend too much money. But we need examples of royal living. We need to see people bow and dress up and given titles of honor. In this world whose definition of “real” is watching people from New Jersey getting drunk in a hot tub, we need to see people living royal lives. We need to see that it’s possible. There really are princes and princesses living in castles, even nowadays. It’s a fairytale that is real.

Of course the Royals don’t have it easy; no one does. Their lives aren’t perfect; no one’s is. But that just makes them more real. So this Friday morning (at 3am!) I will sit in front of the TV like I did years ago, when Mom got me out of bed to sleepily watch the historic ceremony. I’ll see the military and the horses and the carriages and all the fanfare, live, right there, for real.