Have we Romanticized the Monarchy into Relevancy?
By: Michelle Lee-Ann
Tags: Royals, Etiquette, World News, History, Britain

And, with it, brought about symbolic figures we are too afraid to let go?

Photo by Jared Subia on Unsplash

In recent news, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have stated that they will be stepping away from their royal duties to focus on more independent ways of life. For some, it’s a no-brainer, but for a lot, it’s a slap in the face.

Particularly to the Queen, who didn’t seem to have known about any of this.

Sides are completely divided on this subject, some applauding what the couple are doing, others disgusted at their snub towards the royal family and traditions that they (at least partly) hail from.

Me? I’m divided. I like the monarchy and have no problems with it. Of course, I’ve never lived in a time of tyrants, of kings and queens who have given little to their royal subjects, who have started wars and spent money like it was going out of fashion.

I have, though, lived in a time where the government has done most of those things. The difference is democracy. We’re not, essentially, stuck with rulers forever, changing hands only through blood, even though it feels like the Trump presidency that affects all nations will never end…

So, why am I mainly in favour of the monarchy? So many things could change after Queen Elizabeth II, not necessarily for the better. I guess my readiness to accept the monarchy in all that it is is the romanticization of it as a whole.

We’re taught from an early age to fall in love with the prince, to make sure that we are treated like the princesses that we are. Later, we’re taught to wear that heavy crown because we are a #kween.

Women moaned about how their friends never set them up with a prince, that Meghan was so lucky to have fallen in love with a real-life prince, stepping into a fairytale. You only had to look at the frozen and stressed smile plastered to Meghan's face during their wedding to know that becoming part of the royal family comes with more stress, responsibilities and specific etiquette than anyone outside of the family can plan for. I barely remember my own wedding, I couldn't imagine a whole world watching me walk down the aisle and into a vastly different life.

The jewels, the glitz, the worldly glamour and class that the Kardashians will only hope to have, it all looks so enticing, so wonderful and magical.

Royal life is, of course, not all wonder and magic and ballgowns. We’re reminded at how a monarchy can fall so quickly and horrendously anytime someone brings up the infamous quote of ‘let them eat cake’ written by Rousseau in Confessions and not made up by Marie Antoinette. While there are great arguments against the King and Queen during the French Revolution, the obsession with spinning tales helped fan the already mile-high flames that brought a nation to its knees. Who knows this feeling better than Prince Harry and his family when the death of his mother shook the world?

The royal family is supposed to be unattainable; it’s part of the allure of royalty in the first place. Will I ever meet the Queen? No. But, a tin box with her face plastered on it sits proudly on my hi-fi in my home, showcasing a time not too far from our own, but one that feels centuries away. The tin may be old, handed down from a couple of generations before me, but royal memorabilia is still a hot commodity, it’s still exciting to get close to a family that you will never truly be close to.

Is this why I’m for the monarchy? Why so many people also support an outdated way of governing and life? Though the actual governance is nearly nullified nowadays. Are we viewing the world through rose(gold)-tinted glasses?

It may be time for change, but the blatant disregard for royal protocol and the hand that feeds them may not the the best way to go about it. It also makes all of us in the commonwealth countries start to wonder what will happen when Queen Elizabeth II is no longer reigning.