The Royal Weekend

So I hear this weekend there will be a marriage? I must have missed the listing in the local social pages of the newspaper but from what I hear it is all the rage. A couple of royals are getting hitched and the entire world is a sunder.

A royal family is the immediate family of a king or queen regnant, and sometimes his or her extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term papal family describes the family of a pope, while the terms baronial family, committal family, ducal family, grand ducal family, or princely family are more appropriate to describe the relatives of a reigning baron, count, duke, grand duke, or prince.

However, in common parlance members of any family that reigns by hereditary right are often referred to as royalty or “royals.” It is also customary in some circles to refer to the extended relations of a deposed monarch and his or her descendants as a royal family. A dynasty is sometimes referred to as “the House of ...”.

As of July 2013, there are 26 active sovereign monarchies in the world that rule or reign over 43 countries.

As I remember history, and I will refer all questions to the esteemed Lord Dexter for he is much more versed in this subject, but to become a king or rule a land there was some need to conquer it and it’s people, usually by force sometimes called colonization.

Some mob boss would gather up a bunch of thugs and invade another plot of land for food or gold or woman and if they had enough power over the inhabitants then they might stay and enjoy their booty. If the populous bow down to the new ruler, for the alternative might be ‘off with your head’, then the leader can declare the laws and establish taxes, religion, and any other ordinance that everyone must follow.

At the same time, the power figure can announce him or herself ultimate ruler of the land and all it’s people. Sounds like a pretty good dig and the movies show it as a regal affair.

I live in a country that is suppose to be democratic where the people rule and we have a history of breaking away from foreign oppression by a single ruler. Our forefathers and foremothers may have just been roughnecks looking for a freedom to oppress the locals?

Still we laud the nobility with all their pomp and circumstance as if they were our own. Our land never created a king or emperor or ruler other than an elected president but we pine for the royals.

What makes them so special? They look just like other folks except they have a protective entourage and they ride in carriages and they are cheered by the crowds on their parade and they get to wear uniforms and capes and crowns and do the little wave as if to appease the public by just their presents. What is the appeal?

This country has had some royals like the Kennedys and the Kardashians but the social media has made them all up. Our royals are basketball players or rock stars or other moguls the public deems important enough to have reporters and photographers chase them and tell us what they wear, where they went, what they ate and said and perhaps made an improper faux pas.

So this weekend there will be a fairytale fantasy reality that we can wipe away our tears and cheer the new couple before turning back to the laundry and the wet dog and the screaming kids and all the rest that the commoners must endure.