A Royal Pain
Harry Spills the Beans and The World Loses its Mind
Confession. I could care less about the British Royal Family. In a modern world, royalty is obsolete. As an American, we haven’t cared about royalty since 1776. Laws and governments are created and operated with the popular consent in mind. Even authoritarian governments like in Russia and China require a certain (small) level of consent and control, or else a popular uprising would occur. The British King or Queen aren’t actually political figures anymore, they’re just figureheads, living off the taxpayer’s dime and the accumulated wealth they’ve acquired over 1000 years. On a personal level, they all seem so aloof and disconnected from the real world. So to me, its a bit mystifying why the Brits hold them in such high regard. Aside from the wealth and glamour, what is there really?
The Royal Institution itself has been a bit of a closed system; very little is known about the royals personally that wasn’t filtered through planned tabloid leaks, papparazzi photos and the occasional scandal. Which brings us to this week, when Prince Harry, currently 5th in line to the British throne, pulled back the curtain and gave us a glimpse. The result?
I’m not going to rehash the controversies that prompted him to leave the UK and move to California. I’m not going to discuss the ungodly sums of money thrown at him by Netflix, Oprah and his publisher to tell in a series, interview and book, respectively. No, what’s fascinating to me is how there are very different views of this on opposite sides of the Atlantic. In America, Harry is making the TV circuit plugging his book to great approval from the US public; in Britain he’s almost seen as a traitor to the country, and what he has done is a huge betrayal.
Part of this has to do with just homes; Harry stepped back from his royal duties, fled the UK with his family for the West Coast and has had no problem telling the world what is wrong with the whole Royal Institution. He’s even thown some family members under the bus to do it. From the bourgeoisie American view, that’s par for the course here. It’s the kind of thing that gets pageclicks, twitter likes and appearances on 60 Minutes. We love that shit. It’s what made Kardashians household names.
But from the British perspective it’s like tarring a sacred idol. The Royal Family is held in such high esteem (again, why?) that to criticize THEM is like criticizing the country. You just don’t do that. It would be improper, gauche. Despite being a cheating, disconnected, pompous stick in the mud, Charles Phillip Arthur George Windsor Montbatten is still King. He deserves dignity and respect (not really, but…). The Regal Corporation of Britain must be given the highest respect, just as Kim Jong Un in North Korea has earned his. And none of this has anything to do with Charles or William as people. Few know what they are even LIKE as people. In America, everyone’s blabbing about having met some celebrity and how they were in person; in Britain very few people have actually met the Royals.
This is what Harry exposed; what they are like as people. He took their expensive regalia, their impressive dress, and showed the world they have no clothes. To Americans, this is an honest criticism. To the British, it’s not playing the game; they have to continue to say the King’s (Emperor’s) new clothes are still the finest, lest the truth actually be known. In the public eye, we’ve always viewed Harry and William together, almost the way we view twins. What he describes is completely different; he describes growing up as the little brother to the Crown Prince, who often didn’t want him around. Historically, the second son is not exactly the best place to be in a royal family. He describes a wicked stepmother who demonstrates a lack of grace and dignity but plays by the institution’s rules. He describes being under a microscope until he found himself in the military, where he was just another grunt at the same level as everyone else.
To this I say, Kudos to Harry. I hope he lives a happy life now that he is outside the bubble. But in truth, I just don’t care about any of the rest.
PurpleAmerica’s Recommended Stories
The New York Times has an interesting story about an adjunct professor at Hamline University (St. Paul, MN) who in a class about religious depictions in art displayed a piece depicting Muhammed (to many muslims, ANY depiction of the prophet is insensitive and/or islamophobic). She warned the students in both the syllabus and in each class about what they would see and despite all of that, a student was offended, complained to administration and the teacher lost her job.
Now, this may seem like just another “liberal woke mob run amok” story, but its morphing into a story about the lack of protections for adjunct professors (in truth, I just see another “I’m an offended student” story). I foresee a growing debate here regarding the balance between teacher lattitude and how administrations handle controversial topics. Anyway, the piece is interesting.
Another school shooting, this time by a 6 year old. It wasn’t the first time it happened.
PurpleAmerica’s Obscure Fact of the Day
In 1787, William Herschel discovered the first planet outside the original six planets known since antiquity. He named the planet “Georgium Sidus” (the Georgian Planet, after King George III). Thank god that didn’t stick. In keeping with the Latin tradition of naming planets, Johann Bode suggested naming it Uranus, and the name stuck.
On this date, Herschel discovered two of Uranus’s moons, Titania and Oberon, named after characters in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” All of Uranus’s moons are named after characters in Shakespeare or from Alexander Pope’s, “The Rape of the Lock.”
PurpleAmerica Cultural Criticism Corner
Yeah, I just don’t get the fascination with the royal family. See above.
On another note, The Golden Globes were last night. Of all the awards ceremonies, the Globes are the ones I typically take least seriously. The Best Picture went to the Fablemans by Steven Speilberg. Best Television Show went to House of the Dragon. Both are excellent.
But my favorite film of the last year was “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and for people of a certain age who remember Ke Huy Quan from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies, this moment was perfect.
Outstanding Tweet
I can relate.
Parting Thoughts
Let me know what you think of the page. Please share and comment!