Aside from the impending war in the Korean peninsula, the recent news I’ve been seeing is the engagement of Prince William, whom many historians have christened “The Dreamy,” to his proper, caucasian, leggy, upper-middle class fiancee, Kate Middleton. This shouldn’t be so special– it’s just the engagement between an attractive pair of young people, but it just so happens that the prospective groom is His Royal Highness Prince William Arthur Philip Louis of Wales, Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter– second in line to the throne of England, and who will one day be the head of the Anglican Church, monarch of the Commonwealth, sovereign of the Order of the Garter and heir to over 1,000 years of history.
I suspect, actually, that the wedding announcement was done to help raise national morale just as England has to enact some very unpopular economic measures.
I used to be rather against the whole notion of royal families– they’re a drain on taxpayers, they’re the visible manifestation of the whole belief in genetic inequality, they’re symbols of reaction and they also happen to be symbols of imperialism. All this is true enough, and maybe one day, England will no longer have monarchs. But until then, I’ve come to have an appreciation for royal families. In a way, I sometimes wish the Philippines had one.
Mainly, I’ve come to an appreciation for the symbolism of monarchs. Royal families are the First Family of a nation in a way that no president or prime minister can ever be– they aren’t leaders of political parties or heads of bureaucracies, they are the living manifestation of a country’s history, traditions and values. The future might not be England’s– and likely won’t be, as India and China continue their rise and Europe continues her decline– and England might feel itself swamped by the forces of globalization and modernism. Hell, if trends in Europe continue, England might even be engulfed by that very peculiar brand of European ethnic and nationalistic xenophobia as the English feel threatened by immigrants, Muslims and more Others.
But through it all, the monarchy will still be there. There, in the person of the king or queen will be a link to the past. That is the same royal seat that founded itself in Hastings, lived through the time of Thomas Becket and Geoffrey Chaucer, sponsored William Shakespeare, survived Oliver Cromwell, learned of the ideas of Sir Isaac Newton and built an empire at sea. This is the same royal seat that defied Napoleon and Hitler and stood with England through the Cold War. Through England’s ups and downs, she has had kings and queens. Things may change– the English might feel swamped, change their tastes and fashions– but I can understand that in many ways, as long as the royal family is still standing, England will still be standing. This is really a case where the past will help in meeting the present and will provide a center around which the future can swirl.
For God's sake Harry, 450,000 of your people died fighting that symbol.
I can understand the frustration, then, with royal shenanigans. In many ways, Diana and Charles had no right to get a divorce like common people, because their marriage isn’t a marriage of just any other person. What does it say about English values if their royal family flouts the middle class sentiments towards marriage so carefully erected by Victoria? Or what does it say about England if their own prince wears a symbol that was used by a group that killed millions of Jews and bombed London repeatedly?
But in many ways, I can also see that England will survive these crazy shenanigans. Petty acts of human ridiculousness won’t swamp a thousand years of British history and I believe the English are strong enough to look past these kinds of acts of silliness– to a point.
So yes, I envy England. Their royals may do silly things sometimes, but the pomp, costume and tradition they carry on their all-too-human-shoulders is more of help than a hindrance to the English. They can look at the castles and the ceremony and be reminded of their history, of their victories and glorious tragedies. Surely the future or a tiresome present will be easier to face if you can be reminded of all that. I sometimes wish the Philippines had something like it.
Posted by callitaweasel 
