You are visiting http://geocities.datacellar.net/SoHo/Workshop/2096

To see an archive of the articles on this site, click here.

Fascination with royalty

Published Sept. 7, 1997

By Tim Wood

The outpouring of grief over the death of Princess

Officially, the British Monarchy doesn't have much power over Great Britain, but it is a source of fascination for Britons and the world.

We don't have kings, queens, princes or princesses in America officially, but we've created them. The Kennedy family is one example.

Royalty helped Diana become a celebrity, even though she never acted in a movie, never recorded a hit song and did not seek public office.

One could argue that Diana married into her stardom, but it reminds one of the old saying: "He who marries for money earns every cent of it."

If Diana married Prince Charles just to be famous, she ended up earning every bit of her fame. She survived the realization that Charles was smitten with another woman from the time of their marriage. She endured the media attention, which some say led to her death.

Perhaps what endears her most to us is that despite her hardships, she came out on top. She took on the royal family and won. She masterfully handled public opinion so that she came out looking like the victim in the breakup of her marriage. She was not blameless, for she also had an affair. Nonetheless, public opinion lined up on her side.

While residents of Great Britain continue to question whether Charles is fit for the throne, there's no question that Diana was fit for her high-profile position. Had there been no divorce and had Diana not met with tragedy, she would have become queen and de facto ruler of Britain.

Back across the ocean in the U.S., we want royalty. The Kennedy family was the closest thing we had to it, and that family also has had its share of problems.

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis was the American version of Princess Diana. There are similarities. Her husband also was unfaithful. Although her marriage ended in tragedy, not through divorce, she ended up marrying a wealthy person of power. That also appeared to be Diana's plan.

Why do we want royalty? It gives us something to talk about and even more importantly, something to dream about. We like to see fairy tales become reality. Diana lived out a fantasy in becoming a princess. Though she was hardly a commoner before her marriage, she still appeared to be the every day person who lived a fairy tale. Sadly, her life was anything but that, even though she made the best of a bad situation.

By following the lives of our "royal families," we vicariously live out our own fantasies. We can imagine what we would do in their place. We can rail against Prince Charles, or talk about the scandals involving the Kennedy family.

One hopes that the public's interest in Diana can bring some good out of this tragedy. Perhaps the "paparazzi" will be driven out of business, or at least restricted by public sentiment. It may not be feasible to outlaw paparazzi, because no law can make a distinction between these types of photographers and those who shoot for more traditional, respectable publications. However, public disapproval can go a long way toward restraining them.

While it appears that the photographers who followed Princess Diana's limousine contributed to the accident, the root cause was drunken driving. This crime takes a horrible toll in the United States every year. A fitting way to remember Diana would be to increase efforts to eliminate drunk driving.

Then, perhaps, our collective fascination with royalty would do some real good.

Search this site!

powered by FreeFind

Home page||Send me an e-mail ||Click here for great deals on CDs!

||Tim Wood's Rocketry page ||Tim Wood's Music Page, featuring Chicago (the band)