More than two centuries after Americans fought for freedom from the British crown, their descendants are absorbed by the latest chapter in the royal family’s drama.
There she was at the N.F.L. season opener on Thursday, her smiling face ringing the giant circular screen just before the Buffalo Bills defeated the defending Super Bowl champions, the Los Angeles Rams.
“Today, the world lost a beloved global figure with the passing of Queen Elizabeth II,” the announcer intoned as he implored thousands of cheering football fans to observe a moment of silence.
Brands, too, jumped in to offer condolences. Apple, for one, turned its home page over to a black-and-white photo of the young monarch in a jeweled crown.
“There is nothing more noble than to devote your life to the service of others,” Apple’s chief executive, Tim Cook, wrote on Twitter, paying tribute to the “life and dedication to duty of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.”
Not even sites of the American Revolution were immune to royal mourning. This week, Old North Church in Boston, where two lanterns were held high in 1775 as a signal from Paul Revere that the British were marching to Lexington and Concord, invited visitors to sign a condolence book for Queen Elizabeth II.
More than two centuries after the United States declared its independence from the British crown, the country was once again consumed with fascination by the royal family after the queen’s death on Thursday.
Nonstop news coverage of the funeral procession and the ascension of King Charles III drew countless Americans into the latest chapter in a centuries-old family drama that has been likened to the longest-running reality show or soap opera on earth.
“I’m already beginning to feel a bit of fatigue myself,” said Arianne Chernock, a professor of history at Boston University and scholar of modern Britain. “But the broader American interest in Queen Elizabeth, and the monarchy generally, is not at all surprising to me.”
This American fascination dates, in fact, to the beginnings of the country, when some of the founders distinguished between their grievances with the British Parliament and King George III, whom they saw as a “benevolent figure,” she said.
When Queen Victoria was crowned in 1838, American newspapers “gobbled it up and couldn’t get enough details,” she said. “The American press was just gaga over the queen.”
In 1860, when Victoria’s son, the future King Edward VII, toured the United States, he was greeted by throngs, including young women hoping to meet the royal bachelor.
And when Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne in 1952, many American women watched with pride, seeing the young monarch as a “deliciously disruptive” figure who was breaking gender norms.
“They loved the fact that Prince Philip, her husband, had to take orders from the queen,” Professor Chernock said. “This was very different from their own households.”
Princess Diana catapulted the family into the modern celebrity era, tapping into notions of beauty, luxury, youth and lavishness, said Cele Otnes, co-author of “Royal Fever: The British Monarchy in Consumer Culture.” In February, a poll found that Americans still had a more favorable view of Diana, 25 years after her death in a car crash, than any other member of the British royal family.
The enduring Anglo-American connection is partly pragmatic, allowing the United States to cultivate its “special relationship” with an important European ally.
“But there is also an element of passion here, too,” Professor Chernock said. “It ties back to the history of the sovereign as father and mother to the nation. At one point, Americans were part of that family and, even though we’ve severed that political tie, I think that affective tie remains.”
It doesn’t hurt that many Americans have been raised on Disney princesses from Snow White to Elsa. Shakespeare’s royal tragedies remain the pinnacle of the theater on both sides of the Atlantic, and readers regularly put British historical authors like Hilary Mantel on the best-seller lists.
And, of course, Netflix has enthralled viewers with four seasons of “The Crown,” chronicling the many decades of Elizabeth’s life. A fifth is on the way.
That has only fed the seemingly bottomless American appetite for British royal drama, as has the real-life drama surrounding the decision by Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Harry, to step back from their roles as senior members of the royal family and move to California.
Because Americans, unlike Britons, don’t pay taxes to support the royal family, it is easier for some to “dwell on the romantic, escapist aspects of it,” Professor Chernock said. “It has entertainment value in a way I don’t think it does for Britons I have spoken with.”
Darker scandals have also drawn public attention. Prince Andrew, the second son of Elizabeth, has drawn scorn for his ties to the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and he settled a related sexual abuse lawsuit this year.
When Charles gave his first speech as king on Friday, the three big American broadcast networks — ABC, CBS and NBC — covered it live, as did news organizations like The New York Times. CBS reported that it had 2.5 million viewers on Thursday and 2.8 million on Friday. The broadcast networks had declined to televise a speech by President Biden a week earlier.
For some, the news has blotted other, more important issues, like the war in Ukraine and climate change.
“It’s like a dog with a bone. The news outlets won’t let go,” said Julian Guidry, 68, a retired chemical plant technician from LaPlace, La., who has watched CNN and MSNBC. “I respect her and the people of England, but I think it’s a little bit much.”
Still others recoiled at the news, recalling the long and brutal history of British colonialism.
“If the queen had apologized for slavery, colonialism and neocolonialism and urged the crown to offer reparations for the millions of lives taken in her/their names, then perhaps I would do the human thing and feel bad,” Mukoma Wa Ngugi, an associate professor of literatures in English at Cornell University, wrote on Twitter. “As a Kenyan, I feel nothing. This theater is absurd.”
Such reactions show how the monarchy, though it’s often covered as celebrity fluff, is tied to weighty issues like the legacy of empire, slavery, women’s rights, mental illness, family relations and divorce, Professor Chernock said.
“It’s never just about the monarchy,” she said.
During her long life, Elizabeth visited the U.S. a half-dozen times, taking in sites from Washington to the West Coast. When she came to Boston to celebrate America’s bicentennial in 1976, she worshiped at Old North Church, despite its famed role in the Revolution. In June, the church hosted a celebration of her Platinum Jubilee. And hundreds came to sign her condolence book this week.
“Old North is actually a gathering place for the British community in Boston,” the Rev. Dr. Matthew Cadwell, the church’s vicar-in-charge, said. “It’s ironic to everyone else, but it’s what we do.”
"like this" - Google News
September 14, 2022 at 04:30PM
https://ift.tt/vApBRGd
Was Elizabeth the Queen of America? This Week It Seemed Like It. - The New York Times
"like this" - Google News
https://ift.tt/WC1mO3G
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment