Raving about Royalty

I love Royalty. I free admit it. The English royal family are fascinating to me. I love reading about Charles, Camilla, Diana, the Queen, Princes William and Harry, even the minor royals like The Duke and Duchess of Kent, Gloucester, and Princess Michael of Kent. I pick up anything that has them on the cover. And I don't just love the English Royal Family. I love the royal family of Monaco most of all. Prince Albert, Princesses Caroline and Stephanie. Poor Princess Stephanie, her life hasn't gone right since the car accident that killed her mother, Princess Grace, Grace Kelly of Philadelphia, oscar winning actress and Princess.

I'll even watch shows about the other royal families of Europe. E! did a two hour special on the young royals. Guess who watched? Me, that's who. Even though Greece doesn't have a monarchy, I'm still interested in what's going on with the exiled royals in England. Even though the former King of Greece doesn't have a country, he's still treated like a King and invited everywhere. Of course it helps, when your sister is married to the King of Spain, and your sister-in-law is the Queen of Denmark. They certainly can't let you starve and live in less than swell digs.

Maybe I just have tiara envy, all those crown jewels just make me salivate. Not that they get to wear them all the time, but who can go to the Tower of England and look at the crown jewels and not wonder what a crown would feel like on your head. Maybe it's all the fairytales I read as a kid, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella. They all landed their own prince, even Beauty and the Beast.

Of course their lives are not their own. They're on display constantly. Even the royal families of Denmark, Holland, and Sweden get their fair share of publicity. They're often unhappy (Princess Diana, the Duchess of York, Princess Grace etc.) but they have to appear to be happy, although nowadays there isn't as much shame about getting a divorce. Ask Princess Stephanie or Prince Joachim of Denmark.

I especially love movies and books about royalty. Not just biographies but fiction as well. Although the Prince & Me starring Julia Stiles was ridiculous. 20/20 did a special on the young royals, and showed Prince Frederik of Denmark a clip from the movie which is supposed to be about the Crown Prince of Denmark, although in the movie Denmark has a King which is doesn't in real life. The Prince was highly amused by the fictional Prince of Denmark. Loved the Princess Diaries movie, despite the changes they made to the book, but the sequel looked like it was filmed on Disney's backlot at Epcot.

My favorite royalty books are the Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot and Nicole Burnham/Niki Burnham's royalty series for Silhouette Romance and Pocket Books. They are the only two who come even close to replicating what probably really goes on behind palace walls.

Now WE has a series called American Princesses. Only it's not really about Princesses, it's about 10 American women who get to live in a fabulous manor in England, schmooze among high society and attend Ascot and the winner gets $50,000 and a title, like Kathryn Falk's title, Lady of Barrow.

I so wish I could be on this show. I would run rings around these women. I have never seen so many completely clueless women in my life. They give new meaning to the phrase ugly americans.

Anyway, does anyone have royalty fantasies?