In the collective consciousness, nouns such as crown, monarchy or queen belong to a far away era, related to the Middle Ages or to children’s fairytales. However, if one takes more time to think about it, those words still belongs to nowadays society. For instance, numerous countries have a constitutional monarchy such as Japan, Spain, Denmark or the United Kingdom. Yet, only the later happens to be consequently popular in the world and the reason of such gained reputation resides in three words: the British Empire.

Colonialism had never been that efficient but under the reign of a woman, Queen Victoria. So efficient it resulted in Britain having colonized nine out of ten countries in the world!¹ While keeping this idea in mind, it becomes quite easier to understand how the United Kingdom and its monarchy remained prominent in the international landscape.

However, in a world where the main concerns revolve around technology and mass production, a monarchy appears to be an archaic concept. As to illustrate, the British Empire turned into the Commonwealth and granted more independence to its former colonies. Surely, the token of the British Monarchy can be found on stamps or banknotes but in terms of power itself, the Crown has no more political influence today. In other words, the British Monarchy has become a symbolic representation of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth –but at what costs?

According to Republicans, the British Monarchy has become an economic well for the country and ought to be abolished². However, most inhabitants of the United Kingdom are still attached to the Royal Family and the massive enthusiasm toward the series The Crown confirms it.³

The Crown is a British-American Historical Drama TV Show created by Peter Morgan and produced for Netflix. It aims to portray the life of Queen Elizabeth II (currently interpreted by Claire Foy) from her marriage with the Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark (currently interpreted by Matt Smith) to her sovereignty over the United Kingdom. While the series has already released two seasons, it intends to produce four another. Each episode relates the evolution of Queen Elizabeth’s life through a national or worldwide event and features leading figures such as her relatives and political figures.

The common thread of this blog will be to question how the British Monarchy has become a source of entertainment and to what extent the fiction remains faithful or affects the accuracy of historical facts.

¹ Britain Has Invaded Nine Out Of Ten Countries, From France To United States

² Is the British Royal Family Worth the Money?

³ How The Crown revived our love for the Queen