Image: Royal Replicas, 2019, "Costumes from 'The Crown' Exhibit", Winterthur Museum, 2019
If you are "into" that kind of thing, the traveling exhibit of the costumes used in the PBS series is very interesting. Great attention was paid to creating as exact a replica for the various items of clothing worn by the Queen and other members of the Royal Entourage as possible. Some freedom had to be taken to account for different body sizes. For example, who knew that Princess Margaret was only 5' tall? The woman who played her in the series was about 5' 7" or so. The bottom line is the historical interest that this display arouses.
Queen Elizabeth has been around a long time. It is kind of nice to be reminded that there was a time when a certain elegance was not only demanded but displayed by people in the public eye. The Queen was very aware that when Jacqueline Kennedy was coming with her husband for a royal visit that she had to match the competition. She did.
It was also nice to see how the other folks dressed. I think we all yearn for a taste of the kind of life that would allow us to "dress for dinner" or get on our riding habit and go for a gallop around the estate. Rich folks just don't live like the rest of us.
Now I am not, in the least, jealous of these folks. They are born sinners just like the rest of us and as even a casual reading of history will demonstrate, their acquaintance with elegance did not necessarily translate into being the kind of person we would even like much less want to imitate. Still, there is the appeal of the whole ethos.
Americans are very susceptible, I think, to this kind of yearning. American capitalism has produced the most affluent society the world has ever known, but a certain price has been paid. All too often our affluence has not brought about the kind of sophisticated leisure that translates into cultural progress. We Americans are intolerant of introspective and informed conversation. We think we always have to be "doing something." We have, in large part, even abandoned the traditional family dinner in the sense that we just eat up what's before us without any notice really of the opportunity that a meal provides. If we had cultural institutions like "dressing for dinner" and the polite expectation that everyone was to contribute to the atmosphere and conversation at the event, then a certain depth would obtain in our lives.
I think, at some level, Americans yearn for some of this. What else would explain the cult like devotion to the 'Downton Abbey' series? Why is it that we Americans seemingly care more for the foibles and eccentricities of the Royal Family than do the average Brits themselves? Just bring up Prince Charles in some circles and there will be a rolling of eyes and a shaking of the head that tells you all you need to know of the person's opinion.
Oh well... the funnest things in life are those things which are the most absurd. The maintenance of the Royalty certainly falls into that category. I enjoyed watching "The Crown" and I thought it did a pretty good job of showing us just how trapped is the Queen in her position. She is the titular head over all the English government and royal possessions, yet she cannot do anything in government that might, in any way, convey an opinion about a current political issue. She is told this explicitly and forcefully by the Queen Mother when she became Queen. She is not a Royal Person... She is a Royal Institution.. This to me is absurd. What is pleasurable is that somehow or another she matters.
Queen Elizabeth is a great lady. I don't know what will happen to the Royal Institution when she goes... whatever does happen we know this: that it will be great entertainment for us on this side of the pond.
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