The fascination for the fairytale archetypes like king and queen or prince and princess lasts to this day. Especially if they are of flesh and blood and quite real.
On the 13th of June of this year we once again had a royal wedding and I was surprised who in my environment felt compelled to comment on that. For generally my friends frown upon being interested in the fates of those who are only of public interest because of their birth and status. That is rather something for kitsch-oriented grannies and glamour-keen clients of a hairdresser.
The secret power of the archetypes
However the comments were neither cynical and negative nor wistful and positive. The main line was that a charming young man had married a woman whom he apparently truly loves – in this case Carl-Phillip, Prince of Sweden – the little brother of crown princess Victoria. Nonetheless the “fairy tale factor” does play a role here: what made this groom and his spectacular wedding worthy of media coverage was the fact that he is actually a real prince with a real King for a dad and of course lots of titles, medals and an elegant uniform. Furthermore he is a really handsome young man and his bride – a former model with a diploma in business and yoga – is also most lovely to look at in her wedding gown and seems nice.
The crown includes being a screen for projection
Even though the times have past in our Western world when royals still ruled the fate of their subjects, they are still something like icons of national identity and willing projection screens for all kinds of people´s films: melodramas and romantic comedies, capers and thrillers. Their lives – usually as part of the international jet set – are distracting, entertaining and unite men of diverse backgrounds in colorful discussions.
Yet they are more in my opinion than only national luxury (a repeating argument of the anti-royalists that the expensive lifestyle is paid by the state) and the reliable protagonists of the yellow press – belonging to the higher nobility is usually a lifelong affair.
The mythical dimension remains active forever
Because of their rank alone as king or princess, duke or countess they represent the archetypes of the same name. That is another reason why they are often features in old legends and fairytales and often belong to the cast of characters in contemporary fantasy computer games.
This raises the interesting question whether the fairytalesque, archetypical must always have the flavor of something historical, “once upon a time”-like. How does the fairytale quality express itself in the present? What form does the archetypical take in our culture? I believe that some of our high-calibre aristocrats often set meaningful examples. They put their time and energy into noble causes which would receive far less support and attention otherwise. But other – more or less VIPs do that too. So what is so special about someone nowadays who can be rightfully addressed with: “Your royal highness?”
A new twist for old themes
Prince Charles the heir to the British throne presents himself convincingly as a supporter of the environment, by running organic farms on his estates. By that he changes the clichee role of the unworldly aristocrat as beneficiary or even exploiter of his lands towards that of the aware protector. Disdaining the traditional Spanish court sports such as hunting and bullfights is expressed by King Felipe IV. of Spain.
In my opinion Princess Victoria of Sweden presented the most impressive make-over of the princess role. Not only did Sweden change their law from an exclusively male succession order to that of that in favor of the firstborn, she also modernized the Cinderella principle:
After the yellow press hat speculated her entire youth who might once be the prince consort on her side one day and deemed various young male members of the European high nobility suitable, Victoria stunned her family and royalty experts from many countries with her choice of partner – not only untitled and from a middle-class family, but her personal trainer! A high ranking member of the army or even a highly acclaimed academic or maybe even a top ranking sportsman would have been more acceptable…but an ordinary, slightly plebby fitness trainer by the side of the future queen?
The husband of a queen is not automatically a king
But the lives of husbands of queens are not that easy – for they are not automatically kings. Whereas women marrying future kings always become queen even if they are of non-aristocratic descent, like Queen Sylvia of Sweden or Queen Maxima of the Netherlands. Furthermore the prince consorts of the European high nobility where often watched closely and often struggle – sometimes more, sometimes less publicly with their role as royal sperm donor and official beta-animal. Prince Claus of the Netherlands, the meanwhile deceased husband of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands was a wellrespected German diplomat before his marriage and afterwards was only allowed to be and do everything in an honorary way. It was publicly known that he also suffered from depressions because of that.
Prince Philip of England, who was only arwarded the title by his wife, Queen Elisabeth II of England ten years after their marriage – until then he was known as the Duke of Edinburgh, is considered eccentric and somewhat tactless. And he will soon be a record holder in being – of all things – a prince consort. For the length of his wife´s reign (more than sixty years) will soon outlast that of her grandmother, Queen Victoria. But there is one place on Earth where about 400 members of a Melanesian tribe put him above the status of his wife: they worship him as a god. The inhabitants of the village Yaohnanen on the island of Tanna which is part of the Melanesian Vanuato regard him as the embodiment of a nature spirit that is sacred to them.
Heart over duty
So what man would consider being constantly put in a secondary position really attractive long term? But to make compromises for that? Crownprincess Victoria was apparently immune against the surely many endeavors which were undertaken to convince her that she as a public person could not just simply follow her heart, but had to consider her status, her history and her noble genes – not to mention all her relatives. That´s at least how I imagine it… For I too can only draw my knowledge in these things from the media.
But Princess Victoria remained true to herself and her love – and according to the articles and pictures in the press – Daniel seems to honestly love her too and undertook quite a number of procedures for her and their common future. According to the Swedish press he took many courses and got a pr-advisor in order to appear decently beside Victoria. He also had to give up his job as a fitness trainer, changed his clothing style, his glasses were exchanged for more intellectual looking spectacles and learned English. It took more than eight years for Victoria to have her choice of partner accepted first by her family and then by the public. Since then Daniel’s popularity as her spouse and father of their daughter is steadily increasing and hers never suffered.
Cinderello wins in the patriarchic world
So if one dares to replace the sorting of peas and lentils by gymnastics and push-ups then one could say that Prince Daniel is a kind of modern “Cinderello”…who comes from a relatively modest background: he grew up in a remote town with a populace of 6000 people. His father ran the local social office and his mother was an employee at the post. Thanks to his love for the Swedish crown princess he can now easily afford his own personal trainer…if he ever felt like it.
I too watched some of the television coverage of his wedding with Victoria in 2010 and besides enjoying the sumptuous production – for a wedding with so many guests in so many fairy tale like robes is always spectacular – I was particularly moved and fascinated by how I perceived the two: they seemed truly happy with each other and overjoyed to have overcome all the obstacles up to this magnificent moment – together.
This impressed me more in the end than all the glitter and glamour. To me Princess Victoria is already a queen in matters of selflove, authenticity and perseverance and independently of all the crowns she is entitled to wear – a real souvereign or – really cool as one probably rather says nowadays…
