His Royal Highness

I've spent this past week working in London. I really do love this country. I'm fascinated by their life styles. This has been a normal business trip except for on Monday, Prince William announced his engagement to Kate Middleton. I've never given the British Royal family much attention before...never really cared for that matter. But this announcement has literally taken this country by storm. There are 12 channels in my hotel room on the TV. At one point, every single channel, including the sports channels were showing coverage of the engagement announcement. Every newspaper you can think of had their picture on it. Suffice it to say, this is positivley received news for a country that is actually making tough choices to cut government spending. (hopefully Obama reads this and takes note)

I started innocently asking questions about the royal family and much to my surprise, most of the people in the office and my hotel really have no idea how the Royal family operates, why they carry the titles they do e.g. Duke of Edinburgh, Duchess of Gloucester, the Earl of Wessex, etc. This only peaked my curiosity further. Why would this be such big news if the residents here don't really know about the royal family anymore?

Thanks to my friends Google and Wikipedia, I was able to learn some fascinating information about the Queen and her family. Did you know that Queen Elizabeth is the reigning Head of State of 16 Soverign States? This includes not only the UK but Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, The Bahamas, Grenada, Papa New Guinea, The Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Vincent, Belize, Antigua & Barbuda, and finally Saint Kitts. She is also the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. The Prime Minister holds a weekly meeting with her as she is entitled to give her opinion to him on all government issues. She holds a power known as "Royal Assent" which actually gives her the power to veto proposed legislation. The last queen to do this was back in the 1700s though. BUT, she does hold that power and can exercise it if she wanted to. She is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. Her personal net worth is estimated at around $500 million dollars. She doesn't actually own Buckingham Palace or the Crown Jewels - those are now owned by the State - but she does have quite a bit of money.

There is no King of England because the Queen's husband, Prince Phillip, is not a UK born citizen. He was born in Greece. Although he is considered the Queen's Consort and does attend all functions with her. He just can't hold the title of King due to birthright. He was born of noble blood though in Greece as his Father is Greek and his mother was Danish royalty.

Prince William is 2nd in line to the throne behind his father Prince Charles. And news about Kate is so widly popular becuase she comes from a middle class family and is not of royal blood. Amazingly the term commoner is associated with her. But if the marriage lasts, she could eventually become the Queen of England. The dress she wore to announce the engagement sells for about $500 dollars. It sold out across England within 24 hours at every store it was at. The media is saying she will dictate fashion just by what she wears, how she styles her hair, etc., for the next several decades.

By all accounts, the noble rites and rituals associated with being in the royal family are considered archaeic, however they are still given credence in today's modern society. The rumor is that is why it has taken so long for William and Kate to announce their forthcoming nuptuals - the royal family wanted to make sure she could handle all the stress that comes with the job of simply being royal.

In the end I think I am most fascinated by the fact that the people here really have ancillary knowledge about what the royal family does yet they are so enthralled with them and I dare so love them. It's all anyone can talk about. Where the wedding will be, who will design the dress, who will pay for the wedding, etc.

I am sure if anyone reads this, you'll wonder why the heck am I writing about this. Quite honestly, it was on my mind and it was something new to me.