Are we a bit too obsessed with the Royals? Perhaps this is why

Writer Rachel Mataraki explores our love of the monarchy and asks if there’s something better for us to prize. 

Europe may boast a long history of kings and queens, but the curiosity around royalty is worldwide. Jada Pinkett Smith’s Netflix show African Queens tells the stories of a few of the many queens in Africa. While in Asia, Emperors are regularly depicted in Chinese, Japanese and Korean dramas. When I was in Thailand in 2017 many of my Thai colleagues were wearing black for the whole year as a sign of respect and honour as they collectively mourned their King Bhumibol Aduldej, who passed away in October 2016. 

Before Instagram and instant TikTok fame existed, there were plays, tapestries, stories and even rhymes telling of battles and plots to take down the latest powerful monarch. In the 20th century the “media circus” surrounded the British monarchy. Love them or hate them, you couldn’t avoid them.  There is both a voyeuristic fascination with the everyday lives of our royalty and a frustration with the negative legacies or privilege, power and colonial injustice. They reflect our collective history both good and bad.