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Britain’s royal traditions still fascinate many Americans




I have decided that I definitely qualify as an old timer, because — unlike 90% of the citizens of the United Kingdom — I do remember when Queen Elizabeth was installed on the throne.

I’m not sure why so many of us are so fascinated with the British crown. Even though I had several ancestors who supported the separation from Britain, and I haven’t watched “The Crown,” I find all the pageantry fascinating.

Maybe that’s part of the reason for Americans’ fascination with all things royal. After all, I am someone who can get teary-eyed by a good marching band playing martial music. When we watched the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, it really got to me.

I never realized that changing the guard could involve a ceremony that lasted around an hour. First, the soldiers coming on duty marched about two blocks, the band playing all the time. Then they entered the palace grounds, where the group going off duty joined them, with their band. The bands alternated playing, while officers marched around the ground and the sentries in the sentry boxes were changed. Probably the biggest hit with the crowd was the Queen medley they played. And I don’t mean Her Majesty.

Of course, I imagine I’m not the only one watching the funeral services. For me, I enjoy the accompanying big choirs in some of the biggest churches in the world. Hard to beat that.

Westminster Abbey, site of the queen’s London service, is another place we visited. Somewhere there are photos of me at the graves of Jane Austen and Geoffrey Chaucer. We even attended Sunday service at the Abbey.

Yet another fascination many of us have is finding out if we are descended from royalty. I am one marriage record away from knowing for sure that I descend from royals, including Eleanor of Aquitaine (one of my sassy, favorite heroes). The truth is, however, that probably all of us who have colonial ancestors descend from a king or two. And usually, it’s not from his queen, but “the wrong side of the blanket,” as they used to say.

Going back to 1776, I have a book about George III and his family; it’s titled “A Royal Affair.” Poor George came to the throne when he was only 22. His father had died before becoming king, and he had drilled into George that he himself must serve as a father to his brothers and sisters. They were quite a bunch, and all led scandalous lives.

Their brother the king, on the other hand, was deadly respectable and expected all of them to live up to their royal duty as he had been forced to do. He wasn’t any more successful with his own children. During his madness while the future George IV was regent, a much-repeated rhyme was “The king was mad and the regent was bad.”

Because of this, when his colonies rebelled he saw them as he saw his own siblings and children. He was their father and they were disobedient. As we say nowadays, they disrespected him. Supported by his ministers, he tried to discipline those colonial children back into familial respect. As we know, it didn’t work.

Martha Gerdeman is a professional researcher with a passion for family genealogy. She is a past president of the Middle Tennessee Genealogical Society and lives in Dickson.

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