Exploring England Within and Without

The death of Queen Elizabeth II brought the British Monarchy into the spotlight again, and as always, exposed the broad gulf between those who like the monarchy and those who either object to it, or just don’t get it. Before I traveled to England, I was firmly in the latter camp.

I was thinking about this curious chasm over the weekend when I saw a front-page story about it in the New York Times.

“In London, Mourning for the Queen Exposes a Generational Divide,” said the headline. It quoted Gertrude Dudley, who at age 78 remembers sitting on her grandfather’s shoulders when Elizabeth II was coronated in 1953.

“This country is in such terrible state,” said Ms. Dudley, “she was the one stability. Now she, too, has gone.”

Then the article turned to the 29-year old Chrissy Mash, who gave a diametrically opposed view. “I’m surprised by how little I am affected,” she said. “The monarchy doesn’t serve any purpose, and if it does it’s superseded by colonialism. I don’t buy into the fanfare anymore.”

Has the world changed that much during that 70-year reign? Probably, but some things change and some stay the same. Apparently enough people still believe in the monarchy to support it, because there it is.

For Americans the baseline of appreciation is lower. I guess that for most Americans who have not traveled to England, the monarchy is something they just don’t get.

I was in that category. I grew up in Middle America. Our country was founded on a revolt against the monarchy. It’s at the core of this country’s existence, what people fought and died for. American culture has grown out of the original founding documents, and the Declaration of Independence goes on and on about King George.

When it comes to the monarchy, as in so many other things, you can divide Americans into those who travel internationally and those who don’t. In a sense, those are two different worlds.

Among those who travel, the monarchy is still a high point of interest. There’s plenty of data to back that up. As a tourism attraction, the monarchy probably generates more money than it costs the country to maintain.

In America, news stories about the Royals are some of the most popular articles. A recent article about the wedding of Princess Eugenie, a minor royal, was the most viewed story in North America on the BBC News website.

The TV series The Crown has been hugely popular. By showing the Royals as actual people, with human problems,…