Did you see the final total of people who watched Oprah’s interview with Harry and Meghan earlier this month on CBS? Just over 17 million domestically. Millions more globally. The only number that can compare this time of year on network television is the NCAA basketball tournament final.
Still, many reading this are likely grousing, “Who cares about them! I didn’t watch it and I don’t care about the royal family. This is America! We broke away from that!” Fair enough, but why do so many of your fellow Americans watch anyway?
The answer is found in the two words the pair used multiple times during the interview. “The institution.”
I readily confess I have no personal interest in any particular member of the royal family, but I love – and I mean love – the Netflix his series “The Crown.” Before it, I loved the story of the Queen’s father in the 2010 Best Picture winning “The King’s Speech.” Before that, I loved the 2006 film “The Queen” which landed Helen Mirren a Best Actress Oscar.
Honestly I can’t get enough historical drama surrounding the relationships between Buckingham Palace and incredibly important figures in history like Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill. Each has films and famous actors who’ve portrayed them and won multiple awards for having done so, too. It’s not like I’m alone. Millions of us watch this stuff. Why?
The “institution.”
Everything I’ve watched related to the British crown and the government is all centered around people who want to protect the sanctity, the honor, the pride, and in their view the God-ordained institution of the monarchy. The Queen is a tough lady. Every portrayal of Queen Elizabeth is of a woman who’s devoted her entire life to protecting the institution above all else.
The drama and conflict of nearly every one of these critically acclaimed series or films comes from entities inside the royal family or real world events outside Buckingham Palace which pose a threat to the strength and tradition of their institution. It usually concludes with a conflicted Queen Elizabeth holding firm and making decisions that might seem cold, calculating, or unkind. But again, protecting the institution is her first priority.
Over the years, figures like Princess Dianna, Sarah Ferguson, and now Meghan Markle and their public escapades undeniably captivate the public. Oprah just proved that again. And before these more modern tabloid sensations, the Queen’s sister Margaret was an unconventional party girl.
Heck, the man responsible for Queen becoming queen today – her uncle - abdicated the throne to run off with a divorced American woman. They were enormous scandals for their time. It’s always captivated their respective media eras. And it’s all because these people and events were seen as threats to the institution.
Still and all, if you believe the polling coming out of the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth’s popularity is sky-high with the public. Far higher than any other member of her family and right up there in all-time popularity with figures like Churchill.
How can it be someone seen as cold, aloof, and “institutional” could still be so popular? My simple belief is people may pretend they cheer tabloid storylines or radical departures with tradition, but when it’s all said and done people need to feel they have a solid, trustworthy, “true north” in their institutions.
American history isn’t as long as the British monarchy. Americans don’t revere thrones or absolute, unelected, unaccountable power. But we still have our institutions, too. At this hour, nearly every one of them is in crisis - attacked from outside forces that wish to destroy them, or worse “reform” and weaponize them against fellow Americans. The threat to our institutions isn’t familial or personality driven. It’s raw, naked politics.
Critical race theory has infected the curriculum of our public schools, teaching young children they’re racist before they learn to tie their shoes. Our intelligence institutions have been so politically charged and compromised the bulk of their time is now targeting citizens of one political party instead of real threats at home and abroad.
Our nation’s law enforcement have gone from heroes keeping the peace in our most violent communities to “minority hunting killers” mythologized as more dangerous than a common street thug. Our churches have largely swerved away from the Word of God in favor of the words of “woke.”
Our entertainment and sports institutions have been completely taken over by leftist politics to such a degree – athletes and entertainers working in the industry are excommunicated for not staying on the approved message of the left.
Media institutions waved bye-bye to truth telling and objective journalism long ago. There’s sad bipartisan agreement on that. Even our once most trusted institution – the United States military now finds its senior leadership lobbing editorial comments at a television show host simply for questioning their priorities in defending our nation from truly alarming threats like China.
That leaves only one institution for us all to rally around. Our vote. Election Day. Sadly, after watching the unconstitutional manipulation of our last election and Democrats’ current attempt to federalize that trickery permanently overriding our states, our last standing institution is hanging on by a thread. H.R. 1 cannot become law.
If it should, our country will cease to be ruled by the people. We’ll start to look a lot more like that British monarchy everyone’s so interested to watch instead. One party rule would reign. Should that happen, I’d probably just move to the U.K. and cut my losses. I like their institution better than anything the Democrats could achieve. At least the British monarchy still believes in order, rule of law, and a sovereign God.
Besides, they’ll never make a Netflix show about Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi. And even if they did, nobody would watch it.
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