Masaryk University Faculty of Arts
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Markéta Šonková Public Image and Perception of Current British Royal Family Bachelor‟s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: prof. Mgr. Milada Franková, CSc., M.A. 2014 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Markéta Šonková I would like to thank Professor Mgr. Milada Franková, CSc., M.A. for her kind guidance, enormous patience and priceless help throughout the whole process of researching and writing this thesis. I would also like to thank Dr. Diarmuid Scully from University College Cork who kindly provided me with materials regarding the Anglo-Irish relationship during my time at Cork, as well as to Dr. Lydia Martens from Keele University who provided me with insightful and helpful observations concerning the media part of my research. My thanks also belong to Dr. Emma Head, also from Keele University, whom I consulted in connection to the sociological part of my research. Table of Contents 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 2 Evolution of the Institution: British Monarchy in the Course of History .................. 6 3 Official Role of the Monarch and the Royal Family in Today‟s World: Politics, Democracy and Other State-Related Functions .............................................................. 22 4 Mediated Monarchy: Media and Social Perspective ............................................... 28 4.1 Mediated Monarchy: The Media Perspective .................................................. 28 4.1.1 British Monarchy and British Media: Evolution of the Relationship ....... 28 4.1.2 Press and the Royals during the Reign of Elizabeth II: Flagship Events and the Royal Scandals ............................................................................................ 33 4.1.3 Other Media: Photography, Internet and Films ........................................ 35 4.1.4 New Ways of Portraying the Royals: Humour and the Royal Parody ...... 36 4.2 Mediated Monarchy: The Social Perspective .................................................. 39 4.2.1 The Royal Celebrities and the Many Ways of the Royal Representation 39 4.2.1.1 Private and Public: Image of Images ................................................. 41 4.2.1.2 The Reverential Celebrities ................................................................ 42 4.2.1.3 Royals: People Just Like Us? ............................................................. 44 4.2.2 Mediated Monarchy: The (New) Forms of Representation ...................... 47 4.2.2.1 Fashion Kings, Fashion Queens ......................................................... 47 4.2.2.2 The Defenders of the Faith(s) ............................................................ 49 4.2.2.3 Everyday Contact: Money, Stamps, Places and Memorabilia ........... 50 5 The Royals and the Social Role of the Family ........................................................ 53 5.1 Family Unit and British Society in the Second Half of the 20th Century ........... 53 5.2 The Royal Family as a Family Unit .................................................................... 55 6 The Royal Brand: The Royal Family in the Context of Economics ........................ 61 6.1 Branding and Advertising Theory ...................................................................... 62 6.2 Royal Family as a Brand: Costs and Revenues .................................................. 64 7 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 70 8 Appendices .............................................................................................................. 74 8.1 Royal Paintings and Photography ....................................................................... 74 8.2 Elizabeth II: Pop Art, Strange Art, Punk ............................................................ 75 8.3 Royals on the Internet: Mockery and Humour ................................................... 76 8.4 Examples of Similarities between Diana‟s and Catherine‟s Fashion Choices ... 78 9 Bibliography ............................................................................................................ 79 10 Resumé ................................................................................................................ 92 11 Summary ............................................................................................................. 93 1 Introduction British monarchy is one of the longest surviving monarchies in the Western world. The reasons for such a long “survival” are numerous; however, the Royal Family (RF) did not make it without changing or having to change some of their attitudes and habits. There are two possible ways of classifying these changes: there were changes which were performed voluntarily, and there were also changes which were rather a result of the natural development of the society which the RF did or had to accommodate to. In the light of the aforementioned changes, this thesis shall attempt to illustrate how the public image and perception of the monarchy and the RF in Britain shifted from the monarch “who was chosen by God” to a special kind of “celebrity” and what caused that this shift has happened. I shall examine the current British RF from historical, political, economic, sociological and psycho-social perspective as well as from the point of view of the media. By examining the way the RF functions within the context of the above mentioned disciplines, I shall reach the conclusion of what the public image of the current RF is, how is it created, and how the royals are actually perceived by the general public. Given the limited scope of the thesis, I shall examine the RF and their public image and perception primarily within the borders of the United Kingdom (UK), not within the whole area of the Commonwealth of Nations where the Queen still is an official head of the state. A lot has been written about the RF in various contexts, however, there is a lack of comprehensive contemporary studies in the field of academia dealing with the phenomenon of the RF in the 21st century, namely in the post-engagement and post- Diamond Jubilee period. Blain and O‟Donnell in their book Monarchy, Media and Power (7) raise the same concern and quote that one of the last serious attempts to study the RF comprehensively was in 1988 by Tom Nairn in his The Enchanted Glass, and 1 then four years later by Michael Billing in his Talking of the Royal Family. The situation of the RF has changed significantly in the 1970s as well as in the second half of the 1990s and then again in the 2010s, and even though there have been numerous sectional more and less serious studies, the aforementioned comprehensive studies ended their scope before the period of the 21st century. My aim, therefore, is to attempt to assess the RF from various perspectives in order to illustrate how have their status, functions, and namely the public image and perception changed recently. To be able to talk about the public image of the RF, it is important to define what a public image in this thesis is understood as and how this thesis defines the RF as such. The RF in this thesis is understood as the sovereign and his or her close family members who are related to the monarch either by blood, or by marriage. For the understanding of the public image, following dictionary definition was used: “the ideas and opinions that the public has about a person or an organization that may not be what they are really like” (Macmillan Dictionary). The fact that the public image does not necessarily have to reflect the true reception is why I opted for the title of the thesis to contain both the terms public image as well as perception, since the public image might as well be more or less only a result of activities of the PR agencies or the subject itself whose “strategic goal is to project a favourable public image . and to persuade [the public] that the reality must correspond with the desired image” (Encyclopædia Britannica), or of the media that can manipulate facts in order to fit their goals. When talking about the content and the research approach, the first chapter of this thesis shall discuss the RF from the historical point of view. It examines, unlike the rest of the thesis that concentrates primarily on the current RF, the royals more deeply in their historical context, however, only the dynasties after the Norman Conquest are taken into account. It discusses what changes the royals had to face in the past in order 2 to secure continuity of their lineage and to what extent these changes were voluntary and to what extent they were rather a result of external circumstances they had only little control over. The outcome of this chapter shall be how these changes influenced and changed the way the RF works in contemporary Britain and what caused that the monarch is no longer being thought of as a God-appointed ruler. The next chapter shall pick up the threads of the previous one and set the current RF in the context of the situation that resulted from the changes that were described previously. This chapter shall discuss the role of the monarch and the RF in the context of current politics – what powers the royals and the Queen still have and mainly if monarchy as such, given the monarch is