For our country without a monarch, Queen Elizabeth II offered stability for 70 years and made U.S. presidents look like mayflies. She died Thursday aged 96.
The queen was a regular fixture in American living rooms, both as fiction and figurehead. For better and worse, she was the queen of TV. Her coronation in 1953 was watched by some 20 million in Great Britain and many millions more in the United States, and around the globe, on a tape delay. The event played an outsized role in bringing glass-fronted boxes into most living rooms and restored a bit of glory to the erstwhile British Empire.
Young Queen Elizabeth's coronation brought the once-distant monarchy into our homes. It also took what was previously a giant institution and made it pocket-sized. It shook the dust off an aged and ancient throne.
And it began something of a love affair with a queen in a country that had once worked so hard to rid itself of a king. Since then, Elizabeth has been a much-scrutinized celebrity here in the U.S. And now that the monarchy fits on a flatscreen, it is often the source of new drama.
But is drama the sole reason so many Americans are fascinated by the lives of the royals? Is that why Elizabeth's death cuts so deep, while providing fodder for tabloids—on air and off?
No, it's a deeper vein than that.
The British have a history of mocking their monarchs, to the point where Henry V's early follies were immortalized by William Shakespeare on stage. Our country has continued that tradition, but also treated the monarchy with a reverence all our own. Witness the non-stop coverage of Princess Diana's death and, years later, the enormous success of The Crown on Netflix. The Crown, in particular, promised an intimate view into the lives and minds of the royal family, but in many scenes Elizabeth's arched eyebrows were all that was visible to tell the tale.
During Elizabeth's long reign, British culture has dominated much of U.S. TV, from Downton Abbey to Game of Thrones, charming millions in clipped tones. One could argue that the only remaining villain without a British accent is Darth Vader. James Earl Jones is a purely American treasure.
Still, no story proved as engrossing as the truth. Prince Charles' marriage to Diana became an obsession on this side of the pond. And when Princess Diana died, she was declared the people's princess both here and there. Coverage of Diana as both bride and martyr barely fit onto television screens, so large did the two ceremonies loom.
Queen Elizabeth's Britain became a fantasy land for many Americans. A place with names synonymous with grandeur and luxury. Who hasn't heard of Buckingham Palace, or even Windsor Castle, from which the family takes its name?
It is also the land of other real world fairy tales, of Prince William and his commoner bride, Kate Middleton, whose marriage sent American TV producers into a frenzy and lit up screens all over the U.S.
It probably shouldn't have come as a surprise when the U.S. finally got its own royal couple in self-imposed exiles Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, perennial favorites on screens of every size. How fitting that the newest American to marry into the British royal family is not a scandalous divorcee like Wallis Simpson, but instead a TV actor.
Queen Elizabeth II, a foreign monarch, will rule the American news cycle for the next few days, and a new coronation will then become prime television viewing.
Are we sure that Elizabeth wasn't, truly, our queen, too?
Jason Fields is a deputy opinion editor at Newsweek.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
