How / Why did you get interested in royalty?


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I started following the BRF back when Diana and Charles married.


LaRae
 
For me, its been from the time I was in grade 1 (1961!) and they were pictures of the Queen, Prince Phillip, Prince Charles, Princess Anne & Prince Andrew up on our classroom walls - Prince Edward had not been born yet. (The British monarchy was much more visible in Canada then.)

I'm not a royalist at all. I don't agree with the class system and a hereditary monarchy. I disagree with the concept that some people are born into certain positions. I wish the Governor General of Canada (our symbolic head of state) represented the country of Canada, not the Queen. (I don't want to see a combined symbolic and actual head of state like the American President.) As well, I think that in our Canadian citizenship oath, we should swear an oath of allegiance to the country of Canada and its laws, not the Queen.

However, I'm intrigued by the British monarchy and its history. I'm interested in how their lives differ from our others and how they adapt (and struggle to adapt) to changing times. I do like the ceremony although part me feels sorry for them for living in a "guilded cage".

Personally, I admire Queen Elizabeth II for her devotion to duty (and her father George VI).
 
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I grew up in England with the BRF always present. I'm also a history buff so as I grew those interests merged. It's fascinating to read about all the Royal families of the world.
 
In 1997 I bought Point de Vue because I wanted to practice my french.

I chose it as Diana was in the front page, it was a time before the terrible accident.

Ever since, I sticked to this magazine. I learned about all the royals, I learned also french!! and then I found this forum...
 
When I was a little girl my grandmother used to bring Point de Vue at my home every thursday...the people Inside became friends !
 
I only started to get interested in the RF with Prince William's and Prince Harry's adulthood. I like both of them very much. I guess it's better late than never, right? haha
 
My mom was a fan of Diana, I heard my mom talk about Diana all the time, she even had pictures from her young adulthood days where she cut her hair short like Diana's. I had an idea about royalty from early on because of it even though Portugal is not a Monarchy.


But my interest in royalty and this forum came with the Spanish Royal Family, my mom loved royal weddings and made me watch Infanta Elena and Infanta Cristina weddings on TV (Portugal always loved to show on tv stuff about the Spanish Royal Family). I can't remember Infanta Elena's one since I was a child but I have vague idea about Cristina's. So my interest began then. When Felipe announced his engagement to Letizia, I started to become a real royalty fan. Even though I had only 13 years old back then, I watched and followed everything, their wedding and the birth of Leonor on TV. I remember so well that I was so excited to get my hands on Hola magazine when something special happened. I had Felipe and Letizia wedding Hola, but my father threw it to the trash when we moved homes (he threw Frederik and Mary wedding Hola too) :( but I still have the Hola from Leonor's birth! I have a big collection now ahahah


The interests started, became stronger with the years, I found this website, and the feeling never fade away since.
 
I think it was a gradual thing for me. The first big event I remember is the death of Diana. I then remember watching Edward and Sophie's wedding at my auntie's a couple of years later. And I think over the last few years I have just enjoyed watching the family grow. I am a similar age to William and Harry so it is has been interesting watching them grow up as I have grown up.
 
I became really interested in royalty after the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. I was 13 at the time. At first I was only really interested in the British royal family, but this forum has cultivated an interest in other European royal families as well.
 
I was always somewhat interested (reading the royal books of my grandmother and aunt) but the death of king Baudouin was a trigger event (we were on holiday in Belgium at that time).
 
:previous: That must have been a pretty intense experience...I remember the hot summer of Baudouin's sudden passing. Even though ordinary Americans didn't really react, the story did make the major news outlets here in the States like PEOPLE magazine and the New York Times front page.

It was after reading coverage of his life story in the months following that I became so intrigued by him and his relationship with Queen Fabiola.

It was such an extraordinary yet heartbreaking love story.
 
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What is it about the Royals that you are fascinated by?

What fascinates you about the Royals?
 
Their everything fascinates me. Especially how refined they are.
 
Mostly the history. The pomp and pageantry that the British can put on is just so fascinating. Finding the meaning behind it all makes it fascinating.
 
It's the genealogy aspect for me - examining how they are all related and interconnected going back centuries through various countries, seeing how far and wide some dynasties have spread e.g. the Wettins, the Wittelsbachs, the Oldenburgs, the Capets-Robertians. I love stuff like that.

Plus, the 'truth is stranger than fiction' soap-opera aspects of some royal stories. Some of the things royals have done - if I put them in a story, people would tell me it lacked realism :)
 
The links with history and the past as well as geneology.
 
I'm a new royal watcher. I always knew basic stuff about the British royal family- names and stuff- and I would probably be able to identify a picture of Kate Middleton. I remember the wedding of Harry and Meghan playing on my TV. I wasn't super interested.

The day I became a royal watcher was the day Queen Elizabeth II died.

I was completely shocked, it just didn't feel real. I was sad but also really excited at the prospect of a new King and Queen. I've always been into history and stuff, so I knew a bit about how royal titles worked. I remember going onto Camilla's wikipedia page and being confused over why it said "Queen Consort" (consort is a job description, not a title!). On the "talk" page everyone was hardcore fighting about her title. The article got locked after persistent "editing wars" almost crashed the site. I was incredibly annoyed at the fact that the article got locked with the title "Camilla, Queen consort."

One of the first pictures I saw of the new King Charles and Queen Camilla was them wearing black, looking at the flowers people had left in memory of Elizabeth. His hand was on her back. I was still wrapping my head around the whole thing.

It was kind of surreal. This sounds stupid but I kept whispering their names under my breath to try to get used to the new titles. I liked saying Queen Camilla and Princess Kate.

Anyway the next day I was looking at pictures of Charles and Camilla on Pinterest. Immediately noticed how they always seemed to be laughing together. I love cute couples so that made me happy. But in the comments tons of people with terrible grammar were calling Camilla nasty names and saying she wasn't the real Queen, just the consort. Despite knowing literally nothing about Camilla, I immediately jumped to her defense because I detest internet trolls, bad grammar, and incorrect statements. Also people were calling her ugly and I don't think that's ever a valid criticism of anyone. It really pissed me off.

I decided I should back up my arguments with some actual facts so I looked her up and started reading about her. I love drama so I was intrigued with all the scandals. I learned about the affairs and the whole Diana fiasco. I think what stood out to me most was the fact that Charles fell in love with Camilla 50 years ago, they broke up, lots of drama happened, and then they finally got married. I'm hopelessly romantic and couldn't possibly hate anyone for something that could have been the plot of a TV drama. Anyway I did some more reading and realized lots of people were super biased in Diana's favor and thought Charles was the bad guy. (I don't want to get into it right now but Charles and Diana were honestly just a terrible match and something was bound to happen.)

The thing people seemed to be the angriest about, though, wasn't that Diana had been treated badly. They were angry that Charles left a hot young woman for a frumpy lady his own age. They were angry that he loved her and angry that they got their happy ending.

Personally, I thought it was romantic.

I can't remember when I went from "I like Charles and Camilla, they're cool" to where I am now (I'm sitting under a collage of vintage pictures of Camilla, reading Camilla's great aunt's memoir while typing about why I love the royal family) but I remember looking at a fan blog about her and thinking "wow this woman is genuinely awesome."

I admire Camilla because she's so incredibly resilient after getting so much hate. I love her because she's a regular, down to earth woman who just wanted to become a country housewife and wound up as the Queen of England.

I also love Charles. I've read tons about him. Through learning about Charles, I learned about the whole British Royal family.

I just love how they're all just people like us, with flaws and eccentricities, who support charities and wear fancy clothes. I love that they live a completely different lifestyle from us.

You can learn a lot from these people. Charles taught me determination. Camilla taught me resilience. Anne taught me bravery. Elizabeth taught me hard work. The Queen Mum taught me compassion. Catherine taught me dignity.

Anyways. That's how I got interested in royalty.
 
My grandmother used to bring it when coming when I was a little girl...I never stopped buying it since !
 
Milla Rose said:
I remember going onto Camilla's wikipedia page and being confused over why it said "Queen Consort" (consort is a job description, not a title!). On the "talk" page everyone was hardcore fighting about her title. The article got locked after persistent "editing wars" almost crashed the site. I was incredibly annoyed at the fact that the article got locked with the title "Camilla, Queen consort."
Click to expand...

"Queen Consort" was Camilla's official title between her mother-in-law's death in September 2022 and her and her husband's coronation in May 2023. The Palace consistently used it in all communications, and even legally decreed it by royal warrant concerning Church of England prayers.

https://web.archive.org/web/20220908215529/https://www.royal.uk/queen-consort
https://lawandreligionuk.com/2022/09/21/book-of-common-prayer-and-common-worship-post-accession/

It is certainly unfortunate that Wikipedia editors chose to fight about it instead of checking the palace website or Gazette and accepting the real decision.
 
Tatiana Maria said:
"Queen Consort" was Camilla's official title between her mother-in-law's death in September 2022 and her and her husband's coronation in May 2023. The Palace consistently used it in all communications, and even legally decreed it by royal warrant concerning Church of England prayers.
Click to expand...

I'm aware. That's exactly what was bothering me at the time. "Queen Consort" has never been an official title in the past. When Queen Elizabeth expressed her wish "for Camilla to be known as Queen Consort," people lacking in history knowledge took it to literally mean that she wanted Camilla to have the title Queen Consort Camilla, when in reality Elizabeth was simply clarifying Camilla's job and role (because of the many uneducated people who would probably have been very confused otherwise). Then, when she died, BP used Queen Consort as Camilla's title to 1) ease the transition and 2) differentiate from the late Queen Elizabeth. This was a bad idea in my opinion because it caused backlash once her title was officially changed to Queen after the coronation. What people didn't seem to understand was that, legally, Camilla was Queen from the moment Elizabeth died. All the "consort" title did was cause confusion. I thought it was absolutely ridiculous.
 
Milla Rose said:
I'm aware. That's exactly what was bothering me at the time. "Queen Consort" has never been an official title in the past. When Queen Elizabeth expressed her wish "for Camilla to be known as Queen Consort," people lacking in history knowledge took it to literally mean that she wanted Camilla to have the title Queen Consort Camilla, when in reality Elizabeth was simply clarifying Camilla's job and role (because of the many uneducated people who would probably have been very confused otherwise). Then, when she died, BP used Queen Consort as Camilla's title to 1) ease the transition and 2) differentiate from the late Queen Elizabeth. This was a bad idea in my opinion because it caused backlash once her title was officially changed to Queen after the coronation. What people didn't seem to understand was that, legally, Camilla was Queen from the moment Elizabeth died. All the "consort" title did was cause confusion. I thought it was absolutely ridiculous.
Click to expand...

Since BP was the one who referred to her as the Queen Consort and they are surely not lacking in awareness of either history or legalities, they merely followed Elizabeth's wish literally for practical and respectful reasons.

Without Elizabeth she would have been the Princess Consort, which has also never been used (assuming the legalities of that were even possible). She is the Queen now and will be for the future, so I'm not sure why it's continually viewed as some great mark of disrespect — from everything I've noticed about Camilla, I don't think she cares one bit what her title is.

When Victoria died Alexandra would not let herself be called Queen until after the funeral. Different time, different timescale, similar reasons.
 
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Prinsara said:
Since BP was the one who referred to her as the Queen Consort and they are surely not lacking in awareness of either history or legalities, they merely followed Elizabeth's wish literally for practical and respectful reasons.
Click to expand...

I know. I understand the reasons they did it. It was just incredibly annoying when they started using the title Queen and people were acting like Charles was going against his late mother's wishes. Elizabeth obviously wanted Camilla to be queen, but the way BP waited until the Coronation to start using her proper title made it seem like her title was being changed. I don't think anyone behind the decision was lacking in awareness of history. I just feel like it wasn't a good idea, and in my opinion she should have just been Queen Camilla from the start.
 
I always liked history. But my interest in royalty was sparked by the wedding of Felipe and Letizia in 2004. I watched the wedding on television.
So I started following the news about the royal families and watching the most varied royal events on TV and later on the internet.

Everything about royalty interests me, from their lives, the palaces, the jewelry, the tiaras, the royal weddings, the coronations, their stories, etc.
 
I've been interested in royals as long as I can remember, but I got seriously hooked after Diana and Charles wedding back in 1981. It was a fairytail wedding, and I thought the wedding dress were a dream, but not anymore lol
 
It’s the more ancient history and royalty that interest me the most (like can be seen from my photo, it’s Augustan family cameo). But my parents read magazines that mention royalty often so I did read plenty about royalty growing up. I am from Finland so the Swedish royal family is almost treated like our free royal family for gossip and fashion by the magazines.

But in past several years there has been so much British family news (and sensationalism) that I came here last year to find more detailed information. Those threads are more active than others often but I care about the other royal families as much.
 
I'm much the same age as Diana, Princess of Wales. I always vaguely knew about the Royal Family, QEII, her husband, children, mother and sister; that was about it. There was a photograph of Diana on a magazine with her wearing an aubergine coloured cardigan with white spots; being an avid knitter I bought the magazine so I could suss out the pattern, then i kept on reading.... and I've been reading about the Royal Family (and knitting) ever since.

I'm also extremely interested in genealogy and family trees and the Royal Family (I speak mainly of the British RF but I am interested in the rest of Europe too) has a superb family tree :)

Plus I am a believer in constitutional monarchy.

And who doesn't love a good tiara?
 
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