The British Royal Family

Steven Fry twitted today about some marriage or such in the British Royal Family, and I, funnily enough, upon reading this, had an epiphany.  I have to say, that I’ve always thought the idea of having a royal family rather anachronistic, and it still bothers me, I must admit, that some of my fellow Americans are just as enthralled by these dotards, as the British (maybe even more so, in some cases).

I realize my ire is largely misplaced, none of this current crop of bumblers are the tyrants of the history books, or for that matter, even that closely related to them, and as a citizen of another nation, I don’t even have to support them and their silly church.  However, the idea of a family of inbred welfare recipients living in palaces instead of the low rent trailer park they could have so easily have been plucked out of, seems silly, and the idea of a hereditary head of state, even a basically powerless one, twinned with the same person heading a state-religion, is abhorrent to me.

But, today I realized that they do serve a sort of purpose, although a prohibitively expensive purpose, they act, I believe, as a sort of national dysfunctional family, to whom Brits who might have nothing else to connect over can collectively point to, much like a far flung family bonding over this troublesome drunk uncle, or that retarded cousin, and in so doing, feel more closely bonded together.