Or Taran the assistant pig keeper in Lloyd Alexander’s “Prydain” series. Or the pauper Tom Canty who traded places with a prince in Mark Twain’s novel. So many of the stories I was raised on were about ordinary boys and girls of no rank whatsoever who suddenly found themselves being called “Your Majesty” or “Your Royal Highness.” Like Arthur, who was entirely unaware of his royal lineage until he pulled the sword from the stone. I soon became fascinated by the idea that the humdrum lives of children like me could, with the flick of a wand or a sudden revelation about secret parentage, be radically transformed. I was no more than 7 or 8 when I first heard the legends of the knights of the Round Table and the king of Britain to whom they were loyal, and when I first learned about the codes of honor, chivalry and bravery they supposedly lived by. Queen Elizabeth’s death ended a remarkable 70-year rule - so long that most of Britain’s 68 million people have known no other sovereign.įor me it began with King Arthur. World & Nation Queen Elizabeth II dies at 96: A look back Wall Street traders took time out from making money to bow their heads. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) offered thoughts and prayers for the queen from the Senate floor. Even the Democrats and Republicans in Congress, who barely speak to each other, came together as Sen. I can’t help being fascinated by the royals, and in that, I’m like millions of Americans. I’m clicking on photo galleries, watching videos, reading stories. Still - and here’s the really strange thing - I am following the news avidly. I’m sorry to say it while the late Queen Elizabeth is lying in state, but if the crown were to be tossed aside and the House of Windsor were to sink into the muck tomorrow, it would not bother me at all. It seems anachronistic, inegalitarian - and oddly stiff and starchy to boot. I have never lived under a king or a queen, and it’s difficult for me to understand why the British persist in doing so in the modern world. I am American, a citizen of a country that long ago rejected monarchs and sovereigns.

Queen story of an american family